Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing PCs Forum

Scott I was reading about this today online. Apparently bent pins on motherboards using LGA type sockets are pretty common. According to "the internet" anyway. It must be pretty easy to bend these pins also if it such a common thing. Watched a video of how to fix this problem also. So now with this information I come here to ask you about this supposedly common problem because I trust your knowledge of PC upgrade and repair over anyone else.

I could see this happening on "PGA" CPU's and it being much easier to fix. One would think that the manufacturers would make the pins on LGA type "sockets" on the motherboard much stronger so they are not easily bent. Apparently that is not the case though. Having the pins on the CPU seems like a superior design to me.

A lot of this damage caused to pins on the motherboard is apparently due to heavier aftermarket heat sinks which put too much pressure on the pins. However, in the video I saw the guy deliberately drop a cpu on the LGA motherboard "Socket" and it bent the pins very easily. I don't know maybe the pin was bent before he did the video...

I've never actually thought of this as something that happens that often. I've only heard of it happening on older PGA Cpu's and it being an easy fix and something that happened a lot more often around 15 or so years ago.

Scott, could please elaborate on this subject?. Maybe put a section about this in your new book?. That would be extremely helpful.

Since motherboard manufacturers don't cover physical damage to their boards I'd think that discussion of this and maybe learning this skill would be/should be quite important to a technician.

The internet is full of mis-information though and I really don't trust anyone on YouTube pretending they know how to "fix computers". Of course this is why I'm posting this here because I want your opinion on this Scott. Ideally I should stay away from Youtube when I'm bored, or just watch funny animal videos.

I wouldn't say it's common, however it is very easy to do if the pins are unprotected. That is why motherboards ship with a protective cover over the socket, which should not be removed until the CPU is installed. If the CPU is ever removed the protective cover should be replaced.


Superior for who? Certainly not for the CPU manufacturer who is the one in control of exactly where the pins will be located.


A properly designed heat sink would conform to the pressure limits set by the CPU and socket manufacturer. Unfortunately many "boutique" heat sinks seem to be designed more by artists than engineers.


That would almost certainly damage the pins and is why the protective cover should remain in place until the CPU is installed. If somebody drops the CPU on the socket during installation then they would be responsible for the damage. Scott.

When I said superior I mean for consumers. Just because I believe it would be much easier to bend a pin back on a cpu than on a motherboard.

Also just dropping a CPU, which generally are very light objects onto a motherboard "socket" shouldn't be enough to damage the pins in my opinion. I mean apparently it is but I bet with a better design or pins built with a stronger material than it wouldn't. It's almost like designing a tire with material that would burst if you went over a small sharp edged rock. I guess the tires would be pretty cheap, but you'd probably be replacing your tires pretty often. I use this comparison because because driving over small sharp edged rocks is pretty common and so is dropping your CPU by mistake less than 3 inches from the socket. I don't remember but I've probably done this a few times myself and would think that it's a common enough occurrence that manufacturers would take something like into account during design. However, I've never checked for bent pins on any motherboard "socket" because I never thought that such a small distance drop with such a light object could cause bent pins.

Anyway, I'm still requesting that you put a detailed section about this in your next book. It would definitely be helpful. Maybe a video demonstration of you fixing bent pins?. Yes I've already seen one, but I'd like to see a proper demo from you Scott. As I'd rather follow a demo from you so I know I'm going through a proper procedure instead of just guessing if I'm doing things correctly. So if I happen to come across this problem then I could just take a look at your video and follow along!. I'm sure it'd help a lot of other people also. Suggestions for objects or tools used to do this would be great too!. Thanks Scott!

The art of good engineering is to design something just strong and cost effective enough to survive "normal" use. Tires must regularly run over small sharp rocks while dropping CPUs on unprotected sockets should almost never happen. When handling an expensive CPU and motherboard I make sure that dropping either of them is simply not an option! I do appreciate the suggestion for a future book or video and will definitely keep that in mind.