Tech Files
Chip Creep
Have you ever had a perfectly good hard drive suddenly stop working, and then notice that the ribbon cable is loose on the motherboard? Or maybe your sound card has stopped working because it is suddenly not seated properly in its slot? Has your system quit booting up, and then you find your EPROM chip loose or out of its socket?
If you've experienced these or similar problems, you're a victim of what's commonly known as chip creep or card creep. Card creep is the result of a thermal state that happens within your system. The expansion and contraction that occurs during the normal heating and cooling cycles of your system can cause chips and cards, over time, to inch loose from sockets or slots. Soldered chips reduce the occurrence of chip creep, but cards or chips that you install on the motherboard can still suffer from the creep phenomenon.
The great thing about chip creep is that generally there is no permanent damage to the system. All you have to do is pop the card, chip, or ribbon cable back onto the motherboard and reboot.
- Dana Ribble