- last edited on by
ROGBot
I just bought a partially broken Asus Maximus VII Formula for € 70,-.
It has 3 bend motherboard socket pins, but a processor still makes contact with them so it does still function properly (According to the seller).
Another problem is that memory socket A1 and A2 don't function and show the error code 55 on the motherboard display.
The other two memory slots work just fine. He says the two broken DIMMs were already broken when he received the motherboard, but I find that hard to believe.
I know it's a risky purchase but for that money I just had to give it a try.
I can't let such a beautiful armored up motherboard go to waste 😄
Below I've uploaded some pictures that show the motherboard and the socket.
I haven't received the motherboard yet, but the pins don't look entirely lost yet.
The bent pin on the top is easy to spot, but the others are barely visible from what I can see.
Does anyone have any experience with pushing pins back to their place?
I'd reckon that a plastic toothpick and a magnifying glass + a good lamp and some patience can fix these pins.
Any insight / ideas from the ROG experts is welcome 🙂
It has 3 bend motherboard socket pins, but a processor still makes contact with them so it does still function properly (According to the seller).
Another problem is that memory socket A1 and A2 don't function and show the error code 55 on the motherboard display.
The other two memory slots work just fine. He says the two broken DIMMs were already broken when he received the motherboard, but I find that hard to believe.
I know it's a risky purchase but for that money I just had to give it a try.
I can't let such a beautiful armored up motherboard go to waste 😄
Below I've uploaded some pictures that show the motherboard and the socket.
I haven't received the motherboard yet, but the pins don't look entirely lost yet.
The bent pin on the top is easy to spot, but the others are barely visible from what I can see.
Does anyone have any experience with pushing pins back to their place?
I'd reckon that a plastic toothpick and a magnifying glass + a good lamp and some patience can fix these pins.
Any insight / ideas from the ROG experts is welcome 🙂
Alright a short update guys! I received the motherboard today and it seriously looks as good as new.
It's such a shame that someone managed to actually butcher the socket of this beatiful piece of art.
The motherboard has no physical damage anywhere, as far as I can see that is.
So about the pins.. This is going to be a very tough and precise job.
I'm not a 100% sure this board is completely fixable, but I'm going to give it my best shot of course 🙂
The good news is that the pin on the left doesn't really look bend, it should make contact with the CPU just fine once it's pressed inside the socket.
The pin on the right is a little jiggly and somewhat pointed upwards. I am not sure how he managed to do that.
I should be able to somewhat move this pin into the right angle and when pressing the socket down it should be making contact just fine.
I hope that the pin does make good contact with the motherboard on the 'other end' of the pin, as a wiggely pin is never a good sign.
Now for the pin on the top.. That little bugger is probably causing the most problems and possibly also DIMM A1(red) and A2(black) to not function.
I was unable to find a LGA1150 pin lay-out from Intel, only one from Sandy Bridge sadly.. So im not sure how important that particular pin is.
For example if it's just a Ground pin, than it doesnt matter. But if its a RAM or Vcore or GPU pin it's a lot more complicated.
So the upper pin is really messed up. It's angled downwards but also slightly bend.
I'm going to need some extremely steady hands and insanely tiny tools to fix this.
I'd seriously rate the difficulty 9 out of 10, this guy really did his best to destroy the pin!
A plastic toothpick or bank card will possible fix the angle but not the bend part.
I somehow need to apply just the right amount of force with the tiniest possible tweezer to bend it back ánd to not make it snap.
This all has to happen without damaging any others pins or pulling the pin out of the socket.
I will probably post my results later today or perhaps tomorrow.
The odds are against me, but I hope I can present a picture to you guys with a relatively clean 'fixed' socket, rather than a completely murdered socket 😛
Stay tuned!
Edit: The upper pin looks easier to fix on the picture, but I can assure you it's completely messed up..
It's such a shame that someone managed to actually butcher the socket of this beatiful piece of art.
The motherboard has no physical damage anywhere, as far as I can see that is.
So about the pins.. This is going to be a very tough and precise job.
I'm not a 100% sure this board is completely fixable, but I'm going to give it my best shot of course 🙂
The good news is that the pin on the left doesn't really look bend, it should make contact with the CPU just fine once it's pressed inside the socket.
The pin on the right is a little jiggly and somewhat pointed upwards. I am not sure how he managed to do that.
I should be able to somewhat move this pin into the right angle and when pressing the socket down it should be making contact just fine.
I hope that the pin does make good contact with the motherboard on the 'other end' of the pin, as a wiggely pin is never a good sign.
Now for the pin on the top.. That little bugger is probably causing the most problems and possibly also DIMM A1(red) and A2(black) to not function.
