Bent pins on motherboard cpu socket

DrJohnZoidberg

DrJohnZoidberg

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Our company purchased some PC stuff from Frontosa last week and I was tasked to build a box as our fallback server.

After spending many frustrating hours trying to get the thing to work (after discovering the PSU they sent was dead too) I eventually discover that two of the DIMM slots don't work. Okay great problem found so I head back to Frontosa to get the mobo and PSU replaced. First thing the guy there notices on the board is that there are a few bent pins on the cpu socket and tells me that he cannot do a swap out as it's against policy. This I understand but now I'm having to wait for Asus to get back to me and pay for them to fix something that I'm 99.9% sure wasn't caused by me.

I've never received a board with bent pins before and I sure as hell did not even touch the pins on the board except when putting the CPU in, which was the first thing I did. The machine did not work from step one even (besides the PSU problem which I diagnosed first) so somehow I managed to bend a small area of pins when putting a flat CPU in, or the pins were bent afterwards but then negating the point that the machine didn't work on the first run.

The guy at Frontosa told me that it could cost up to R700-R800 to fix :erm: That is half the price of the board.

Will hopefully hear back from Asus next week, but I seriously feel that I'm not liable for those damaged pins but there is absolutely no way of proving it.

Btw, the damaged pins are very difficult to see so I didn't notice anything when first taking the board out of the packaging, not that that would have helped anyhow. I must also say Frontosa were very helpful and quick to sort me out and the PSU was swapped out very quickly and they even tried to fix the bent pins (to no avail).

What would you guys do about this and has anybody had a similar situation?

UPDATE:

I eventually received a replacement board on 18 Oct 2012. Not the fastest turn around time, but at least I have a working board now (hopefully - not yet installed).
 
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Do you know how many times FrontoSA have tried to sell me "new" stuff that was clearly used already .....

:erm:
 
Learn the lesson now and maybe don't buy from them again. Alternatively, post this on hello peter and see if Frontosa responds :)
 
Although, if your company have a longstanding relationship with Frontosa don't go the Hellopeter route.
 
You have to be damn clumsy to bend the pins on a CPU. The socket is keyed so only goes in one way, then the hold-down tab is very gentle. I thought that nowadays, the pins were on the mobo and the CPU had little detents? I have a i7 in my hand and that looks like that. Are you sure it not come like that? Wasn't there a plastic housing in the mobo socket tray that you have to take out?

corei5_comparisoni7.jpg
 
chrisc4290 said:
You have to be damn clumsy to bend the pins on a CPU. The socket is keyed so only goes in one way, then the hold-down tab is very gentle. I thought that nowadays, the pins were on the mobo and the CPU had little detents? I have a i7 in my hand and that looks like that. Are you sure it not come like that? Wasn't there a plastic housing in the mobo socket tray that you have to take out?

/snip
Click to expand...

Yes, the pins are on the motherboard, that's the problem. I am also pretty sure it will take a good amount of force to bend those pins, I'm sure it would be something I would have noticed. I'm also not the kind of person that would lie about doing this, if it was my fault I would accept it and pay them to fix it but I've been building PCs since I was 12 and have always been very careful when working with PC components.
 
pampoenskyf said:
Although, if your company have a longstanding relationship with Frontosa don't go the Hellopeter route.
Click to expand...

pampoenskyf said:
Learn the lesson now and maybe don't buy from them again. Alternatively, post this on hello peter and see if Frontosa responds :)
Click to expand...

Ye, not going to jump the gun. Still waiting to hear back from Asus and I really have no leg to stand on as I would have had to inspect the motherboard with a magnifying glass before accepting it.
 
DrJohnZoidBerg:
Was the motherboard's CPU socket covered with a plastic place holder when you unpacked it?

I have fixed an AMD x2 4200+ that had bent pins, even though I broke off a pin it still worked afterwards :D
 
The mobo probably came from the factory like that. I mean, there is this plastic shield over the pins and it is also in a static bag. So no-one would check it first. I have had plenty of dead PSUs though. Pretty crappy quality control. I see you can get 450 watt PSUs for under R 100,00 now.
 
Pada said:
DrJohnZoidBerg:
Was the motherboard's CPU socket covered with a plastic place holder when you unpacked it?

I have fixed an AMD x2 4200+ that had bent pins, even though I broke off a pin it still worked afterwards :D
Click to expand...

Yes, had the cover installed.
 
:wtf: Seriously are you really going to be paying R700-R800 to repair the motherboard
We do this for free to our clients that bring back motherboards with bent pins

In my opinion you paying too much the most they should have charged you was the transport cost to and from the Asus Service centre
but I suppose they need to make a profit on your misfortune
 
Esquire said:
:wtf: Seriously are you really going to be paying R700-R800 to repair the motherboard
We do this for free to our clients that bring back motherboards with bent pins

In my opinion you paying too much the most they should have charged you was the transport cost to and from the Asus Service centre
but I suppose they need to make a profit on your misfortune
Click to expand...

This is not the price I have received. I asked the guy to give me an estimate and he said he had a customer previously that payed this amount to get the socket replaced on a high end board.

I have not yet received an official quote from Asus, will update here when I do. The technicians at Frontosa said they tried to fix the pins but they couldn't so had to send it through to Asus.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
This is not the price I have received. I asked the guy to give me an estimate and he said he had a customer previously that payed this amount to get the socket replaced on a high end board.

I have not yet received an official quote from Asus, will update here when I do. The technicians at Frontosa said they tried to fix the pins but they couldn't so had to send it through to Asus.
Click to expand...

irrespective whether they charge you R200 or R 700 that should have been done for free
 
Just an update on this.

I received a quote for over R700 to repair my "new" motherboard and promptly emailed the Asus contact I had been given by the tech guy from Frontosa.

Took a week to get any response from her and was then handed over to another guy who in turn handed me over to another guy who didn't help me one bit. I now asked the last guy to give me his superiors contact details and now I must email this guy from China on Monday (he is apparently on leave until then).

Nobody from Asus so far has been the slightest bit interested to genuinely help me with this.
 
Pada said:
You can always try to ask ASUS_za myBB member if he can assist you.
Click to expand...

Thanks Pada, I very much doubt though that he could help - I had to involve a manager from Asus China.

Still no resolution to my issue however and it has now been almost a month. Still no motherboard.
 
What mobo and socket is this? Recently bought a PC from wootware and they even had a print out stating to be extra careful when placing the CPU in as the pins bend very easily and will void the warranty. Thought it was a bit odd and must be a socket 1155 thing as it was my first 1155 build.
 
Update.

I have the new board, finally. Picked it up today from Frontosa. I haven't installed it yet, will do that tomorrow but all should be fine as its a brand new board.
 
What a performance and nearly a month. Did you have to pay anything for the replacement, etc?
 
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