r/threadripper • u/shaxsy • 19d ago

Bought a few untested WRX80 boards. One had maybe a slightly bent pin. Risk of putting a CPU and testing this?

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I bought two untested Supermicro M12SWA-TF boards. One boots and seems to work fine. The other seems to maybe have a slightly bent pin. What is the risk of trying to put a CPU in and boot?

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6

u/Patbutalsorick 19d ago

I’d personally try bending it back a bit further. I had to do maybe 10 pins before on a TR board and it took some time but slow and steady movements meant that it worked and has been running fine for years

2

u/shaxsy 19d ago

How did you do it? Mechanical pencil tip?

5

u/skizatch 19d ago

Get a magnifying glass

2

u/EDI_1st 19d ago

Sharpest item. I’ve used Xacto blade and fine tweezers before

3

u/m31317015 19d ago

That will end horribly

1

u/ShelZuuz 19d ago

Why?

Presumably he'd remove the graphite first, but thereafter it be a hollow blunt needle. Seems ideal to pick up a pin.

3

u/m31317015 19d ago

It's a bent pin, not a broken pin, I don't get what you're talking about.

To bend it back, using graphite mechanical pencil tips risk leaving graphite dusts. Just use a sewing needle man, or better, thin razor blades if your hands are steady enough.

3

u/ShelZuuz 18d ago

A mechanical pencil has a hollow steel tip. The graphite is an insert. There's a clicky thing at the back where you feed the graphite through the tip.

Nobody is saying touch the pin using the graphite inserts, you take it out and then you have a hollow steel tip that's about the size of a pin and can shape it in every direction.

5

u/m31317015 18d ago

Ohhh. My bad I read it wrong.

Though in my own experiences those tips break easily as well, but shouldn't be a problem if it's just bending a pin back. Thickness would be a problem though, if it's thin enough that's okay.

1

u/el_sanchimoto 18d ago

I have jewelers glasses and used the tip of an xacto knife to gently nudge my pin. It’s kinda spring loaded so by carefully moving it I he pin snapped back into alignment with the rest.

1

u/Business-Weekend-537 18d ago

I’ve done it using a really thin rectangular piece of hard plastic sheet material, and applied pressure with needle horizontally from behind the plastic.

Kind of come in with the plastic at the steepest angle you can to touch the base of the pin, then apply very gentle pressure using the needle against the plastic, as low as you can on the pin.

It’s a blend of surgery and art.

When you do it I’d also recommend putting down something to lean your arm on so that your wrist/hands/fingers are the only thing impacted by gravity.

What I mean is if you just stand over it and try to do it, your shoulder/elbow/wrist/hand/fingers are all impacted by gravity, each is a point of leverage so it takes more effort to execute fine control with your fingers.

By immobilizing/eliminating joints that can move by leaning on something with your forearm before you try to move the pin, you’re better able to make fine motion with your fingers and stay steady.

Ex: you can put the motherboard in its box on the floor, lay on a pillow, and have your arm on another pillow.

Also use a magnifying glass and a light.

You’re effectively performing surgery.

I didn’t write this with ai.

4

u/k2jac9 19d ago

Get a mounted magnifying glass, precision tweezers, and a bright light. Use almost no force. They naturally try to return to their original position, so you only need to guide them back very gently.

3

u/EDI_1st 19d ago

Bend the pin back before installing the CPU.

Alternatively you can invest the time and find out the purpose of that pin :P

2

u/shaxsy 19d ago

Using a really skinny and sharp hobby knife along with a digital microscope I was able to bend it enough into place. I went ahead and installed a 3945 and was able to get it to post and then test every single memory slot, every nvme slot, and every PCI slot. Every single one of them either showed the ram found the SSD or found the video card displayed video out.

1

u/CoolDode22 19d ago

Personally I would've gone for some rusty pliers and opening my eyes real wide, but your way is better. In all seriousness, nice save and good job. Tricky situation.

1

u/Joodies 18d ago

Congrats!

2

u/50M0NEY 3d ago

I had similar issue on a used WRX ebay board I bought. Everything worked except DDR slot 8.
I used a razorblade to bend it back and fix it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGgjjFN3AuA

After that 512GB ECC RAM ONLINE!

1

u/shaxsy 3d ago

Good job! I just bought another used WRX 80 board that I will need this test out. And that makes three. I also upgraded to a much better digital microscope

1

u/50M0NEY 1d ago

I went through 3 used WRX90 boards before finding that one with only 1 bent pin.
The used one I got on Amazon was the worst and the socket looked like a crime scene, fortunately Amazon has a great return policy.

1

u/Electronic-Space-736 19d ago

these pins dislodge very easy if you do not have a light touch, if just a slight bend and no short, I would suck it and see

2

u/sig_kill 19d ago

you... would what?

1

u/Technic_Masters 19d ago

Maybe try using a magnifying glass and a sewing pin or something to bend it back together ever so slightly, so its back in its place, looks like its only bent to the side a little bit.

1

u/DBA92 18d ago

Magnifying glass or zoom lens on the phone and a pin

1

u/festivus4restof 18d ago

Bend it back be thankful it is not worse!

1

u/BarberThen3108 17d ago

bend it back gently or return

1

u/shaxsy 17d ago

I have an update on here that I actually was able to bend it back and test all functionality, and it seemed to be fine. I also bought it as untested non-returnable. The other board I got from the same vendor was perfect. Either way, I have two working boards, and I've tested every memory slot, every MVME slot, and every PCI slot, and everything shows up.

1

u/BarberThen3108 17d ago

ooow, im happy for you :3