Stand offs stuck to motherboard

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Joined
17 Feb 2009
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1,116
Installed my first ever PC within a few hours. It's now running great..

The only thing that went wrong was the standoff screws. I messed up the I\O shield and had to take the mobo out. All the screws came out except the bottom three, so I had to pull it. All three bottom standoffs were stuck to the mobo. So i'm guessing I didn't tighten them enough with the provided tool. Used some pliers on the the underside to keep the standoff still - then with my other hand gently screw it counter clockwise

I think I also didn't tighten the bottom three standoffs enough before installing the mobo. I then tightened them all very tightly, installed the mobo. Then tested one of the screws for good measure and it came out fine.

Has this happened to any of you guys ?
 
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22 Jul 2020
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A few times as a screw can be tighter if it has a bad thread meaning the one with least resistance will unscrew and in some case than means the standoff spins loose.

You can give them a good tighten with a small socket driver (do not use pliers or it may not be tight enough), not so much to break them and then when you give the Mobo screws a good nip up you know it is not as tight as the standoff so it should come loose before the standoff.

If a certain Case is bad for it a tiny bit of Screw Lock (liquid) will help (not Nut Lock and most certainly not Stud Lock).

Long ago like 2001-2004 I was fixing this cheap PC for a friend as it was restarting etc, the case had no standoff holes it was pressed steel in a way that had raised square sections to screw Mobo to (too big an area compared to standoffs) and they were causing a short on rear of Mobo as they went beyond hole surround and touched parts they should not.

I had to superglue fibre washers (2 on top of each other) on top of each raised part to fix the issue.
 
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Associate
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28 Oct 2020
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Yeah that's happened to me a couple of times too - like JohnG7 says though, a socket driver is an easy way to resolve this. It can help you unscrew them from your motherboard or tighten them on the case. No big deal really, it's not like the motherboard is going to fall out or anything :)
 
Soldato
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22 May 2010
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You are torquing tiny little screws on a computer motherboard not a 32mm transmission bolt!!!!!!!!!!!

Be gentle, you don't need to tighten them much, at all!
Lol i had this with a friends build, he tightened them so tight that i ended up stripping 2 screws. I said the same thing that day, asked him if he torqued them up to wheel bolt specs?! Tight was an understatement!
 
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