I do use that cooler. When I installed it, it took an extreme effort to get the screws in line to the mounts, and an unfortunate and undesirable amount of force was used. I was sweating a lot through that process. I think I'm going to take the whole Mobo out next weekend and get a really solid look at things. This grounding issue seems likely so I'll probably take off the cooler and its mounts. I still have the stock cooler Intel gave me in hand. @bob.blunderton , I'd like to refrain from moving pins as they are extremely brittle. I may have seen an anomaly when I did a quick scan but it was very hard to see if anything looked bad. I did apply for an RMA so I'm waiting to hear back. I hope they'll help me out even if I accidentally bent a pin or two. --- Post updated --- Useless post much?
Don't say anything about bent pins to them. Just tell them your machine has been working for a while and when you went to upgrade it Channel A didn't work on the memory. If you look with the naked eye you won't be able to see everything with those pins. Yes they are brittle, you have to be super-duper gentile with those, but with perserverance you CAN right the wrongs, if this is your case. It could totally be a grounding issue, you can usually get the little rubber o-rings at hardware stores or the Homo_Depot/BLowes (hardware store). They used to come with motherboards like 15 years ago standard. I've also seen issues with ground where it was due to a backplate being installed facing the wrong way - but you don't seem stupid. If you've got steady hands, try freely setting your heatsink on the cpu, without mounting it just to see if the machine boots with ram in channel A, if it isn't the type to easily topple. You won't hurt the machine if you're doing this for <1 min. Intel cpu's have thermal shutoffs - that's how I check for a cooler mount grounding error. On that note, my phanteks https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phanteks-PH-TC14PE-CPU-Cooler-Red/dp/B005ORDOBQ cooler hasn't given me any grounding issues - but I only got it because it was RED, you get 70~90% the performance for about the third the price with the Hyper 212 Evo. Could just be something in the Asrock board that's in the keep-out zone against Intel's specs, or something as small as a metal shaving that got in that shouldn't be there (could be from manufacturing). Those boards were pretty well-received by the press and users alike. Motherboard manufacturers don't like honoring warranty on bent pins. They really don't, but when you tell them it NEVER worked right from the start, and threaten to call the better business Bureau, they might honor it. Don't threaten unless you're denied warranty. Personally, I stick to the Asus boards, but I only bought this Asus board because it was RED. I did a RED themed interior on this PC. Black case with white trimming inside, red/black parts with some white trimmings. I had really good luck with Asus boards and they were less finicky than Gigabyte boards (same company though!). Generally a mobo is of good quality if it has the all-digital voltage regulation and all solid caps. For future reference, I actually stopped dealing with Newegg, because the warranty/service is considerably better with Amazon in comparison, and the shipping is way better.
I never mentioned the possibility of the CPU pins being bent in the report I made. When I wrote it, it didn't make sense for there to be damage because the system is fully operational besides that bank. I've been educating myself all week about this stuff. I did make clear that the system wouldn't boot the first time I tried it (this was 4 months ago); it gave me the RAM error when I had the A bank filled with the same DIMMs. After digging around looking for a solution, somewhere told me to try just the B banks and it worked and I was happy enough so I forgot about it. Threatening isn't really my style. I'll find a way to deal with it when and if I get there. Decided I'm going to do a tear-down tonight to see if I find anything. I'll probably post pictures here.
The worst has been realized, two pins damaged One near the bottom that I'm not sure what's going on with. Full shot: Close up: Seeing the silver, it looks like the one is bent backwards (towards bottom of PC) Next one is at the upper right of the socket, Close up: This one looks curled up a bit to me. Tell me what you think.
I've managed to do it before with lot's of time and patience, sold the board for a nice profit. Helps if you have a steady hand, unlike me.
Not that it matters, I decided to try finding out what those pins are, armed with this: http://www.intel.co.uk/content/dam/...h-gen-core-family-desktop-vol-1-datasheet.pdf Assuming I got this correct, those pins are Signal Name, Ball # SB_DQ62, AF6 SA_DQ49, AL4 No idea what those are, but there you go.
Update #1 Think I got somewhere with the top right one. moved it down, it's slightly offset right now. --- Post updated --- Hoping that pressing the cpu into place lines it up. It's really damn close Onto the bottom one --- Post updated --- Bottom one looks even closer than the top one. Time for a test, wish me luck --- Post updated --- No dice.
Indeed it was; it was my last ditch effort before waiting on the warranty or buying a new one. Totally my fault. This was my first PC I'd ever put together, I knew I'd muck something up. Good news is I found the sweet spot of mounting my cooler! Takes no effort now
oh mine are AMD Hyper-X no-offence mine are a bit better but I think he should just get new ones... --- Post updated --- lol
Well as I figured, a bent pin or two - this happens, you just got really lucky when it happened, that it didn't affect a more important part of the PC-to-chip communication. Chances are, if you take a very super-skinny needle-nose jewelers tweezers/pliers, you could squeeze (GENTLY without pulling away or twisting) than pin straight, so that it makes good contact with the cpu. Although you straightened it out (good job!), it's most likely still got a curve to it, preventing it from touching the chip fully. Don't try this if you can't get to the actual pin without touching the other pins around it. Because if you bent a straight piece of metal (or anything), it wouldn't reach as far... so hence no contact, no circut. This more-so requires the perfect tool. It's entirely worth going to a jeweler or someone that sells jewelers tools for. Take the board in box/anti-static bag to a jeweler if you must. I had a friend do this when I couldn't get to the computer - it got fixed for 25$ by the local in-mall jeweler, but see if they'll lend you a tool for a minute on the counter with it for you to do, if they're not going to try - maybe bribe them a few bucks (5~10 bucks, not much but it might work!). --Just an idea!
Thanks for the info. I'm done comfortably molesting my pins. I'm going to wait on my RMA reply, should be in soon.
Don't blame you there. Oh, well yeah, glad I could help you pinpoint the problem though. Didn't mind for a bit the time to pull the spec sheet for the 1150 cpu socket/processor pin diagram just incase something acts up on mine. I'd have thought it was a bad ram slot if it was just one of the two slots on a bank but when you said they were both bad, more than 9 times out of 10, it's a nicked pin on a processor socket. Those sockets get bent up too easily, and they only seem to add MORE pins each round. Fixed a few in the socket 775 days (prescott>conroe>wolfdale etc)... but you have to have some super-duper steady hands (not me with my blood sugar problems now). Well I wish you the best on your endeavors as you make good maps! If you positively, absolutely must have a replacement board, sometimes Ascendtech has good deals on OEM surplus (great if a relative's computer goes POOF in the night!). Amazon is good with service and prices are generally acceptable - especially if it's 'fulfilled by amazon', Newegg used to be my goto but in the last several years have stopped buying due to poorer-than-average service, and them shipping things 'neglected class freight'. Look up on pricewatch.com and sometimes you'll find a steal of a deal on parts - that place has been around for almost 20 years, used to use it when it first came out in the pentium II/III days when I was in my teens. --Cheers
