PCI-E Slot may be broken / how can I tell

[graukas]

I'm thinking my pcie slot may be broken, since some dots are not in line. See picture!

http://imgur.com/yfNsyYk

My gpu is identified by the mobo, but while benchmark testing or games, it eventually crashes and keeps crashing. I tried basically everything, from regedit to new psu etc. So my final guess is, it's the pcie slot.

Can i fix this on my own? Rearrange them?

 

[Fenric]

Have you been re-seating your GPU a lot or something? Is the board still under warranty? I'd contact the manufacturer and see what they say. If you can't work something out with them, an electronics repair shop could be an option as long as they don't want more than the cost of a new board for repair fees.

 

[graukas]

Have you been re-seating your GPU a lot or something? Is the board still under warranty? I'd contact the manufacturer and see what they say. If you can't work something out with them, an electronics repair shop could be an option as long as they don't want more than the cost of a new board for repair fees.

I fucked it up a little when building the pc *sigh* The only thing really I want to know, before I go through the process of sending it in or bringing it to a repair shop, is if it is broken or not. Since gpu is still detected and kinda working - crashes could be coming from somewhere else..

Are those "needles" (I am obviously not an expert) standing out real damage or is it just whatever? Do these "needles" all need to be arranged in line for the slot to be properly working?

 

[Fenric]

The pins are bent out of place. You should let the manufacturer determine if it can be repaired, and if it can they will be able to test it properly afterwards.

 

[Rookie_MIB]

I have managed to fix this once before, but I think I got lucky. Usually when this happens you're pretty much out of luck. Depending on where those pins are supposed to be, if they're all supposed to be on one side, you could use a thin piece of paper or card stock to guide them when you install the card when you put it in the slot, then carefully remove the paper.

The paper might help it guide the pins to the correct side so they're where they're supposed to be when you install it. It might work. Install the card -carefully-.

 

[graukas]

I have managed to fix this once before, but I think I got lucky. Usually when this happens you're pretty much out of luck. Depending on where those pins are supposed to be, if they're all supposed to be on one side, you could use a thin piece of paper or card stock to guide them when you install the card when you put it in the slot, then carefully remove the paper.

The paper might help it guide the pins to the correct side so they're where they're supposed to be when you install it. It might work. Install the card -carefully-.

I'm just wondering, since the card is recognized by the motherboard if it is a problem at all. Do all of those pins need to be at place for it to be working, or is it just whatever if 3 pins are not in place? I'm not even sure the source of the crashes is the pcie slot.. do you kinda get what I mean?

 

[Rookie_MIB]

I have managed to fix this once before, but I think I got lucky. Usually when this happens you're pretty much out of luck. Depending on where those pins are supposed to be, if they're all supposed to be on one side, you could use a thin piece of paper or card stock to guide them when you install the card when you put it in the slot, then carefully remove the paper.

The paper might help it guide the pins to the correct side so they're where they're supposed to be when you install it. It might work. Install the card -carefully-.

I'm just wondering, since the card is recognized by the motherboard if it is a problem at all. Do all of those pins need to be at place for it to be working, or is it just whatever if 3 pins are not in place? I'm not even sure the source of the crashes is the pcie slot.. do you kinda get what I mean?

I do understand what you mean, the fact that it is working at all is a good sign up to a point. What could be happening is depending on the pins which are fubar'd your card could be causing problems. Because it's an x16 card, if you put it in an x4 slot, only so many pins would contact, putting it in x4 mode. If you put it in an x8 slot, likewise it would put it in x8 mode because of the pins contacting. However, because it's in a physical/electrical x16 slot, the card thinks it should be in x16 mode, but because of some pins being now non-functioning, it could be doing some damn weird stuff. A lot depends on exactly which pins detected determine the x(X) pci-e mode it goes into on initialization.