Broken CPU pin!

[Windowsux]

I just broke a CPU pin!!! I was so pissed (and still am) but looked up how you might go about fixing it (I was thinking about fixing it at work but I'm new there and I'd have to ask someone else to fix it for me.) They do soldering work like that at my circuit board manufacturing plant... and claim it is very difficult... also jewelers can do it... anyway I looked it up and its a VSS pin, which is just a ground pin. As long as the broken pin is not in the socket usually it will work. Anyway I bought from star micro at a very good price, but learned that they often sell cpu's with bent or broken pins. I have to assume this one was bent since it dropped into place and when lowering the lever (socket AM2+) heard a pop. Pulled it out and saw the broken pin. I have to assume that the testing was done without fully inserting the processor and locking it down (they test them like that at my plant, never applying a heatsink just seeing if connecting everything registers properly on a testing machine) and that the pin was either not touching anything or touching one of the diagonal ground pins. Mine was pin N-16, 940 AM2. VDD(power) pins are sometimes not needed either... Also sometimes you can put the pin or a wire in the socket it was supposed to go in, but uh, if your motherboard costs more than the processor just buy a new one.

Anyway I have a link for you guys with broken pins for athlon processors
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/cont...docs/31412.pdf
socket 940/AM2/AM2+
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/cont...docs/31411.pdf
for 939 pin processors
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/cont...docs/31410.pdf
for 754 pin, and the page it came on for more info
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...9_7203,00.html

Go to section 4 with connection diagrams. As you can see most of the center is ground and power, and grounds are usually very redundant, power much less so but still redundant.

AND FOR ALL YOU BROKEN PIN GUYS on ANY HARDWARE, CONTACT A JEWELER or a PCB MANUFACTURER IN YOUR AREA. Someone there is good at soldering/cutting/connecting under a microscope! I've seen them fix soldering errors new RAM chips by hand under a microscope!

Wish me luck as I don't have my PSU yet for the new PC... anyway it was just a 40 dollar athlon 64x2 2350BE 45 watt processor but if you bust something where 30-40 dollars is worth it (like a HDD with DATA you need,) a jeweler or computer pin repairman can help ya out. I'd ask the jeweler what it would cost, then if too much tell him what you paid for the item, haggle, etc.

[Windowsux]

BTW... I x-ray BGA sockets, like cpu arrays, and some have star grounding (X with 5 pins, each corner and the center.) My pin appears to be the edge of a star so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! (center would be worse than edge.) Anyway it appears that the closer to the middle the less important the pin is in a 940 array.

[Windowsux]

Pre-post to anyone asking... Yes I inspected pins before inserting. The pin must have been completely flattened. I looked down all the rows before hand. Besides, I've never had a cpu "Fall" into place with a bent pin once you get it into the right place. I also looked from above but there are ~1000 pins! I assumed if there was a problem it wouldn't fall into place. I'm really not sure how the pin was on the underside of the cpu unless it was bent 90 degrees at the base.

[SKREECH]

I had a broken pin for my CPU but not completely. It was half broken and hanging. I asked my regular hardware engineer and then many other repairmen but everybody said that pins once broken will not be connected. Then I had to buy new CPU by shelling a lot of bucks

I wish this thread had been at that time. But I wonder how a jeweller can do this! The one working with ornaments, will he entertain a computer parts... strange !!

[Windowsux]

Yah jewelers solder gold, etc., under a microscope and repair broken rings and stuff like that. Diamond cutters have to cut very accurately under a microscope. And I didn't know about solder paste until I worked manufacturing. Its basically solder powder mixed with flux, kinda similar to cake icing in consistency. If you're good you can get the pin with a pair of tweezers, dip the end in solder paste, hold it in place and use a wire thin soldering iron to solder the pin back on, being careful if the core gets too hot it will turn useless. Temperatures of 260 C are fine at least for a moment or so, we put all the components on a board and run it through a 5 minute oven that is graded from room temp to 250-260 at the end. The board comes out at like 80-90 C though. Look up SOLDER PASTE if you are interested in doing it yourself, maybe attach a wire to a normal soldering iron? Not sure but I might try it if the pin is needed but I don't think it is. SOLDER PASTE is awesome for any soldering job but I think it's a little dangerous work with without gloves and proper cleaning materials... who wants metal powder in their eye/mouth/body. You should be able to get a syringe full of it with a needle thing on it (not sharp but thin.) Also we use a calking gun thing. If you look up SMT manufacturing you should be able to find an overview.

[Windowsux]

Oh forgot, you can get leaded or lead free solder paste

[Windowsux]

THE CPU WORKS. Sorry about the lag in the response but the broken pin is a ground pin... my mobo was dead tho and don't know if breaking the pin caused it or if it was dead to begin. RMA went fine upgraded mobo for same price and now its good for a home theater pc. No fans but quiet psu on the 45 watt 2350 BE x2, and it OC about 10% just fine.

[SKREECH]

Wow, so you did it yourself and made your CPU back working by soldering the broken pin!! I was only knowing that if the pin of the IC is broken, then it is just of no use.

I had done soldering and all in my high school days for the electronic projects making circuit boards and applying components with the soldering. Some of the components we could repair if their pins broken accidentally by just applying the soldering iron and then soldering it with solder paste. But once an IC pin was broken and we tried to solder it in a similar way but then the IC was useless... probably due to overheat during solder. Most delicate ICs cannot withstand even the slightest increase in the temperature than the max they can support.