[HELP] I broke the screw of a CPU arm, can I return it or get it fixed?

Hi. I'm a bit desperate, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I received my refurbished Alienware 15 R3 a few days ago. After applying new thermal paste, as I was tightening the screw on the topmost CPU arm, the screw broke (the top part that grips the arm broke) and is now stuck in its hole, and I can't take it out.

Do you think Dell would take it back if I were to return it?

If not, do you think they will fix it for free?

Thanks for your time.

 

or you could be more honest and take advantage of the situation and make a heatsink upgrade, buying the gtx 1070 heatsink, if your gpu is a gtx 1060.
i dont know if the gtx 1080 heatsink come for 15 r3 too. you need to ask to @iunlock or tem Lhz or something like that ahahaha

 

You'll need to extract it using the extraction tool kit. Or just replace the HS all together...may need to drill from the opposite side of the screw stub.

 

Dont lie about it to dell when returning it or wlse someone else is stuck after reselling with your screw up. Follow iunlock his advice or be honest to dell about it.

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone. The problem right now is the motherboard since the screw is lodged in the motherboard and it won't come out.
It would definitely be dishonest to return it at this point, so I won't do it.
I think it would be best if I asked Dell to fix it for me, but I'm afraid that they will void my warranty. How likely do you think that might be?

 

Put a rubber band between the screw and screwdriver. You might be able to screw it out then.

 

How hard did you screw this thing in? I find it hard that anyone can break it off. Maybe it was defective already from the previous owner.

 

The thing is that I bent the CPU arm upwards a bit before I tried screwing it in. I think that alone put too much pressure in the screw head, so it just snapped off. Unfortunately, it is also stripped, so I can't take it out.

Sorry to ask again, but do you think this will void my warranty?

 

I reached out to Dell on Twitter, and it seems they won't void my warranty, but they will also not fix it within the warranty, which is reasonable. I think I'll ask them to repair it. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

Might as well start posting with a real account. I'm Andri92 below.

 

I disassembled it and took a few pictures:

Alienware 15 R3 Heatsink CPU Arms
Alienware 15 R3 Screw Holes
Alienware 15 R3 Broken Screw Head
Alienware 15 R3 temperatures running Prime95

Please ignore the dumb amount of thermal paste.
You can see how much I bent the heatsink cpu arm labelled "1" vs. the other heatsink cpu arms. I'm posting this mainly so other people avoid making the same mistake.
Funnily enough, even with the top CPU heatsink arm left unscrewed after repasting, the temperatures are a bit better.

 

Wouldn't bother with shipping back and forward to Dell (assuming you don't have at-home service?). Try the rubber band trick suggested by rinneh first and if that fails then order a micro bolt-extractor (the 3mm version will do fine, even if the bolt is a little smaller). It'd probably be a lot cheaper than the official repair and you'll have a nice tool for future repair jobs. Only need to find a new bolt then, but if you have a box of assorted leftovers then that too would be a stitch (might even pull a redundant bolt from elsewehere in the laptop).

The bent arm is no problem whatsoever. Just make sure to push down the tab before screwing in the new bolt. Make a habit out of this and there'll be a lot less risk of stripping threads, wearing out the head or breaking it off completely. Would not bend it back as it'd risk fatigue and snapping off. And leaving it 'as is' will put a little bit more pressure on the sink, which was probably the intent anyway.

 

Thanks.

I did try the rubber band trick, but what is left of the screw is too stripped for it to budge. I would try the extractor, but I don't have any power tools... Replacing it would be easy, since the screws are standard and I could just buy new ones, I think.

I did bend the arm myself, sorry for the confusion. I did it to put more pressure on the CPU on that side of the heatsink. It is very resilient, I think it would be really hard for me to snap it off. Which in hindsight only makes me feel even worse about the fact that I bent it with so much force and I still didn't consider that that might cause issues when screwing it in.

Coming Monday I'll ask Dell how much it would the repair actually cost, and I'll decide what to do then.

 

looks worst as i thought, you dont brake an arm ... you brake the screw and it is stuck inside O_O

 

No need for that, a hand-held tool is fine and it'll actually be easier since you have more precise control. Extracting a bolt doesn't take that much power; push on it and slowly turn counter-clockwise and the extractor will dig itself in, creating its own drive.

 

Worst case scenario if you take it to a local electronics repair shop they can probably extract it if your not comfortable doing it, and do it cheaper then shipping it back to Alienware.

 

Good to know, I though I had to use a power tool. Thanks.

You're probably right. I'm going to ask Dell for a quote, mainly because I'd feel more at ease if they were the ones repairing it since if it breaks any further they would be the ones accountable. If their quote is unreasonable I'll probably look into local electronics repair shops. Thanks.

 

Can you buy this heatsink?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Alienwa...195992?hash=item465eae5c98:g:lZMAAOSwhlZYs0eI
for example this is the heatsink for the 15 r3 gtx 1070

 

That's a bit too expensive for me as this isn't really needed.

 

in fact is not needed at all, you need a new screw and i do know hot the hell you are going to remove the broken screw inside that hole

 

I reached out to Dell, here's the transcript: http://pastebin.com/raw/3DEAWFv0.
It seems that they would have to replace the motherboard, which would be really costly (~£1000 for a new one, >£300 for a refurb).
I think I will try to reach out to a local computer repair shop.

My 15 r3 already has a gtx 1070 heatsink, thanks for the suggestion, though.

 

Sorry if i'm late to this party but... This happend to me the last time I repasted. I was tightening the screw on the top left of the GPU, the head of the screw just popped off. I tried the rubberband with no luck. After my freak out, I looked at my toolkit and i had a small screwdriver with a black tip. The tip had no specific end to it, it was just bare. I realized it had a strong magnet on the tip. I stirred around the metal housing counter clockwise and instantly the screw screwed itself out. I'm sure any magent would work. Hopefully i'm not too late.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I think it worth a try, I might look into it. At the moment I'm using the laptop as is, since even when gaming the CPU rarely goes over 75 degrees. Does anyone think I might run into issues due to that in the long term?

 

I would do it just for peace of mind. Getting that screw body out was scarily easy. With the magnet it was took like 2 seconds, you may even be able to do it without unscrewing the heatsink. Since the housing that holds the screw is exposed, you may just be able to work around the heatsink counter clockwise, then use the magnet to fish it out once exposed.