My motherboard has shit on it

F

fortyways

banned
Yessirree. There's a thin layer of thin, almost clear, sticky goop all over the back side of my motherboard. It looks like it was on the receiving end of a Peter North movie.

I replaced it at Fry's Electronics and the tech there said it looks like it's just "left over from the manufacturing process." Thpppbt. That's crap. Other Asus models don't have it, just mine. The replacement had it too, though, so he must be right.

I want to clean it off.

I was thinking a soft wipe (the kind you clean monitors with) with some water on it, or maybe some cleaning alcohol, but I don't know what'll damage a mobo and what won't.

What should I clean my mobo with?

I predict it'll be pretty difficult. This is sticky stuff, it's going to take some elbow grease. Please keep that in mind when suggesting safe cleaning substances.

If someone really wants to see the messy love spilled all over my motherboard I can take it out and take a picture, but I'll do so anyway when I clean it.
 
thats strange ive never heard of that before, i think that the best bet would be rubbing alchohol because it evaporates quickly
 
No corrosion/stuff shorting out/explosions with rubbing alcohol? I know it's ok for the tops of processors, but that's more of a heatsink type of surface.

I'm talking about the actual PCB and bus of the backside of the mobo.

Just trying to verify, this is risky business.
 
Rubbing alchohol sometimes has some weird shit in it, oils and the like, be careful. 90% or above Isopropyl alchohol will work completely fine on silicon though(anything beneath that as well, doesn't hurt to careful though). You can actually submerge your motherboard in that stuff, i got picture somewhere...

liquid1.jpg
 
Yeah, I think it's slightly higher, %95-99 solution. You can do it with any non conductive liquid, even vegetable oil, oils leave a nasty residue though.
 
fortyways said:
Yessirree. There's a thin layer of thin, almost clear, sticky goop all over the back side of my motherboard. It looks like it was on the receiving end of a Peter North movie.

I replaced it at Fry's Electronics and the tech there said it looks like it's just "left over from the manufacturing process." Thpppbt. That's crap. Other Asus models don't have it, just mine. The replacement had it too, though, so he must be right.

I want to clean it off.

I was thinking a soft wipe (the kind you clean monitors with) with some water on it, or maybe some cleaning alcohol, but I don't know what'll damage a mobo and what won't.

What should I clean my mobo with?

I predict it'll be pretty difficult. This is sticky stuff, it's going to take some elbow grease. Please keep that in mind when suggesting safe cleaning substances.

If someone really wants to see the messy love spilled all over my motherboard I can take it out and take a picture, but I'll do so anyway when I clean it.
Click to expand...

Haha...I don't think anyone else caught that joke..

Anyway, as said above 90% rubbing alcohol and you may wanna whip out the Q-Tips...
 
Yeah, vegetable oil would leave me back where I started. I'll go to a couple stores tomorrow and see if I can find a nice high percentage of Isopoblahblahblah.
 
fortyways said:
It looks like it was on the receiving end of a Peter North movie.

If someone really wants to see the messy love spilled all over my motherboard I can take it out and take a picture
Click to expand...

lol you must watch a decent amount of porn to know who he is :D

anyways, you can use anything that is non conductive, including distilled water
 
i'm a chemistry major so i work in a lab all the time. distilled water is the standard solvent we use so i can "borrow" plenty. i really have no idea where anyone else would get some. maybe bought in a bottle at the store or ordered. if it were me though, i wouldn't trust those because it's not prepared fresh on the spot.

distilled water is prepared by taking the purest water you can get, then boiling it so that the liquid phase becomes vapor. the water vapor is then cooled to turn back into liquid water, and this resulting liquid is what they called distilled water. it is prepared this way because there is almost nowhere that you will find PURE water. there will always be some sort of dissolved particles or ions in there.

if you can't get your hands on distilled water, then whatever you do, do NOT use tap water. depending on which state you are from, there are tons of trace metals and other crap in the water. distilled water has almost zero conductivity, while tap water is VERY conductive
 
Sounds like distilled water would be a big challenge. So assuming I don't find david's contraption at Wal-Mart, I'm going with the highest percentage of isopor-you know, that kind of alcohol. The one in the picture where the mobo is submerged.

Any objections?
 
Yeah but you can find a couple different uses for the alcohol, what are you going to do with distilled water afterwards? Besides, I don't know that water would be the best option for cleaning that residue, ever tried? It just smears. (probably)
 
WhiteFireDragon said:
[...] distilled water has almost zero conductivity, while tap water is VERY conductive
Click to expand...

Hold on, if someone pours distilled water on their motherboard, it should be fine, as long as the water is relatively pure. However, couldn't the water dissolve impurities (infact is this not the purpose?) and become conductive?

On second thought, it doesn't matter if it's conductive or not, cause who's gonna clean a motherboard while it's powered? I think I heard something like this before:
You can clean motherboards with small amounts of water. Besure that's it's fully dried before pluging it back in.
Click to expand...

In other words, just wipe it with a damp cloth. Don't submerge it in water; well I wouldn't.
 
hermeslyre said:
Yeah but you can find a couple different uses for the alcohol, what are you going to do with distilled water afterwards?
Click to expand...

I use distilled water for cooking, and I drink it.. I don't see what the issue is here with distilled water?

I buy it by the gallon at Cub Foods for 89 cents per..

-mak
 
yeah if they poured distilled water on their mobo, it would be fine. many people that water cool their components use distilled water because it has a lower conductivity coefficient than the UV solutions sold for like $10/liter. in case there is a spill, your fragile hardware would not be damaged. i didn't know they just sold it at stores this easily. i always wondered where people got these to water cool since they most people do not work i labs.
 
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