my cpu pins were bent. I bent them back. I didn't break any and it fit fine in socket. Will it work still?

Question

I'm building my computer. I accidently dropped the CPU and bent like 8 pins. I took a small screwdriver(the kind you use for glasses) and bent the pins back carefully and gently with little pressure. I didn't break any. Then when I thought I lined them up they fit fine in the socket. No pressure, just slid down into place. I haven't started the comp yet because I'm picking up some Ram today on my way home, but I'm worried. Will it work still? I won't know till I start it. What is the probability that it won't work? Did I do the right thing?

Answer 1

As long as nothing was actually broken and you were gentle when bending them back you *should* be okay, but the only way to find out for sure is to power the thing up.

Answer 2

If any pins were bent and you bent them back into the RIGHT sockets, they should be fine if that is all that was damaged.

If it dropped on hardwood floor or tile, the circuits inside the CPU may have been damaged and this will not show on the outside.

If it dropped on carpet, this may have cushioned it from the fall, but a static discharge could easily zap and fry things inside.

The best thing to do is hook up everything, plug it in and see if it works. If the PC starts beeping weirdly when you first turn it on, it means something is wrong. It COULD mean that the CPU was damaged and is not recognized by the motherboard, depending on the beeps.

Of course, if you are building it yourself and you overlooked something else (no video card, bad memory configuration, etc) then the beeps may be for some other reason too.

Answer 3

It will probably work alright. Bending the pins does not affect the inside of the chip if it is done carefully. If the CPU was damaged by the drop other components still will not be affected if the CPU does not work.

Use a wrist cord (a cable from your body to ground, like central heating or plumbing in your building - or the 110/220 Volt socked in your wall BUT ONLY IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!! WARNING!!!) to ground yourself while building your computer - at ALL times. Static electricity is then lead away from your equipment - otherwise it can easily damages your hardware - sometimes in a weird way that makes things work sometimes and sometimes not, making you crazy...

Answer 4

You did the right thing, although next time it may be easier to straighten the pins with a credit card. As long as the pins don't break and the CPU slides into the socket (even if you must push a little) you're A-OK.

Answer 5

If you did not break any of the pins and you were able to set it in the port you are probably ok. Now granted it was extremely bad thing to happen, but if you did not give it a zap with static (you don't need to feel the zap to have on occur) you can rest assured you are good. I did the same thing with mine once and it is still running as if new.

Answer 6

Us IT pros' never drop CPUs' and never touch RAM or circuit boards with bare hands. Use an anti-static wrist wrap when handling electronic components, and don't take the CPU out of the anti static bag until you are actually holding it a few inches over the CPU socket of the mother board. Please be more careful next time and don't ever do this on the job or you will end up getting fired...trust me.

Answer 7

As long as you didn't break one you'll be fine.

I bent my fair share of cpu pins and haven't had a problem. Although it takes forever to get them exactly right. lol

Answer 8

Put it in, see if it will work. If you didn't static charge the CPU, it should still work.

Answer 9

Besides dropping it?

Yes. There's nothing else you can do. If you really didn't break
anything chances are good it will work.