I agree with that, though, if a socket will fit, it's generally a better thing to solder a new socket, and just put the chip in ;) Many others have probably soldered new chips too. :) I think that several people on this list already have basic soldering skills. It's just when it gets more advanced than that, the skills are not there. Most people I know can solder some, but they need more practice to be very competent. It's just a question of degree. Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '