How to clean a motherboard? mountain dew spill

boggsie

Platinum Member
Mar 31, 2000
2,326
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Ok ... I am not proud of this, but I had a motherboard on my desk, in preparation for installing. Wasn't paying attention and I knocked over a can of mountain dew, which then spilled on to the motherboard.

So, how do I clean a motherboard (obviously not with soap and water, right?)
 

pspada

Platinum Member
Dec 23, 2002
2,503
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Ouch. Rule number 1, no food or drinks around when working on open computers or components.

I'd wipe it up as best as possible, using a damp cloth to remove as much sticky crap as possble. Use a qtip to get it all out of slots, chip leads, etc. Do an thorough job, and then let it dry for a day or two.

Good luck!
 

Doomer

Diamond Member
Dec 5, 1999
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Stick it in the dishwasher. Make sure it's completely dry before you power it up.
 

BFG9000

Member
Mar 26, 2003
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Unplug and remove the whole board, remove cpu, fans, etc and clean everything with a good plastic-safe chemical cleaner like a "flux remover". This one is widely available, but you could find similar products at Radio Shack and any electronics parts distributor. Flux Remover

You can also try denatured Alcohol and a small brush for tough spots. It might not be a good idea on plastics but it won't hurt the board or the coating itself. You can usually get denatured alcohol from a pharmacy, just ask the pharmacist.

Be sure everything is dry before you reinstall it, don't take chances just let it dry overnight or something.
 

robcy

Senior member
Jun 8, 2003
503
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Try distilled Water or Saline Solution (the kind used on Soft Contact lenses), a no-lint rag, and some foam suaves used to remove eye shadow (NOT EYE SHADOW REMOVER). Let dry for a couple of days, and try. Good Luck.
 

boggsie

Platinum Member
Mar 31, 2000
2,326
1
81
Thanks all ... dishwasher - you guys crack me up.

Flux Remover is on order, thx again
 

classy

Lifer
Oct 12, 1999
15,219
1
81
Rubbing alcohol will work fine. And it dries quickly, cleans very well, leaves no residue, and will dry without any possible damage.
 

labgeek

Platinum Member
Jan 20, 2002
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Most rubbing alcohol is only 70% with the rest being other things such as bitterants like Bitron (Denatonium Benzoate) which makes it taste bitter (poison prevention), Ketone, and water. Some even contain oils to prevent skin being dried out. I would not reccommend cleaning it with rubbing alcohol. If you can still find a "mixing" pharmacy (most just sell premade now), they have high % isopropyl (in the 90% range if I remember right).

Though it seems strange, we've used water in the past -- not TAP water. Either de-ionized or distilled. Being in a lab, we have DI on hand. DI water does not conduct electricity. It's one of the ways we monitor the supply. We have a monitor hooked to the feed lines that tries to pass electricity through it. You will need to go to a water supplier for it (or call a medical lab and see if they'll sell you a gallon or 2). But most grocery stores carry distilled. Better yet, if you can find distilled de-ionized water that would be great. But realize it's not going to store that way for very long. The cleaner might be a good choice too.
 

BFG9000

Member
Mar 26, 2003
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I don't mean to be too picky, but "rubbing alcohol" can have other additives which will leave residue, isopropyl alcohol is most commonly 91% alcohol and 9% water which would be fairly safe. When using an alcohol, denatured is my personal favorite, it's nontaxable ethyl alcohol :) and is a great safe solvent. One bottle will last you a long time, strong smell so keep the cap on or you might get headaches.

*edit labgeek beat my typing :)
 

Aenslead

Golden Member
Sep 9, 2001
1,256
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In Heaven's name, what were you thinking when having MD next to your motherboard!? Sheesh!
 

deadseasquirrel

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2001
1,736
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Mountain Dew....

Reminds me of that one Simpsons where Homer has his car booted in NYC and that vendor comes by selling Mountain Dew and Crab-juice. Homer says, "Ewwwwwww. I'll take the crab juice."

 

KF

Golden Member
Dec 3, 1999
1,371
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Other than getting it dry, the problem you could have is the sugar left on the board. Sugar may have some tendency to absorb moisture out of the air and become conductive. I would rinse the board thoroughly with tap water. Then blow the water out from under chips and sockets with a vacuum cleaner set to blow. Water under and inside things takes forever to dry, so blowing out as much as possible is a good idea.

I would not be picky about de-ionized water. All you want to do is to dilute the ions to a harmeless density. In the real world, everything becomes coated with ionizable substances in a very short time.

I guess it might sound strange to put a circuit board in a dishwasher, but in factories where they make circuit boards, something like that is how they are cleaned of the solder flux after they are done with the soldering stage.
Then they are cooked dry. You'd burn your hands instantly if you touched one. I have seen people jumping around in pain when they didn't wait long enough for the boards to cool down before they picked one up and couldn't let go fast enough. In the factory where I used to work repairing circuit boards. sometimes the process was done improperly and the boards would come up with huge numbers of errors in the automated testers. Although the boards looked dry, if you unsoldered any chip there was a brown liquid (a corrosive detergent) left underneath the chips. You could get rid of the errors by blowing the liquid out from under the chips with an air hose. We'd send them back to the cleaning process after were sure that was the problem.

Just to give you an idea, these were not cheapo circuit boards where they used slap-dash manufacturing techniques; they went into computerized equipment that cost tens or hundreds of thousand of dollars.

 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,582
4
81
how about some contact spray cleaner made to clean electrical components and dry almost instantly?

kills wasps too :)
 

Cashmoney995

Senior member
Jul 12, 2002
695
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Yea use distilled water, and if you can get it add a little bit of everclear in it, like a cap full for about a quart of distilled water. It helps to get some of the sugar loose and ready to go. stick that sucker in the shade and have a fan on it, let it dry for at least 24 hours. Thats why i never take the motherboard out of its anti static bag until its going into the case. Just wondering, but do yall install cpu on mobo and then stick mobo in case or stick mobo in case and then instal cpu?