Socket 1151 pin head broke off. Is there a way to fix it?

[Koen179]

Hello all,

I recently purchased a second hand Asus Maximus VIII Hero (Z170, socket 1151) motherboard, with some bent socket pins. I bought it to try bent them back, so the board will work again.

Luckily, I managed to bent all the pins back in position, except one pin which was already half- broken. Not the whole pin is broken off, but only the "pin head". This means the pin is not long enough to reach the CPU and make contact.

Then I tested the board and it worked, but unfortunately only 2 of the 4 RAM slots are working (A1 & A2 are not working, B1 & B2 are fine). From the Intel site I grabbed a pin-layout and found out the pin is related to the RAM channels, which confirms the 2 not working RAM slots.

Of course, I could use the motherboard with the 2 working RAM channels, but I also want to look if a fix for the half-broken pin is possible.

The solution of re-soldering the pin head back is very tricky and I don't want to risk it, as I don't have the skills and tools. The other option I figured was trying to extend the pin by pushing it out of the socket gently. Is this worth trying?

Many thanks for your replies in advance!

 

[jboydgolfer]

if the pin was half broken, was that fact in the item description?? if not, it wasnt advertised correctly, since noone can fix a Missing pin (which is what half a pin is in essence) return it.

also, Mobo Manufacturers have RMA'd used boards for me in the past, (FOR a FEE) up to You

 

[sneekypeet]

You could try to lift the pin and see if it makes contact, but there is also a chance it may contact another pad on the CPU. If it were me, I would just use the pair of DIMM slots that are working now and upgrade the RAM density if you needed more memory! I had a similar situation on a P55 board, but I melted the socket and it ripped the pad off the CPU. Worked fine after for a long time, just was reduced to two ram slots.

 

[Papahyooie]

Pro tip: take it to a jeweler. He may look at you funny... but just ask him to solder a shim onto that pin to make it identical to the others. I've done this with many CPU pins over the years (never a motherboard, but I would if i had ever been in your situation.) They've got the tools and skills to do it. They may charge you a bit, but as long as you don't spend more on the board than you would have new, then you still have a bargain.

 

[jboydgolfer]

if the pin was half broken, was that fact in the item description?? if not, it wasnt advertised correctly, since noone can fix a Missing pin (which is what half a pin is in essence) return it.

also, Mobo Manufacturers have RMA'd used boards for me in the past, (FOR a FEE) up to You

since there are several options regarding paths to take, as pointed out by the above members....I would personally, If I was in Your shoes...

1st -try an initiate an RMA - my reasoning is this, it wont break the board More, and sometimes Manufacturers can surprise You and be pretty cool...IME, the cost is around $50usd

2nd- Try sneekypetes idea,

3rd- since it will likely also cost money, go with Papahyooie's idea, as it is a good one.

lastly, if the board is a Loss, try what You will....what is there to lose at that point?

1st thing i would do tho, is Reach out to the maker, since its like casting two fishing lines out, what can it hurt?

Good luck

 

[The Jedi]

The jeweler option sounds good. I was thinking, you'd need a "helping hands" magnifying lens. You'd need to tape off the socket with masking tape, except for a tiny hole where the missing pin head is. Then, solder a tiny bead of solder onto it. It's risky. You would just need to plan well and get the gumption to try it (to risk it).

 

[Koen179]

First of all: I'm very grateful for all the fast and well-though answers, very helpful .

I bought the board for a relatively low price, so the loss is not huge if it doesn't works after the fix.

The jewellery option is a very good one, I will go to one of them in my town this week. If he says he can't fix it or little chance of fixing, I will try to pull the pin a little bit out of the socket very carefully.

Will post updates and outcomes here, so others with the same situation got something to read .

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

If it is a ground or power pin (VSS or VCC) it should not hurt to work without it (afaik it was fine in LGA775 and socket 478). However you would have to find a pinout diagram for the 1151 socket.
It should be similar to this (socket 1155):

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/367203-28-bridge-1155-layout

http://www.abload.de/img/pins_sandyamb4.pnghttp://www.abload.de/img/pins_sandyamb4.png but for socket 1151. It should be somewhere in the intel datasheets.
On a side note It was amazing what you could do by shorting/unshorting cpu pins back in the early 2000's or even in the LGA 775 era!

 

[biffzinker]

On a side note It was amazing what you could do by shorting/unshorting cpu pins back in the early 2000's or even in the LGA 775 era!

Also mods to pin or Socket 939. Did that a couple times for boards without voltage manipulation but offered FSB/Multi setting(s.)

 

[uuuaaaaaa]

Also mods to pin or Socket 939. Did that a couple times for boards without voltage manipulation but offered FSB/Multi setting(s.)

Exactly! I am most familiar with socket 478 tho, played a lot with those! It was quite fun to study the spec sheet and play around with the cpu default VID's and FSB to push a little bit more!

 

[Keullo-e]

I had exactly the same thing with a P67 1155 MB, and yes, a half-broken pin also here. Ran 2600K with single channel without any problems.

 

[dorsetknob]

Skilled jeweler just might be able to extend Pin with a very short Solder tail so contact is made with CPU pad (also building pad up with a little Solder for full contact )

Note Skilled Jeweler and Repair will Cost $£

 

[Tatty_Two]

I am sure an electronics repair guy could do the job also, I had a guy who had a little setup around the corner from where I used to work (TV, Hifi and radio repair) and he would do all kind of voltmod jobs for me with motherboards and graphics card, would probably be cheap too as it shouldn't take more than a few minutes.