I was unable to find a LGA1150 pin lay-out from Intel, only one from Sandy Bridge sadly.. So im not sure how important that particular pin is.
For example if it's just a Ground pin, than it doesnt matter. But if its a RAM or Vcore or GPU pin it's a lot more complicated.
So the upper pin is really messed up. It's angled downwards but also slightly bend.
I'm going to need some extremely steady hands and insanely tiny tools to fix this.
I'd seriously rate the difficulty 9 out of 10, this guy really did his best to destroy the pin!
A plastic toothpick or bank card will possible fix the angle but not the bend part.
I somehow need to apply just the right amount of force with the tiniest possible tweezer to bend it back ánd to not make it snap.
This all has to happen without damaging any others pins or pulling the pin out of the socket.
I will probably post my results later today or perhaps tomorrow.
The odds are against me, but I hope I can present a picture to you guys with a relatively clean 'fixed' socket, rather than a completely murdered socket 😛
Stay tuned!
Edit: The upper pin looks easier to fix on the picture, but I can assure you it's completely messed up..
Hello Friends!
Here's another update soon than I expected.
I immediately went to the gold and silversmith and we checked out all the pins with an awesome magnifying glasses thingie you can put around your head.
He was really helpful and insightful and gave me his opinion.
After that we joined forces and both managed to straighten some pins out as good as possible.
Afterwards I insisted of paying him but he only asked of me to let him know if it helped 🙂
This is the result:
What we noticed was that the upper pin was really butchered.
The ending of the pin should have a little gold knob that pushes against the CPU back, but this one was just nearly gone.
So what we managed to do was use a pair of small tweezers to push the pin up slightly so it would make contact with the CPU again.
We alligned it perfectly and did NOT remove the bend, because chances are it will break then.
I decided to disensemble my current PC, removing my current Asus Maximus VII Ranger motherboard.
After a lot of cursing, because I had to undo all my cable management, I finally got the new Formula motherboard in.
Also, like two weeks ago, I reapplied new thermal paste (CoolLaboratory Liquid Ultra) which is expensive and weird stuff.
It's unlike any other compound as it's 100% made of metals. I decided to leave it on because it looked great and I don't suspect any air bubbles like in Acrtic Silver 5.
As we speak I am typing on my pc with the as good as new Asus Maximus VII Formula!!! 😄
Because I had a ROG VII board I left all my software on it (AISuite 3 etc) and its working like a charm IDLE right now
As you can see it's powered up and blazing woooooh!
The seller said DIMM A1 and A2 were broken, but as you can see I'm using DIMM A1 and DIMM B2.
The motherboard display is showing A0 which means everything is right and there's no errors at all!
It seems this motherboad has been revived from the dead, although I have some stress testing ahead of me to ensure the board is fine.
The Corsair RAM is happily running at 2133 Mhz (stock) right now so all seems good my fellow ROG owners!!
Here's another update soon than I expected.
I immediately went to the gold and silversmith and we checked out all the pins with an awesome magnifying glasses thingie you can put around your head.
He was really helpful and insightful and gave me his opinion.
After that we joined forces and both managed to straighten some pins out as good as possible.
Afterwards I insisted of paying him but he only asked of me to let him know if it helped 🙂
This is the result:
What we noticed was that the upper pin was really butchered.
The ending of the pin should have a little gold knob that pushes against the CPU back, but this one was just nearly gone.
So what we managed to do was use a pair of small tweezers to push the pin up slightly so it would make contact with the CPU again.
We alligned it perfectly and did NOT remove the bend, because chances are it will break then.
I decided to disensemble my current PC, removing my current Asus Maximus VII Ranger motherboard.
After a lot of cursing, because I had to undo all my cable management, I finally got the new Formula motherboard in.
Also, like two weeks ago, I reapplied new thermal paste (CoolLaboratory Liquid Ultra) which is expensive and weird stuff.
It's unlike any other compound as it's 100% made of metals. I decided to leave it on because it looked great and I don't suspect any air bubbles like in Acrtic Silver 5.
As we speak I am typing on my pc with the as good as new Asus Maximus VII Formula!!! 😄
Because I had a ROG VII board I left all my software on it (AISuite 3 etc) and its working like a charm IDLE right now
As you can see it's powered up and blazing woooooh!
The seller said DIMM A1 and A2 were broken, but as you can see I'm using DIMM A1 and DIMM B2.
The motherboard display is showing A0 which means everything is right and there's no errors at all!
It seems this motherboad has been revived from the dead, although I have some stress testing ahead of me to ensure the board is fine.
The Corsair RAM is happily running at 2133 Mhz (stock) right now so all seems good my fellow ROG owners!!
