Thermal Paste in cpu socket 775?

[blclay23]

Help plz.....

W/ Intel board, I noticed a little bit of thermal paste, I accidentally or don't even know how it got inside the socket 775, now i'm scared to put my CPU back, dont want to damage my core2duo e6300.....its very hard hard to clean.

BC of san diego

 

[SpeedEng66]

did you try using a q tip and rubbing alcohol
just dip the q tip into a cap full of rubbing alc.
squeeze out the excess out of qtip and lightly rub/clean the socket
(with the grain not against it or you might snag onto one of them and bend/break a pin(s) )
let dry

and double check to see if there's more..

repeat if needed