Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

[Dan81]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Had a for parts machine that I thought bringing back to life. Had a ASRock P4VM890, Delta DPS-300PB-2A and a VIA USB2 card.

I hope NOBODY has to live the hell I had to go through cleaning the PSU. Sweet Jesus Christ, I don't think I had a PSU smell that bad of nicotine and have so much dust.

I cleaned out the dust now. It still smells a bit (generally when warm) but it's mostly gone.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

After reading the original story by Topcat the smells came back...I'd been screwing around with Computers and fixing them for friends for so long that I thought maybe it would be a decent side hustle. I posted an ad and within 5 minutes had my first customer. Well this guy shows up with 2 laptops and a desktop he needs fixed. I almost puked when I opened up the desktop. He must of smoked inside the case! The power supply was fried too so the combo was something else. Don't smoke...just don't.

There was worse:

At Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center, in Greenfield, New Hampshire, in horticulture class, the horticulture office PC got mouse'd! There was a mouse living in the PC case! (the early-2000s or the late-1990s) sadly, 99 percent, it was a deer mouse/white footed mouse. (and that means risk of American-hantavirus, the same one responsible for the 1993 hantavirus outbreak!)

[christinejshaw]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Hi Guys , I dont repair computers , I repair TV s , a 3 year old Panasonic 50 inch Plasma has just come in with a poor picture complaint , however there is not actually a problem with the set at all the cause is so much nicotine behind the safety screen you cant see the picture to well, the whole set had to be disassembled to remove the screen to clean behind it.
Take a look at the photos this gives a better idea of how bad it is, this is the power connector to the Y sustain board , it would have been white when it came out the factory, the other photo shows the plug disconnected.

I just puked in my mouth.

[christinejshaw]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

After reading the original story by Topcat the smells came back...I'd been screwing around with Computers and fixing them for friends for so long that I thought maybe it would be a decent side hustle. I posted an ad and within 5 minutes had my first customer. Well this guy shows up with 2 laptops and a desktop he needs fixed. I almost puked when I opened up the desktop. He must of smoked inside the case! The power supply was fried too so the combo was something else. Don't smoke...just don't.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

In Vermont, you're more likely to encounter a fat ass spider than a roach.

A lot o' fat ass spiders at the current house, at 46 County Rd. North! LOL!
My sister has been freaking out a lot! Possibly some tarantula-sized ones as well! LOL!

[hannah]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

I know detergent does get used to clean out boards. I know a mechanic that made a huge ton of money fixing car computer boxes after a flood and was laughing his ass off since he charged people the standard price, but all he did to fix the computer boxes was to soap them with detergent, rinse and dry.

Anyway, thanks for the guide. My father is a heavy smoker and I've been seeing nicotine gunk on my motherboard and card.

[chowder]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

This is great info, I wish I'd known about it back in the day. I used to be a pretty heavy smoker (and drinker) - I'd get drunk and blow smoke in to the front intake of my PC case to watch it come out of the back

That PC stopped working, and I wondered why...

[pasicr]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Hi for All,
this is my first post here,
that was very strange for me to see motherboard clean with water,
I will use this,
until now I spend clearing spray that cost so much according water treatment,
great post,
best regards

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Hi Guys , I dont repair computers , I repair TV s , a 3 year old Panasonic 50 inch Plasma has just come in with a poor picture complaint , however there is not actually a problem with the set at all the cause is so much nicotine behind the safety screen you cant see the picture to well, the whole set had to be disassembled to remove the screen to clean behind it.
Take a look at the photos this gives a better idea of how bad it is, this is the power connector to the Y sustain board , it would have been white when it came out the factory, the other photo shows the plug disconnected.

Yuck, that looks like what my family's late-1990s IBM (Pentium 133) (Aptiva C32) looked like and I cleaned it... My father was a heavy smoker at the time.....

Both my father and mother were heavy smokers in the late-1990s and early-2000s.....

[michael dranfield]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Hi Guys , I dont repair computers , I repair TV s , a 3 year old Panasonic 50 inch Plasma has just come in with a poor picture complaint , however there is not actually a problem with the set at all the cause is so much nicotine behind the safety screen you cant see the picture to well, the whole set had to be disassembled to remove the screen to clean behind it.
Take a look at the photos this gives a better idea of how bad it is, this is the power connector to the Y sustain board , it would have been white when it came out the factory, the other photo shows the plug disconnected.

[Rockfella]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Done here:

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=52128

I used Prill.

Please upload. what do you mean detergent? i thought hot water is good and enough? do you use detergent?

[Rockfella]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Wilco moving forward.

you remove socketed chips, battery's, jumpers, heatsinks etc so you dont trap dirty or soapy water.

[stj]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

i use the stuff you wash dishes with,
you cant use just water because it wont remove anything other than loose dust.

[cyjun1990]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Yeah it is. I've washed motherboards with water and detergent 4/5 times and it worked all times. Will upload pics later.

Please upload. what do you mean detergent? i thought hot water is good and enough? do you use detergent?

[stj]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

you remove socketed chips, battery's, jumpers, heatsinks etc so you dont trap dirty or soapy water.

[Rockfella]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

First time I washed a G31 entry level Gigabyte with the battery. It worked fine post wash. However since then I take the battery and the south bridge heatsink out before washing the board not because of the risks being discussed here but to get a better wash. Just washed one 2 days ago.

Addendum: It's an urban myth to remove batteries and other active components. Look up the conductivity of tap water.....

[Rockfella]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

its really working? what about the new motherboard..? i wanna try

Yeah it is. I've washed motherboards with water and detergent 4/5 times and it worked all times. Will upload pics later.

[cyjun1990]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

its really working? what about the new motherboard..? i wanna try

[Rockfella]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

I washed a motherboard yesterday. Have done it before. I do keep it under direct sun for 4/5 hours.

[kc8adu]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

had a gm trailblazer cluster a customer bought at a yard to replace one lost in the mail.they sent it to some place online and it vanished into the bermuda triangle.
he found out i fixed these and bought the junkyard unit.it was sticky,stinky,and a golden color!
dead too.steppers are shot on all these so right into the sink everything went.
the film preserved everything nicely.looked new when i was done.
now i have to detail the rest of the damm car to match that cluster!
at least this cluster didnt have live roaches in it like i have seen before.
who the hell lets roaches infest a 2 year old caddilac?