Legit Reviews

First off, can I RMA my 955 BE and replace it? Because this all started when I decided to replace the stock cooler with a Dark Knight, and as I was trying to take out the stock HS/F, the processor came out with it, stuck to the bottom. Uh oh. So after 5 minutes, I managed to pry off the CPU (with a plastic ruler, it flew off and it hit the ground pins up). As i tried again and again to place it back into the socket, i noticed that one side was sticking up kinda funny. And there they were. There were at least 5 pins bent. I really don't know what to do. I don't want to try to fix it, because i might void the warranty, or cause any more damage. Help!

you can only try to bend them back straight and use it, with bent or broken pins chips are non-returnable because it is "user induced damage" and AMD is not liable

try to straighten them, if one maybe two breaks off it *may* be a ground pin which is not required for use, so straighten all of them, and whether a pin breaks or not see if it can boot, if you don't get POST, then you're outta luck and have to buy a new chip, sorry. trust me, i know how it feels tho!

Ouch

well, the customer support guy (AMD has top-notch service, i got redirected three times, but the whole thing took about 10 minutes. :D ) said that if the damage was how i described it (5-10 pins bent, nothing else) then i would get RMA'd and a new one would be shipped back. now all i need to do is go to FedEx and hopefully the new one will be a C3 stepping.

did you try straightening them? or go straight to tech support

yes, i did, but it was bent almost 90 degrees and i almost snapped it. plus, there were some almost in the middle and if i tried to bend those, i might bend some others on accident.

I have dealt with bent processor pins in the past. luckily I was able to bend them back and everything worked fine.

Doesn't matter much if you are getting it RMA'ed. If you were not able to get an exchange, you could try straightening them yourself (like somebody has already said). If pin(s) happen to break off, you can leave them out and put the processor into the socket and see if it POSTs..hopefully those missing pins were ground pins (someone else also said). If the missing pins are critical, then you can straighten them out, and put them in the correct "hole" in the socket, then put the CPU in the socket like normal. If the pins are in contact with the CPU and in the socket, you could possibly save your processor.

I broke one of the pin on a CPU that i had and that technique saved me from buying another one.