fatbobuk - I just posted the following on another thread...
"...after packing up the motherboard last night and discovering the scratch/dent on the processor IHS from the defective Intel cooler, I had another look at the processor this morning. Looking at the underside of the processor, one thing sprung out and struck me, most of the copper pads had marks pretty much dead centre from the pins, however one entire quadrant of the pads, all had marks close to or on the edges of the pads, some of them possibly even off the pads. Plus there were about 5 pads with no marks on them at all. This has got me thinking there might be an issue with the 1366 sockets. If the pins are not correctly aligned with the processor or move around when heated up, this might explain the issues some of us are having..."
If you still have the stomach for it I would suggest lifting out the processor again - but leaving those blasted pins alone (I also ended up bending one) - and looking very carefully at the marks on the copper pads on the underside of the processor (avoiding touching them as well). They all should pretty much be centred on the pads - if one has previously reseated the processor then there will probably be multiple marks.
Dark Mantis comment on another thread got me thinking we need to consider all elements in the chain: processor (as memory controller on it), socket (those damn pins), cooler (consistent pressure applied and not flexing anything), DIMM pins/slots, RAM DIMMs, PSU and the thing that ties it all together the BIOS. It is an absolutely minefield putting these things together and tracking these down.
