I wish I had just left the dust alone...

SolitoN79

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Dec 26, 2006
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What's up people...

The 478 socket on my motherboard is totally messed up, and the CPU pins won't engage no matter how I stick it in there, so when I power-up, I get zilch (black screen, no BIOS, CPU is not detected).

All I wanted to do was dust out my case; I decided to do a thorough job, since I rarely do it at all, and so pulled the heatsink out to clean the fins. But the heatsink was glued to CPU (thanks to the stupid thermal paste) and got ripped right out of the latched socket. I spent 45 mins trying to get the CPU off the heatsink without destroying it, reapplied thermal paste and stuck it back in -- the system started and everything was ok.

While playing Far Cry this afternoon, the computer suddenly rebooted: the CPU was overheating. Annoyed, I pulled it out to reapply thermal paste all over again, thinking I probably did a crappy job the first time, but when I put it back in, I got a black screen. I figured the CPU might be fried, so I pulled out an old 478 Celeron I have and put it in -- nothing, just a black screen.

I grabbed a flashlight and looked at the socket while playing with the lever; it's wiggling around in a weird way that doesn't look normal at all, like it's moving too far back. I'm also fairly sure it's the socket because I got the computer to boot once with the Celeron, but when I stuck the Pentium back in, the pins wouldn't engage. I tried the Celeron again and it stopped working too.

So, can I replace the socket, or do I need a new mobo? Any advice? And if someone knows about how these sockets function (mechanically that is), please share that info -- maybe I can jimmy it and get the pins to connect.

God I wish I had left the dust alone...
 

djplanet

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Aug 27, 2006
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Damn, damn, damn, that sucks man. And I feel guilty, because I often recommend dusting components that get troublesome. You might have broken off pins in the socket, you could try shaking them out (crude, but what else you got?). Failing that, 478 mobos are pretty cheap now (nearly all under $150).

Or you go with the Assman, and upgrade.
 

hatsurfer

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Always a gentle twist a few degrees back and forth until it loosens up. Most thermal pastes harden up or adhere tightly to the surfaces. You can easily bend pins, rip a socket out, or even take of the IHS.
 

baladorr

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I would not recommend re-inserting any CPU to test at this point since doing so may fry more than just the CPU and Motherboard. Consider it a lesson learned. Replace the motherboard and be thankful that you haven't caused any additional damage. I have accidentally extracted the CPU which was completely adhered to the heat sink on few machines that I have worked on in the past. It pays to go a little more slowly and carefully when working with CPU's and ribbon cables (broke a few of those too).
 
A replacement 478 board will run you about $50 (pricewatch). But if all you have left is a celeron, I'd upgrade also. If you don't want to change memory (you have pc3200?), I'd go for a socket 939 cpu and board. I got a spare board and cpu (single core 3200) for only $107 shipped. Newegg and mwave still have a fair selection, especially opterons. A dual core opteron setup will be cheaper than core2 duo if you use your old pc3200. If your memory is slower than 3200, then I'd go for the e6300 and ddr2 memory.
 

SolitoN79

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Dec 26, 2006
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GOD this sucks. It's so unfair; you try to clean your case, next thing you know, you have to buy a new mobo (maybe a proc too, let's see).

It sucks that you can't change the socket; you can change the retention clip, so why not the socket too? (rhetorical question)

Anyway, I have a lot of work ahead of me, so I'll go get a new mobo and get down to it I guess. Thanks for all your advice, feedback and sympathy guys. I wanted to be sure what my options were.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year...(I guess, mumble, grumble...)