LinuxQuestions.org - My not-so-successful story

Darn! I've had a slightly unsettling experience right now.

Foreword: I have gotten a complete Duron 900 (BIOS calls it Duron XP 1300) based box a few weeks ago to replace the 300 MHz PII I was using at that time. (Thanks Ivo!) So my new machine is actually about 6 years old ;).

Yesterday, the fact came to my mind that I also had an old box on my attic which I used about 6 years ago, a 1000 MHz Athlon, socket A like the duron. That box's power supply had died a few years ago, taking with it the mainboard and RAM. I never checked if the processor had survived but supposed so, because it had proven its durability several times before :D

So I decided to replace the Duron in the new box with the Athlon. I got the old box down from the attic and checked the processor. Optically flawless. Ok. On my way home today I bought some heat compound. At home, I even watched a video on AMDs site to remind me of the heatsink installation procedure - I just remembered you needed kinda brute force to do it so I wanted to refresh my memories of how to do it.

I was eager to see if my goold old athon would still be the runner it was back then. Man, I thought, I got heat compound, I even watched that vid: I really considered everything ;)

So I opened the newer box and was delighted to see that, unlike other socket A mainboards I had to do with, the heatsink on this one was not clipped on, but screwed to the mainboard. Nice one, I thought, and removed the srews. The clamp jumped up and - nothing happened. I tried to take the heatsink off but couldn't move it. Another screw somewhere? No. No matter what I did, I couldn't manage to get it off.

I held the board up and thoroughly examined it again. There must be something, I thought. I looked at the socket, trying to see what was wrong. And then I saw it.

There was no socket! They in fact soldered the cpu to the darn board! And obviously even glued the heatsink on the processor!!! Now I see why the sticker on one of the screws said "warranty void if removed". :mad:

And I even jiggled around there. As I couldnt't remove the sink, I could also not apply fresh heat compound. If the processor burns down upon next kernel compile session I'll start a personal rant page against the boards manufacturer. (E! C! S!)