Hi all, I've been lurking around for a while, learning what I can, getting motivated and in the meantime gathering parts to build my retro PC to relive old times. The system I've assembled is an Asus P3B-F 1.03 with a P2 and it's worked very well so far, so I'm excited to explore / experiment more!

I recently had the chance to buy an MS6905 v2.2 slotket including two identical socket 370 Pentium 3 (SL3XX) CPUs. While visually inspecting the slotket before installation, I noticed it has a few missing components - C50 and C63 (which I'm assuming are capacitors). I carefully removed the CPU from the socket and noticed one of the pins was still stuck in the socket. I was able to take the pin out easily. The hole does look slightly damaged and I don't see any reflective copper inside. Looking at the CPU it seems like it had a bad day last time it was used. The detached pin and the pins around it look to me like they could have been soldered back onto the CPU, or the area is burned. It doesn't look good in any case. The other (identical) CPU is missing two pins, though it looks clean - no burn marks or anything. I'm wondering, did someone tried transplanting pins from one CPU onto the other or did they just break off?

This has made me all the more interested in figuring out what may have happened, and seeing whether I can still use or fix these components. I love a good challenge and am willing to spend effort learning new skills.

So, that brings me to this post 😀 Does anyone know (how to figure out) if the slotket is still usable, or if those capacitors are crucial? I haven't tried out the slotket yet, because I don't know if it could do damage to other components (e.g. the motherboard). Could it?

And then how about the CPUs, are they fried or is there a chance they might still work? I have found a datasheet with what I think might be the relevant pinout (https://download.intel.com/design/PentiumIII/ … ts/24526408.pdf), but I can't tell if they're redundant. Although obviously (very) difficult, is it theoretically possible to solder pins back onto a CPU?