33 replies to this topic

[Rofltroll]

Hey OCC, long time no see. I've recently cleaned my computer and when  i reapplied thermal paste i put a little bit to much and it spilled onto the motherboard socket. I started the computer but as soon as it turned on it turned right back off. I removed the CPU and noticed the thermal paste ( I use arctic silver 5 which supposedly doesn't conduct electricity). So i gently started to clean the paste with some isopropylic alcohol with the help of a toothbrush (dumb, I know- i guess i got high on isorpopylic vapours or i dunno) and of course i dented some pins. I tried to allign them back up but still nothing. My question is do you think this might have damaged my CPU as well? I am pretty sure the motherboard is done for and Gigabyte support isn't very helpful either.

[Braegnok]

I have used 100% isopropyl alcohol and cut strips of coffee filters while blasting compressed air on both sockets and processors.
You do not want to use anything that will grab a pin like cotton or cloth, if you have already bent or damaged socket pins, go on line and Intel support will have diagram of your socket pin layout, use this to determine what specific item the damaged pins provide power to or relay information for, most pins are grounds or may not be critical for specific CPU that you have installed, but if you damaged a pin that cpu needs to function, or bent a power pin to another power pin causing a short, and attempted to power up system, then chances are you may have damaged both chip and socket beyond repair.
lesson learned the hard way.

Edited by Braegnok, 12 December 2012 - 05:17 AM.

[bigball1]

There is a chance. But the only way for sure is to put the CPU in another system and test it that way.

[Waco]

You can try to straighten the pins but it's painstaking work and highly difficult.

 

 

If you know someone with steady hands (a jeweler perhaps?) they might have a go at it.

[WARDOZERX]

Got a pic of the socket so we can have a better understanding of how FUBAR your socket really is?

[sword_fish]

shorted circuit is what i'm thinking of.

though AS5 claimed it's not electrically conductive, but take a look with it's features regarding with conductivity.

[Rofltroll]

I did get a friend with steady hands to try and straighten the pins but to no avail.

[cjloki]

don't feel too bad rolf t, once i was dinking around cleaning and changing a few little things around and accidentally dropped a screwdriver on the rampage formula...not only jacked the socket but also one of the ic chips on board...had to buy an entire board (open box fortunately),....man, i was really mad at myself at the time,...so maybe this is a chance to do something new and different ? ...i hope you're able to find the silver lining in the cloud bro...welcome back btw !

[DanTheGamer11]

You can try to straighten the pins but it's painstaking work and highly difficult.

 

 

If you know someone with steady hands (a jeweler perhaps?) they might have a go at it.

 

Credit card?

[wevsspot]

You can straighten the pins.  I've done it too many times to count.  In my pin "straightening" tool box I've got; a small jewelers screw driver, an engineering pencil (no lead   ), a desktop magnifying glass, an old credit card and a box knife razor blade.  The razor blade works great for getting multiple pins in a fairly aligned position.  The engineering pencil and jewelers screw driver works good for a single bent pin here or there.  You can finish the job by running that old credit card down each row and column of pins to make sure every one is in good alignment.  

 

If you've got a broken pin, it really depends on which one and what the pin does (as mentioned in an earlier post).  As a rule of thumb I consider everything conductive, regardless of what the mfg. claims.  Thermal paste, coolant etc. and take precautions to mitigate that whenever possible.

 

As far as knowing what works and what doesn't, all I can do is echo a previous post - the only way to know is swap out components and find out whether the m/b or cpu is irrevocably damaged.  Good luck.

[boinker]

Keep your expectations low. Last time a friend of mine surged a board with as5 it fried the whole system less the hdd and psu. The good news was he got a mage upgrade to a i7 920 Eva x58 ftw and a gtx480. But that is beside the point. Straighten the pins. Clean the ziff socket best you can and pray.

And btw. Arctic silver 5 is very conductive. The those is laced with around 10% or so silver

[Rofltroll]

Problem is I can't find anyone who has an x58 setup so I can test my CPU (and apparently my Video card). It would probably be a bad idea to get an x58 for nothing.