A builder's trials

kw: little mysteries, computers

A process that typically takes two hours has so far not been completed over two weeks. This image shows one of two pins I bent when trying to insert a CPU into the wrong socket. I am allegedly helping my son build a computer. The part numbers of motherboards are frequently obscure, and we didn't buy the right one. We had to count pins to determine the incompatibility.

In the meantime, we had a possibly dead CPU. The pin at the center of the photo is actually almost straight, but has a bend in its middle. A couple of hours earlier, it was bent over against the neighboring pin to the left. Realizing the CPU could not be any deader, we decided to straighten the bent pins. In the meantime, we sent back the motherboard and purchased one with the right socket.

Fortunately, I have two sets of jewelers' screwdrivers. The smallest one was just the right size to get under the bent-over pins and pull them upright again. Then, using the smallest blade in each set like two-handed tweezers, my son and I took turns under the microscope gradually pressing the bend out of the middle of each bent pin. We finished up with a method we learned at Wikihow, sliding a credit card between rows of pins to get them all lined up and even again.

Once the replacement motherboard arrived, it took but a moment to mount the CPU in its socket. It literally dropped in, so we realized that "ZIF" really does mean "zero insertion force". Then we mounted all the components into the case, attached keyboard/mouse and monitor, and applied power.

Nothing. With the help of a technician we called, we determined that the power supply is OK, and that the motherboard and CPU are actually OK. They boot up when sitting on the table, just cabled to the power supply. We decided to insulate the bottom of the motherboard and remount it in the case.

Nothing. That is the point we are at. I'd hoped to report success, and have this be a posting about the robustness of a CPU, that straightening pins works. Well, I can report that, but we're crushed that somehow the motherboard is still shorting to the case and won't start up the power supply. It looks like I'll have to get the technician to clean up after us. We're stumped. What a sorry way to end a post!