I am just here to remind everyone to make sure to not bend any pins and to protect yourself from the possibility that others bend them.
I recently had a major brand motherboard die over two days (kept crashing more and more frequently till it wouldn't boot). I inspect the board in the machine and voila busted capacitor. So I check my warranty 3 years (nice) and then purchase date (October 2006, nicer). I take the board out of the case, pop out the RAM and CPU, and put original CPU socket cover. There we no bent pins at this point, unless it happened as the the cover was put on. I took a picture of the busted capacitor before sending it off. I mail it off and when it was received I got an email stating the RMA was rejected due to a bent CPU pin. It would cost $90 to fix. Well that sucks. In honesty I have no idea when it got bent (me, UPS, or them), but it sucks. Unfortunately the fact that it couldn't have been bent if the capacitor hadn't blown doesn't matter (not surprisingly since people would just blow up a couple capacitors and send it in). This is my first bent socket pin. Next time I will take a picture of the CPU socket before sending it, so that at least I could feel OK about making a shipping claim. Well everyone else, just be careful.
Josh
I recently had a major brand motherboard die over two days (kept crashing more and more frequently till it wouldn't boot). I inspect the board in the machine and voila busted capacitor. So I check my warranty 3 years (nice) and then purchase date (October 2006, nicer). I take the board out of the case, pop out the RAM and CPU, and put original CPU socket cover. There we no bent pins at this point, unless it happened as the the cover was put on. I took a picture of the busted capacitor before sending it off. I mail it off and when it was received I got an email stating the RMA was rejected due to a bent CPU pin. It would cost $90 to fix. Well that sucks. In honesty I have no idea when it got bent (me, UPS, or them), but it sucks. Unfortunately the fact that it couldn't have been bent if the capacitor hadn't blown doesn't matter (not surprisingly since people would just blow up a couple capacitors and send it in). This is my first bent socket pin. Next time I will take a picture of the CPU socket before sending it, so that at least I could feel OK about making a shipping claim. Well everyone else, just be careful.
Josh