I recently saw a post from Tweak Town showing a CPU with practically every pin bent with a caption "how would you fix this". One brilliant comment was simply a picture of a mechanical pencil. As soon as I saw it I remembered using the exact same tool to straiten pins on numerous old 486 and Pentium class CPUs in my youth. It is funny how easily we forget useful information when we don't use it anymore (I have not had to straiten pins for years now).
The trick is surprisingly simple and effective.
You will need:
1. Large gauge mechanical pencil (ideally one close to the gauge of the pins themselves)
2. A small, flat head jewelers screwdriver
3. A magnifying glass
4. A soldering iron (if a pin breaks off)
5. Solder
6. A lot of patience
Step 1:
Identify the bent pins and if necessary use the small jewelers screwdriver and magnifying glass to carefully bend the flattened pin up enough that you can get the mechanical pencil nib (without lead in it) over the pin.
Step 2:
Carefully insert the pin into the tip of the mechanical pencil and align the bend point to the bottom of the pencil nib so you straiten the pin at it's bend rather than create a kink.
Step 3:
Very carefully use the pencil to bend the pin back to it's correct position. If this step is a success then move on to other pins, if not and the pin breaks off then proceed to step 4.
Step 4:
Ordinarily a broken pin is a death sentence to a CPU as it is all but impossible to solder in such a tiny space. However, a steady hand and your trusty mechanical pencil may allow you to actually do it.
4a: Make very sure that the pin does not get lost and remains in the tip of the pencil.
4b: Using the soldering iron carefully apply a tiny amount of solder to the pin at the break point (easiest if it broke at the base).
4c: Once the solder has "tinned" the broken end of the pin add a tiny bit more solder to it, about the size of a small metal pin head.
4d: Now with the CPU sitting on a flat surface, carefully align the pin in it's correct position using the mechanical pencil to hold it there.
4e: Use the soldering iron to heat the pencil tip until the solder reflows (melts). It is best to use a metal mechanical pencil for this as a plastic one may melt and make a mess of things. Be very careful not to allow the solder to touch the pencil tip, there should be about a millimeter of bare pin exposed or you will not be able to pull the pencil off the pin later.
4f: Hold the pencil dead still as the solder hardens and refixes the pin in place for about 2 - 3 mins to be absolutely sure it took then pull the pencil off the pin.
Step 5:
Test the repaired CPU!
The soldering part can be very tricky (but not impossible) and may require multiple tries to achieve success but if you are desperate enough to attempt it to begin with then in all likelihood the effort will be worth it
I have used these tricks myself in the past and they are surprisingly effective so I felt I should share them here for all those in despair over bent pins on their AMD CPUs.