Missing ZIF retaining block and bar!

gdmaddog

Recently aquired a motherboard from our former server at work, an ASUS P4PE, after the rather inept IT people stripped it. The trouble with the server, it turns out, had been an improperly installed heatsink, resulting in a cooked processor, black carbon caked on top of it. Now in my possession, discovered the an actual problem with it:

Our IT guy snapped off the upper portion of the ZIF socket and threw it and its locking bar out in the trash, along with the processor!

Now, I'm not what you would call an expert, but it seems to me that the board is in good condition, and other than the missing parts, the ZIF socket and the surrounding areas are unmarred.

Do any of you have a lead as to where I can obtain the replacement parts for this ZIF socket? I'm sure there must be a method for snapping in a new bar and upper portion, but I simply cannot find a part, or someone with a doner board.

Geeky1

ASUS will repair it, I believe, but it'll cost you something like $25 or $50...

gdmaddog

Contacted them via email... sent me back their tech support numbers. Such is life. Would have been fairly good to find a doner board to canibalize for its parts, as it appears to be a simple "snap-in" piece.

muddocktor

Let me check with a friend of mine. I think he still has a socket 478 dell board laying around that had gotten fried from a lightning strike through the ethernet port and it still has the zif socket on it. I don't know if he's thrown it away or still has it though. I should see him sometimes this week.

Medlock

You could always go for an aftermarket heatsink, one that doesn't use the stock retention bracket. I still have the retention bracket here. I use a different heatsink though, so it's just sitting around with the Intel heatsink in it.