Socket A retention arm not working

[Li'l ol' me]

There is a problem with the socket retainer thing on my asus avn266-vm
(although it applies to ANY socket A, surely).

The lever is not doing it's job, and if I try to attach a cooler, it pulls
up the piece of plastic where the cooler clips on to as it seems to be loose
(or broken) inside. In fact, it is possible to pull the entire piece out.
I'd post some piccies somewhere if I had a digi camera.

This is a perfectly good working board otherwise, and I don't want to bin it
for the sake of a bit of plastic.

Anyone know how easy (or not) it might be to fix?

 

[Alien Zord]

There is a problem with the socket retainer thing on my asus avn266-vm
(although it applies to ANY socket A, surely).

The lever is not doing it's job, and if I try to attach a cooler, it pulls
up the piece of plastic where the cooler clips on to as it seems to be loose
(or broken) inside. In fact, it is possible to pull the entire piece out.
I'd post some piccies somewhere if I had a digi camera.

This is a perfectly good working board otherwise, and I don't want to bin it
for the sake of a bit of plastic.

Anyone know how easy (or not) it might be to fix?

It is possible to remove the top sliding part. It's just clipped-on.
However, the heatsink securing lugs are part of the bottom fixed section and
to replace that you would have to unsolder all 462 pins and basically
replace the whole socket.
Alternatively get a heatsink whose clip uses all 3 lugs on both sides
(unless all 3 are broken of course).

 

[Li'l ol' me]

bin
It is possible to remove the top sliding part. It's just clipped-on.
However, the heatsink securing lugs are part of the bottom fixed section and
to replace that you would have to unsolder all 462 pins and basically
replace the whole socket.
Alternatively get a heatsink whose clip uses all 3 lugs on both sides
(unless all 3 are broken of course).

I'll have a looksie at the top bit to see if it comes off. I'm already
using a good cooler that uses all 3 lugs (is that what they're called?), but
the entire piece on one side seems to be loose. The lugs themselves are
fine, I guess I just need a way of securing the plastic they are all on.

 

[Phrederick]

There is a problem with the socket retainer thing on my asus avn266-vm
(although it applies to ANY socket A, surely).

The lever is not doing it's job, and if I try to attach a cooler, it pulls
up the piece of plastic where the cooler clips on to as it seems to be loose
(or broken) inside. In fact, it is possible to pull the entire piece out.
I'd post some piccies somewhere if I had a digi camera.

This is a perfectly good working board otherwise, and I don't want to bin it
for the sake of a bit of plastic.

There are heatsinks that use the mounting holes in the mainboard instead of
the plastic lugs on the CPU socket. This may accomplish what you need.

Also, if you're carefull, you MAY be able to glue the BOTTOM half of the
socket down to the mainboard. I don't recall which parts actually do the
moving so please correct me if I'm wrong. You definately want to make sure
the socket will still clamp onto the CPU pins when you're done.

This is one of those things that would be MUCH better to troubleshoot in
person.

 

[Li'l ol' me]

bin

There are heatsinks that use the mounting holes in the mainboard instead of
the plastic lugs on the CPU socket. This may accomplish what you need.

I know what you mean, but I think I've only got the northbridge cooler type.

Also, if you're carefull, you MAY be able to glue the BOTTOM half of the
socket down to the mainboard. I don't recall which parts actually do the
moving so please correct me if I'm wrong. You definately want to make sure
the socket will still clamp onto the CPU pins when you're done.

The problem isn't so much attaching the cooler but in locking the processor
in place. There is little or no pressure exerted by the arm even if I hold
the lugs in place while closing the arm. There is SOME movement, but
obviously not enough. Or the socket has some REAL damage which prevent the
chip being seated properly, I don't know!

If it was just the cooler, I think the board would POST (although the cpu
might not last too long!).

This is one of those things that would be MUCH better to troubleshoot in
person.

Obviously!