Hello,

I enjoyed reading about your PET situation...and indeed, share your fear of lifting traces when de-soldering...but have had pretty good success in removing chips and sockets, but indeed, things happen...I am currently working on getting my PET collection up and running...there are 39 of them...and I have started with the oldest of the old...and it is going pretty well, but some of them are indeed frustrating and yes, sockets do fail...they absolutely do...so always be aware that the chips might be just dandy but the holder might have a broken pin in there...much the same as a cold solder joint...