Thermal Compound in Socket

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Damaclese

New Member
Don't ask how but I accidently got some thermal compound in my motherboard's socket, so now a few of the pins on the CPU aren't getting a connection. are there any chemicals that will let me remove the compound without damaging the board or any other way to get the stuff out? Or is it time to break down and buy a new motherboard?
 
Eh...well if you tried the board with the compound in the socket, still, you probably fried something... I don't know what each pin is, but I have a feeling that current would travel quite easilly though the compound and short out pins...

If you haven't, or if you still want to try(as I don't know if it'll certainlly short things out) I'd suggest using something like achohol or something like that. Even if you can't get it out of the holes, just making sure it doesn't short the other pins SHOULD fix it...

Now, a teacher I had a while back was talking about this stuff you just sprayed in your computer and it cleaned it off... It wouldn't hurt any components or anything. I need some of that personally, but I have yet to find any. Perhaps someone here will know what it is...
 
The_Other_One said:
Eh...well if you tried the board with the compound in the socket, still, you probably fried something... I don't know what each pin is, but I have a feeling that current would travel quite easilly though the compound and short out pins...
Click to expand...

Thermal compound is not electrically conductive. It is heat conductive, hence the name. There is no danger that the pins shorted out and I believe there is not much of a chance that something is fried. Freon used to dissolve this but since that is rarely available these days, alcohol should do. Just give it plenty of time to dry because alcohol and water ARE electrically conductive and you can possibly damage your board (at least get weird results) if you don't dry it out thoroughly (the alcohol will find its way down into the tiniest holes and stay there for a while if there is not a lot of air circulation). Maybe try some contact (old TV tuner) cleaner after that?
 
Thermal compound is not electrically conductive. It is heat conductive, hence the name
Click to expand...
Generally thermally conductive materials are also electrically conductive (an exception being diamond).
 
Not Electrically Conductive:
Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity.
(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)
Click to expand...

Read this... Some compounds ARE electrically conductive, and even ones that aren't fully conductive could still have traces. Face it, many have traces of metal in them... :mad:
 
Run of the mill thermal grease does not conduct electricity. :eek: I worked for 16 years at a company that isolated very high power semiconductors with mica insulators and thermal grease from heat sinks. These semicondutors could not be tied to each other while sharing the same heatsink or there would be a major short. Therefore, the grease was used as an aid to heat transfer.

Granted, there are strange things that can happen with tiny currents trickling through even the most unsuspecting residue but I would be more concerned with the solvent that is used to get rid of it (and the residue it leaves behind) conducting in some way.

OK, that's all I have to say on the subject!
 
cover your hand with AS5, or any other thermal compound and take a tazer to your hand, see if it doesnt conduct electricity
 
pure alcohol is the best I beleive. Warm compund with hair dryer and try to work with the mb above you so fluid will drip away from board.
 
tacoboy said:
Thermal compound is not electrically conductive. It is heat conductive, hence the name. There is no danger that the pins shorted out and I believe there is not much of a chance that something is fried. Freon used to dissolve this but since that is rarely available these days,
Click to expand...

I get tons of old freezers, refirgerators and A/C's at my work, so i can get plenty of freon :)

If your not able to get it out fot he socket, at least get it off the top so there isnt a "risk" of having it short out pins.
 
all of the thermal compounds ive come into contact with are generally capacitive, which means the system will work but will be unstable due to the capacitance across the pins. also, thermal compounds that have metallic components dont really conduct electricity, ive worked with copper grease for contacts before and there would be no electrical flow through the grease; the only point at which the circuit worked was when the two contacts were pushed together inside the grease.
i personally would try it and see if your system works, i dont think that there will be any damage to the system if you did.
if its encouraging this happened to me one, i wiped the stuff off the top of the socket and dropped my cpu in and it worked fine.
 
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