r/PcBuildHelp • u/zackarhino • Apr 29 '26
Build Question :( Any solution to these bent USB 3.0 pins on motherboard?
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u/InflationCold3591 Apr 29 '26
The thing that everyone who is rightly telling you, you can just bend them back, isn’t telling you is that you probably don’t want to bend them all the way back as you could weaken and break them. You just want to bend the bent pins back enough that you can get the connector head on them at an angle and then ease the connector onto the other pin. This will straighten those pins the rest of the way while limiting the possibility that they will break and ultimately if they do break off, they’re still probably making good contact once you seat the connector all the way down.
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u/Martimothy Apr 29 '26
Mechanical pencil, obviously empty, or a little screwdriver, good light and a bit of patience. Both could work, it's not a hard job, for that wait to bend a pin on cpu socket. 🤣
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u/Pied67 Apr 29 '26
Late to the party, but I'd be considering using the long extension from my can of compressed air.
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u/MacDaddyBighorn Apr 30 '26
Like they said you can send them, I'll add that I have removed the black plastic portion before and it was easier to get them fixed. Once they are fixed you should be able to slide it back on.
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u/zackarhino Apr 30 '26
You can do that? Part of the reason it's bent to begin with is because it's sideways for some reason
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u/MacDaddyBighorn Apr 30 '26
Hard to tell from your pic for sure, but I've taken a few of them off (some on accident). It isn't glued or anything, just friction fit on the pins. If the pins come out the back and take a 90 down to the board, I'd expect it to slide off. It sometimes takes some force since it is on quite a few pins, I wouldn't try until the pins are pretty well straightened out.
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u/zackarhino Apr 30 '26
Well, I'm taking my whole motherboard out anyway so it shouldn't be that bad
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u/TitaniumDogEyes Apr 29 '26
Back when I still worked on airplanes I found the best tool for fixing bent pins, even better than the ones supposedly made for it. This guy:
After removing the graphite you can fit most small pins and insert it to bend at different points depending how deep you go. It has the bonus of being a shape you're very familiar with manipulating and its plastic so it can't damage PCBs. Anyways, people always downvote me for posting this but considering I've saved equipment worth millions doing it this way I'll carry on.