Best way to clean MB

I pulled the case cover off my kids' PC to blow out the dust and noticed an unusual amount caked along the lower portion of the MB. I came to realize someone spilled soda/juice/? and it had glued the dust in place. Any cleaning recommendations?

 

Get yourself some IPA (isopropanol) i use it all the time to clean inside and out of laptops and PC's.

I use a few different sized paintbrushed and just dip them in and brush the gunk away to an area i can wipe it off with a cloth or paper towel.


Here is a link to the stuff im on about on ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IPA-ISOPROPYL-ALCOHOL-ISOPROPANOL-5-LITRE-min-99-pure-/220546637586

**should point out i havn't used this seller so cant vouch for them specifically**

 

I had a bottle I used to clean the paste when I upgraded a CPU fan a couple of years ago. I didn't even consider that. Thanks.

 

I just use a hoover with a the brush attachment:-D

 

to chris-red
Have you ever heard of static electricity from a vacuum messing up electronics?
That is why canned compressed air is the preferred method.

 

hrlow2 is right. Compressed air is best, unfortunately my mess is a bit too sticky.

You should be careful about those kind of jokes. Some people may not know better and take you seriously. They might even ruin their PCs.

 

Whose joking, I've done it every PC and laptop I have ever had, never had a problem with a component dying because of it. Infact AFAIK in 10 years of Building and cleaning my own PCS I have only had 3 PSUs, 1 Mobo (laptop charging module went common fault on the Clevo D900T) and 4 HDDS die, Which I think is pretty good going.

 

Which is 3 PSUs, 1 Mobo, and 4 drives than I've had in 12 years.
I still have an old P3 (728MHz) IBM machine. All original except for the OS.Works perfectly.
Worst I've had was a defective RAM stick.
I believe I will stick with the canned air.

 

Having read posts above I have always been wary of using compressed air so could someone enlighten me as my concern is, where there is compressed air there is water vapour. All mechanical compressed air modules I have used had water vapour as a by product ?? Just confused ( H2O being Water and 02 being Oxygen.) I always use a fine clean dusting brush and use vacum nozzle to recieve the dust particles but of course this is of no good if sticky substance is on the Mobo. :confused

 

Reading this thread, I had to stop at this post and comment. Yes, the Hoover will work like a champ to suck up dust and debris.rolleyes
But,,,,it also generates a HUGE amount of static electricity at the air intake. That can reach thousands of volts and if it discharges to the mobo, a grounded surface, it can totally destroy sensitive IC chips and other components. Never vacuum a motherboard. It's somewhat safe to vacc out the fans, IF you keep the blades from spinning in the process. Likewise using compressed air, , , don't let the fans turn or they may over-rev and burn out a bearing or throw a blade. Most of us learn these pearls of wisdom by personal experience.:cry
See? You really CAN learn from others mistakes.

:cool

 

You have to be willing to listen and learn to benefit, though.

 

One solvent that is NON-Conductive and used extensively in the electronics and printed circuit industry is "Denatured Alcohol". It's available at virtually every hardware and home builders supply stores.
Some drug stores and department stores like WalMart even carry it, in their Paint Dept.

I've used it to wash dirty ram sticks that show failure under "Memtest" and dirty ram on video cards that are showing stray pixels on the screen. Just blow it out with compressed air or let air dry for a few hours and you're good to go.

I'd have to say never use Isopropyl Alcohol because it contains a large percentage of water. Water on electronics....not so good!
Always do all your PC cleaning with ALL power fully removed from the system.
(Pull the line plug)

When cleaning out a really dirty PC, I first take it outside to a table just outside of my workshop, then I use a small cleaning brush to loosen the dirt and an air jet from my in-shop air compressor to blow the dirt out of the case. If you do that inside, you'll probably only do it once.:-D:-D:-D

Many CPU heat sinks actually have to be taken out of the PC to be properly cleaned. At that point, I just remove the fan and wash the heatsink in my own Kitchen Sink. Soap and water and a scrub brush do wonders for a dirty CPU heatsink. You have to get ALL the dirt out from between those little heatsink fins. Then apply new heatsink grease when reinstalling the heatsink to the CPU. This technique is usually easy for in-shop repairs by an experienced technician,....not so much for a casual user.

Cheers Mates!
:cool

 

Dang that short edit time! I wanted to just add this info to my last post, but the board software told me my time to edit was up. So here it is in a new post.
sorry about that!


Never taken the case off of your PC? Don't know what a dirty PC looks like? Get out the Kleenex, because this is enough to make a grown man cry:

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g90/DrWho1943/DirtyRam2.jpg
This is a dust packed CPU fan with dust blasted against the nearest ram stick. This can cause CPU overheating and even failure of the RAM.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g90/DrWho1943/DirtyFanHeatSink.jpg
Another dirt packed CPU heatsink.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g90/DrWho1943/FirstDay020.jpg
Another PC, with all it's air intake fully packed with dirt.

