Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

[stj]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

make sure the isopropanol is not from a medical supplier unless you can read the label first.

you need pure - as in 99%+
most medical IPA is 60% distilled water.

and the reason you remove battery's, socketed chips etc, is so you dont trap dirty water or cleaner under them.
although i wouldnt re-fit a used battery in a mobo anyway.
it's o.k. in a radio or something,
but in a pc you dont want to have to open it again in 6 months just to replace a flat battery.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

In the US you can easily get 91% at many drug stores.
Walmart usually has it cheaply in the larger 32 oz bottles.

99% would be ideal but 91% works perfectly well.
The more common 70% works too but it's not nearly as effective and you end up using a lot more to get the same job done.

After I use what ever cleaner I flush the PCB with hot water to get the cleaner off, shake it semi-dry, then use Isopropyl [via a spray bottle] to blast the water out from under IC chips and out of the sockets & slots.
The Isopropyl dries fast, takes the water with it when it evaporates, and leaves no residue [unless you didn't get it clean with the cleaner].

Water followed by Isopropyl is the approved method used by the USN for electronics that have been drenched in sea water.
- USN ships [as most I think] use sea water for fire fighting so ships have sea water pipes, valves, flanges all over the place inside and once in a while something breaks.
- I have literally [and personally] cleaned up over 10 million dollars worth of equipment using the method. - It works good!
.

[Huckfinn]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

I have successfully used 409, Windex and various citrus cleaners like De-Solv-It citrus solution. I always rinse with warm or hot water. Using pure alcohol to pull out water is a good idea for getting out water trapped under chips, etc. Follow with blow gun from shop air [ be careful to not damage delicate parts with the air nozzle ] and a finish drying with a good quality hair dryer speeds the process so you can power on and test right away without having to wait a day or two. I have done this hundreds of times to CPU boards, industrial controller boards, TV boards and much more. Of course you have to be careful with PC boards that have IF coils, or lcd displays attached, etc.. and do a very careful workaround or de-solder the parts that can not be wetted and dried out easily. Also some LED display assemblies with plastic components and/or plastic contrast filters do not take kindly to alcohol, as that can fog or damage the plastic.

Huck

[AudioCraZ]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

My mom was the worst with her smoking at a computer. I pulled the side panel off her case one day, and where there were small 1/8" holes in the side panel, there were little cone "piles" of soot on the inside of her case... very nasty. Had to tell her she can't smoke next to her computer. She tried to give me the "they should make them smoke proof" excuse, but told her she couldn't afford those parts.... Just nasty.

Never could understand why people smoked, never made any sense to me.

[Kona]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Do you think this cleaning method would be OK to use on a ADSL Router? They have no BIOS battery to remove but they manage to keep their time somehow, will that remaining charge cause a problem?

[Uranium-235]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

one of our old employees took a laptop motherboard that got wine spilled into it, and put it through a dishwasher. worked great after that, but thats the only time that worked for us.

smoking is terrible, but we got this HP that reeeeked of cat piss, it was coated in a sticky film all over the motherboard inside. it looked like they left the cover off while the cat pissed inside it and left it there.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

it looked like they left the cover off while the cat pissed inside it and left it there.

I LOL'ed.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Are you sure it was a cat?

[ratdude747]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

trust me. you know cat piss when you smell it... it is "unique"

hence why my family has no cat. they ruin couches way too easily like that... that is why so many couches end up by the dumpster...

[370forlife]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

trust me. you know cat piss when you smell it... it is "unique"

hence why my family has no cat. they ruin couches way too easily like that... that is why so many couches end up by the dumpster...

They like carpeted stairs too.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

I can't say I've ever seen a 'roach' in any PC I've owned/or fixed for anyone, I have however found the remnants of a reasonably large spider which had encountered one of the case fans

I would agree with the fact that I never saw a roach.

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

And in good Vermont, you're more likely to see daddy longlegs than anything else.

[kc8adu]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

worst one i had to clean was an ecm from a geo tracker .cover was off and bad cap leakage along with mouse piss was the issue.the seats were gutted too.

[pentium]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Bad caps in a tracker?
What kind of torture did that car receive?

[ratdude747]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Bad caps in a tracker?
What kind of torture did that car receive?

worried your tracker might be next?

[seanc]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Anyone have any comments about cleaning an LGA775 board?
The LGA775 socket is so delicate, any special measures to take - other than not poking the pins with anything?

I have one with the syrupy gunge from a watercooling system all over it.
Cleaned it up, it's working - but the RAM slots are a bit finicky.

[shovenose]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Do you think this cleaning method would be OK to use on a ADSL Router? They have no BIOS battery to remove but they manage to keep their time somehow, will that remaining charge cause a problem?

routers/modems have flash memory (like a usb flash drive) built in. cleaning it wont damage it or make it lose te contents.

[ratdude747]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Anyone have any comments about cleaning an LGA775 board?
The LGA775 socket is so delicate, any special measures to take - other than not poking the pins with anything?

I have one with the syrupy gunge from a watercooling system all over it.
Cleaned it up, it's working - but the RAM slots are a bit finicky.

when you go to clean, find one of the socket covers that comes on the board when it comes out of the box brand new... and remove it and open the socket when it is drying.

[seanc]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

I'll go hunting for some at work tomorrow.
Cheers RD.

[Chris Ambriz]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

I have a Belkin F6D4050 wireless adapter that was given to me it was coverd in solder flux so I took some good old WD-40 o it and blew it off with my air compresser and sure enough it works like new before it wouldn't detect any type of networks or SSID

[Evil Lurker]

Re: Cleaning Motherboards - ATTN SMOKERS!!

Absolute best stuff I have have found is Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner... very gentle and does an excellent job.