MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI (Bent CPU Pins)

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RobCharles198153e02dc

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Hello everyone,
I recent purchased some new parts for a new Ryzen 5 AMD Build and the MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI From Ebuyer.com website.

I prepped the board outside of the case, installing CPU (Correctly) and Ram ect and placed into my case and installed my pump, and plugged in the ATX and CPU Connector and Front Panel for power to see if it posts - nope nothing dead as a do do.

I re-checked cables and the CPU still nothing.

I reached out to Ebuyer to obtain an RMA and they asked me to supply photos of the CPU socket which they frustratingly tell me it has bent pins! And they won't accept it back!
Would this be a port of call for MSI to fix/repair the socket?

Or the latter would be to buy a new board?

 
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See here, just posted something the other day about it. In short, MSI are not known to fix this under warranty, it's seen as user damage that is not covered by their warranty.

How exactly did you install the CPU? Because that is the most critical moment of the entire build, more or less.
The correct procedure (or at least the most common correct one) is this:

Leave the plastic protection cover on the CPU socket, do not remove it prematurely. Open the lever of the socket and the plastic cover rises with it. Grab the CPU from the left and right side in the correct orientation that it goes into the socket (you can see this by the writing on the CPU), preferably wearing gloves. Grab a bit more from the top than underneath, but not so much that it can slip out of your grip. Then slowly lower it completely flat into the socket. Treat the socket pins like you're doing open heart surgery, they are never to be touched by anything other than the flat CPU underside. Then close the lever of the socket, the plastic protection cover will pop off all by itself as it is pushed upwards by the CPU now.
 
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Thats what exactly I did and how I installed it, It went in the socket fine. Tried to power up test (Plugged in Power Cables) and no sign of life.
Thought it may be that the CPU was the fault removed and re-inserted and I think thats where I messed up :(
 
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It might actually be fixable. You need a magnifying glass, a tool with a thin tip and maybe some tweezers, and steady hands. Then check here about fixing bent pins.
You seem to have seven bent pins on top and one foreign object on the bottom:

pins.jpg


This is not gonna be easy, but it's doable. I mean, you could ask someone else to do this for you. If someone gets those golden tips to line up again nicely (they need to have the same position and height as the others), and none of the pins snap off, this socket could be saved. Heck, even if one pin breaks off, but the others are all aligned again, it might still work. Some of the pins are redundant, for example you have a bunch of ground pins sprinkled in between, if one of them is out, the others can pick up the slack. Of course that doesn't work anymore with seven pins that don't make contact.
 
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Cheers I will take this to a computer repair shop to help fix this.
Even if would be a good out come and still no post, I should get on to ebuyer that the motherboard won't post nor power on?
 
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RobCharles198153e02dc said:
Even if would be a good out come and still no post, I should get on to ebuyer that the motherboard won't post nor power on?
Click to expand...

Well, the first mistake was already here, i'm afraid:

RobCharles198153e02dc said:
I re-checked cables and the CPU still nothing.

I reached out to Ebuyer to obtain an RMA
Click to expand...

When you get no power at all, you first do methodical troubleshooting. Requesting RMA is the very last step, when the troubleshooting pointed firmly to a defective board.
So for example, if you don't even get an LED on the EZ Debug LEDs (above 24-pin ATX header) when giving the power-on signal, then yes, you would first double-check all the cabling that it's fully latched on (on both sides, if the PSU is modular, BTW which PSU model is it?).

But also that you are on the correct two pins of the correct header for the power switch, and you'd also try to short the two power switch pins with a screwdriver, or use your reset button on the power button pins, in case that has a problem. Then as a next step you would test with a different known good, not too old, decent-quality PSU. Those are all factors that have to be excluded first before even thinking about the board itself. Then you would try to make the board react in some way, at least give you some EZ Debug LEDs. Try without RAM, it should show the DRAM LED. Try without CPU, it should show the CPU LED.

I'm afraid that now, with that eBuyer shop already being aware of the socket damage from your RMA request, they will probably always refer to that as the root cause of everything. Not sure how to get around that. But yeah, first try to get it repaired somehow. The warranty from MSI is off the cards more or less, so if anything, you can only reach an agreement with eBuyer. Failing that, and you can't make it work, you might have to take the L, maybe sell it as defective for donor parts or something like that. But let's not think too far ahead of ourselves.
 
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Cheers I did all the tests, which reached a dead end - yet if the board still won't post time to get on to ebuyer and will obtain a written report from the computer repair place with their professional view.
 
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You cannot just say that, you have to test it. Any time the board will not power on at all, and if all trivial causes are excluded, the PSU is essentially the #1 thing to test.
And you can only test it properly by using a different PSU (known good, not too old, decent-quality). If the problem persists, the PSU is excluded. If it works, it was the PSU.
 
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Doesn't matter, trust me on this one. Whatever is going on with the PSU, the new board could be more sensitive about it than the old one. So the new one might detect something not being quite right, or an ATX timing being out of spec, and it doesn't even want to start. That's why you have to test with a different (borrowed) PSU. There is no way around it, it is of no importance that it works for another system. How old is that PSU?
 
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Look, i've seen people sing praises about their PSU before, and even if i were to believe them (and i do sometimes), it doesn't change the fact that it's not a real test of any kind.
You have a power-related problem, so the PSU must be excluded. And you don't do that by saying how good of a PSU it is, you can only do it by testing with a different one (that also has to meet certain requirements, it can't be some old spare PSU lying in a corner for years).

It's like you wanting to pass your driving test by telling the guy how good of a driver you are. Even if your driving instructor concurs, you won't pass the test until you have been put to the test. Ok, that's not the perfect analogy, but you see what i'm getting at: Words won't change anything about the necessity for a test with this kind of symptom.

If you get the same problem with another PSU, then fair enough, your PSU is probably still going strong. But what if it makes it work?
Of course, now, the pins would have to be fixed first.
 
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