I've been in the 'Business' for many years and I have dozens of pictures like these.
Most of the dirtiest PC's are left sitting on the floor, the worse place in the house for a PC.

Keep your PC off the floor and clean it out at least once a year.
Both of the PC's in pictures #1 and #3 had totally failed. Most likely due to overheating.

Cheers Mates!
Shadow :cool

 

Ther is different grades of Isopropanol, i should have mentioned above that you need to get the 99.xx% IPA for use on PC's and Laptops PCB's and parts. otehrwise as shadow says above, it contains too much water.

 

Yeah, that cheap stuff they call "Rubbing Alcohol" can be as much as 1/3 water. The best I've seen in the drug stores or Wal-Mart is about 93% alcohol. Of course the other 7 percent is just plain old Water.
But if you just go on past the drugs dept and go on back to the paint dept, you can get Denatured Alcohol by the quart can that is 100% alcohol. You can even use it for alcohol lamp fuel.:-D:-D:-D

I have actually washed ram sticks with soap and water, but after a good rinse in fresh warm water, I rinse again in Denatured Alcohol and then let air dry for several hours before putting them back into service. I did a whole thread on another board, one time, about washing ram. I've salvaged thousands of dollars worth of ram over the years with that little trick. (and one video card that had contaminated ram chips on it.)

I used to run a printed circuit board prototyping lab for Caterpillar Tractor Co. so I have a lot of experience with circuit boards. But that's food for another topic all together.

Cheers Mates! Keep'em Clean!

Shadow :cool

 

TBH, i wasn't exactly sure what "denatured alcohol" was but after a bit of googling it turns out it is AKA Metylated Spirits.
(intresting little read: Here

Now whiles meth's is a permenant fixture in my workshop, i prefer IPA over it for use on PCB's and the like due to it's quicker evaporation time, also 99.xx% IPA leaves no residue or odour at all, which is why i believe it is used to clean Aircraft components after manu'. but if i had no IPA i would use Meths on a board without thinking twice.


Although one advantage Meths has over IPA is it is available everywhere
(my local corner shop sells it for 79p)

Whereas the only place i could find 99.xx% IPA in less than 10 Gallon Drums was on ebay

Like shadow said above all you are likely to see in local stores is the lower quality stuff (my local chemist/pharmacy only has 66%)



P.S. @ Shadow

You washed your RAM in soapy water

methinks other forms of alcohol played a part in the creation of that idea

Although now the idea is planted in my head i'm sure it will grow until one night a few beers in ill be at the sink with a couple of old DDR's and a bottle of fairy.



cheers, Bob.

 

Interesting reading and points taken but no one answered my specific question/concern , water vapour in compressed air. The Shadow says static elec. generated at end of nozzle, is this the case even with a Plastic nozzle ??? I defluff my rig about every 8/10 weeks including taking heatsink fan off. Good tip on the alcohol for cleaning Ram as right at this moment am having probs so will apply this tip.

 

When it comes to static electricity and not the flowing kind that lights your lights, plastic can hold thousands of volts and when you provide a path to ground, ZAP!

I was once vacuuming out a Xerox machine with a rubber vacc hose with a plastic crevice tool on the end. I went to brace myself against the frame of the machine and the static charge jumped about an inch from me to the machine and knocked me flat on the floor. I felt like I'd been hit by a truck!
Most folks never run into that amount of static in their everyday life.
Did you ever shuffle across a wool carpet and then touch the cat's nose?
I did and that cat wouldn't come near me for DAYS!
Or slide across plastic seat covers in an old car and touch the door handle and get a shock?

On most tech benches, where PC's or other high end electronics are serviced, there's a grounding bar along the leading edge of the bench and the tech's are grounded to the PC and to the bench with grounding straps. Unless you've actually worked in a place like that, you'd probably have no idea about things like that.

Washing ram? No problem. The ram chip itself is hermetically sealed, likewise the other surface mount components on the little PCB. Dirt gets down between the little legs on the ram chips and can cause them to short together. The best way I've found to solve that problem is to Wash That RAM. Soap and water and an old tooth brush is the best way for removing the dirt that causes the short circuits and alcohol is the best way to displace the water and dry the board. It's simple as 1, 2, 3 and I've been doing it for nearly 30 years.

I wish I had all the ram that people throw away, thinking it's bad. I could clean it up, sell it as re-manufactured ram and be a millionaire over night.

Cheers Mates!
Shadow :cool

 

What about the little handheld vacuums marketed for cleaning computers? Are they also risks for static electricity?

 

It's the dynamics of fast moving air that generates static electricity. It makes NO difference how the device is marketed.
Many things that are marketed for computers are pure JUNK.

In the ads you might see someone cleaning out a keyboard with one of those little vac's, not cleaning their motherboard.