Can Motherboard Cpu Pins Be Repaired

It'due south incredibly alarming when whatever harm comes to your beloved electronics, and peculiarly any part of your PC. One of the worst things for a PC is when the CPU gets damaged. Is there anything y'all tin can do to set up broken CPU pins?

If a CPU pivot completely breaks off, your best run a risk is to hope that merely a redundant ground pin broke because otherwise, it'll require special equipment to attempt a repair. Bent pins can be more easily stock-still with household items like credit cards and sewing needles with more success.

This commodity will take a closer look at what to practise when pins break on your CPU, including whether a CPU can work with broken pins and how you can remove the cleaved pins.

Note: I highly recommend you lot become your easily on some cheap magnifying spectacles or something like when attempting whatever of these methods.

Can a CPU work with broken pins?

CPU pins are extremely fine and can be bent or broken even with a gentle drop.

A CPU may still piece of work with bent pins. If you lot tin can straighten the pinout and reinsert information technology, at that place may be the hope of it working.

Occasionally, a CPU may even work without all the pins – simply this is a very rare situation that occurs when redundant ground pins are removed.

If a damaged CPU is 'fixed' and reinserted, it could work fine, merely there's as well the risk that information technology could cause a short with the other pins, resulting in permanent damage to the CPU and motherboard.

Simply put, trying to utilize a dwelling house-repaired CPU carries the risk that information technology could 'brick' your computer or cause it to lose ability and never plough on or part again.

This would reduce your computer to a 'brick,' hence the proper name.

How do I tell If a CPU is dead?

Sometimes, a CPU will stop working for no discernable reason. It'southward pretty clear when this happens because it results in a full computer failure, sometimes accompanied by an error message or not.

A few things that tin happen when a CPU fails:

The calculator refuses to even turn on, no beeps or screen activity.
The figurer doesn't perform the Power-On Kickoff Examination (Mail)
The computer doesn't turn on, simply the fan runs at a high setting.
The figurer does start only crashes subsequently a few seconds.
Blue Screens of Decease or any other system halt error.

If your computer gives yous any of these when you try to insert a CPU, it ways it's either damaged or merely expressionless.

In these cases, trying to further 'set up' the CPU won't do whatever good and you'll have to buy a new CPU.

How to ready broken pins on CPU

Sometimes we drop our CPUs or the pins go bent from incorrect insertion, and nosotros think that it isn't salvageable, but this isn't the example.

Sometimes pins tin can be reinserted and work, particularly if they're only bent. Bent pins are actually simple to fix, requiring minimal equipment and work.

Y'all demand one of these:

A credit card.
Sewing needle/tweezers/toothpick.
Mechanical pencil.

Depending on how damaged the pins are, you can use ane or more than of these in concert or one after some other.

Credit card method

A regular card or souvenir menu should be fine. To check, put the CPU on a apartment surface with pins in the air.

So, run the bill of fare through a row of undamaged pins. The card should make contact with the pins with minimal pressure. Information technology definitely shouldn't bend the pins or damage whatever office of the CPU.

And so, run the card in all 4 directions around the pin, and you'll end up straightening the pin.

Try reinserting the CPU later on this, only don't forcefulness information technology in—rather, gently try to insert it and dorsum off if it doesn't mount properly.

It can be particularly hard to tell if a pin is bent in the center, so inspect it closely and straighten it over again until it works.

Recall to not force the card when straightening pins, as it can damage the other pins.

Mechanical pencil method

A patently mechanical pencil with either a 0.5mm or 0.7mm (0.02in or 0.03in) opening should be fine. You need to remove the pencil lead beforehand and clear the opening of any obstructions.

How to fix bent pins using a mechanical pencil:

Put the tip of the pencil over the bent pin.
Carefully maneuver the pencil to straighten the pencil.
Use the pencil as a straight edge to make up one's mind how directly the pin is.
Once straight, carefully pop the pivot out of the pencil without farther bending it.

Sewing needle method

You can do this with tweezers and toothpicks as well, every bit long equally the object can comfortably fit between pins.

The indicate is that these objects can fit underneath bent pins, such equally pins that bend into awkward positions. Using this advantage, you lot can leverage the pin into a more easily accessible position.

To fix, follow these steps:

Slide your needle underneath the aptitude pivot, being extremely careful not to scratch the CPU'southward surface.
Pull just one side of the needle upwardly, leveraging the pivot into a straighter position.

After this, yous may want to utilize i of the other above methods to farther straighten the pin.

How to remove a broken pin from a socket

Removing a completely broken pin is a tricky chore because the pins are incredibly fine. Thankfully, there are a few methods of removing broken pins from sockets.

Solder sucker pump method

For this method, y'all'll need a solder sucker and a piece of silicone tubing.

Note: Make certain that it's a decent solder sucker. Quick test: Depress the plunger fully that it locks in place. Cake the intake nozzle with your finger, and press the release button. The plunger should only release a short distance and complete the total release length one time you remove you finger from the nozzle.

Cut a small length of silicone tubing, about half an inch long and printing it onto the nylon nozzle end of the solder sucker (it'south also a great way to keep your solder sucker tip like new for normal use).

You should finish up with most a quarter-inch of hosing left that is longer than the length of the nylon tip.

Load the solder sucker by depressing the plunger and placing the tip of the silicone hosing over the socket'south connector hole with the pin within it.

Printing the release button on the solder sucker and hopefully, the broken pin fragment will be within the solder sucker.

If not, repeat until you are successful. It may take several attempts to get it loose.

Tweezers method

With small enough tweezers, it's a cinch to remove broken pins. Use pointed, directly tweezers for this chore, every bit they tin best fit in the cramped surface area of the CPU pins. Simply close the tweezers until they can grip a pin—practice on unbroken pins if yous need to get a feel for information technology.

Then reach in while maintaining your grip and take hold of the broken pin, carefully pulling it out without disturbing any other pins. Now yous can decide whether you want to try and repair it, or perhaps try to see if the CPU volition work without information technology.

Can completely broken pins be repaired?

closeup of CPU pins and a marked area showing where to solder a broken pin

A common concern is that a pin breaking off is a problem yous can't fix, but that isn't strictly true. While CPU pins breaking vastly decreases the chances that repairs tin make the CPU functional once more, information technology isn't impossible. Repairing a cleaved pivot is possible with specialized equipment, simply it'southward all the same risky and hard to implement.

You will need:

Soldering fe.
Solder.
Flux.
Magnifying glass.

A word of caution: with how tiny CPUs are getting these days, even the tiniest slip of the hand can ruin the entire motherboard and essentially fry your reckoner. It isn't generally recommended to attempt repairs yourself. But in theory, you can solder the pin back together. However, actually doing and so is a very circuitous procedure akin to computer brain surgery.

Final thoughts

While it tin can be distressing when a pin bends or breaks, all isn't lost. Redundant basis pins breaking won't affect the CPU working, and there are numerous methods to gear up aptitude pins.

For cleaved pins, extremely careful soldering may work to reattach cleaved pins, but information technology'due south still a high risk.

Marlo has always been obsessed with computers his whole life. After working for 25 years in the computer and electronics field, he now enjoys writing about computers to assist others. Most of his fourth dimension is spent in front of his computer or other applied science to go on to learn more. Read more.