Dielectric grease - cleaning?

[whodie]

Hey guys, this may not be the best place for this thread, so mods please move if needed.


Ok, long story short I need to send my mobo back for RMA. The question is.... what's a good way to get the dielectric grease out of the socket?


I'll be forever indebted if you can guys can help

[Xeon th MG Pony]

If you used dielectric grease you violated the warranty thus have no right to be RMAing it!

[jlm46]

maybe carefully use a hairdryer to thin it out and then some warm/hot distilled water to rinse it away ? : ) (then obviously let dry for a decent amount of time)

just a guess...never tried it

[SexyMF]

If RMA'ing the board then you can just wash it with warm water.

Just avoid any stickers.

[SexyMF]

Oh, and nothing beats the humble toothbrush for getting in all those nooks and crannies.

[rogard]

Bottle Brushes are good too

[n00b 0f l337]

I don't see how di-electric grease would void your warranty, but the act of oc'ing and killing hardware, or the hardware dying due to condensation voids your warranty and you will most likely not get away with an RMA>

[ak_47_boy]

I would fun your air compressor hose with isopropyl and blow it into the socket with an airgun. I have never tried this with a motherboard but i have used this method to clean cigarette yellow tar off amplifiers before.

[teyber]

im not too sure if this will work or not, but i have heard using alcohol with a toothbrush?

[Athanatos]

2 options i'm thinking

a) forced air extraction using an air compressor

b) orange cleaning oil (very thin running so will work into crevices) then use some isopropyl to clean up any residue

since the pin holes are small it shouldn't take much oil/alcohol to do the job, go over with some type of magnifying lens to check up on the work, the reason to use the ispropyl after is to a) remove any sugar residue of the oil (cause it's made with oranges) b) remove the orange scent cause those factory guys could get suspicious if the smell orange on your mobo ><

[Sipha]

yeah, I'd probably just use some Iso Alcohol on a small brush to get ito the hard to reach areas :p

[Rubiconx3]

http://www.autobarn.net/elcl45wtoz.html

CRC (or different brand) QD electronics cleaner. It will clean it right off dissolving the grease right off

[HoriWanderFuLL]

I have done it a few times latly ..
I have used Shellite and a fine paintbrush..the one i stole of my daughter heheh....then dab it dry with a nice clean cloth...

If u try to use metho it will leave a nasty residue on the pcb board...still be carefull not to get it in any other spots than needed though...

i was worried myself as im a messy bugger with the socket area..if asked just say yer mate i went a bit wild on the cpu and before u know it it spread everry where....
\
good luck with the Rma

[whodie]

thanks guys, you are the best!

I'll try the electronics cleaner first since I have some of that lying around. Didn't even think of it (duh). I use it mostly to get the oil crap off my MAF sensor, so dielectric grease should be no problem!

If that doesn't work I'll go the alcohol/toothbrush route


Thanks again!

[dinos22]

http://www.autobarn.net/elcl45wtoz.html

CRC (or different brand) QD electronics cleaner. It will clean it right off dissolving the grease right off

i've been told this before and spend ~$60 (4xdifferent sprays) only to find none of that works

[Rubiconx3]

i've been told this before and spend ~$60 (4xdifferent sprays) only to find none of that works

Then you magically have some sort of super grease.... ive run phase for years and used the same cleaner and its taken the grease off without any problems.

[Exahertz]

As a finishing touch, carefully inspect the area with a UV lamp as thin traces of grease/oil might still be present that are not visible to the naked eye. By inspecting the area using different colors of light, you may reveal an otherwise overlooked patch that might have been picked up by the manufacturer

[Xeon th MG Pony]

Next time you go to buy a board and the warranty costs extra or not even offered you'll know why

As an OEM builder I find this sort of thing reprehensible! giving tips to defraud the Manufacture and you wonder why they charge such high prices on hard ware and why there is hassles on getting warranties!

[jlm46]

why is it defrauding them? I don't know about other boards right now, but if it's a 680i SLI board, the manufacturers are encouraging overclocking and advertising that their boards have features specifically made for overclocking

(meanwhile nvidia/foxconn delivers a board with tons of defects and bad build quality, look at the evga boards for numerous examples...heck, they even offered RMAs to everyone wanting to correct an issue with overclocking on quad core chips)

We can't say he's defrauding them without knowing what happened to the board right? All we know is it has dielectric grease on it, which would not have caused damage in and of itself.

Go on over to evga.com...bottom of main page is 'Engineered for the Core 2 Duo Overclocker'

[Rockhammer]

Agreed. I've never heard of dielectic grease harming a motherboard. So if some component on the mobo failed that had nothing to do with the grease in the socket, I don't see how that voids the warranty. Now if I bent a pin in the socket while placing the grease I wouldn't feel right about asking for an RMA in that case. But if a cap springs a leak, you bet.

BTW, I have two pieces of advice on this matter. First test the solvent on a sample of the grease to see how well it works before using it on the motherboard. Second, test small areas of the motherboard (both the PCB and the plastic parts) to see if it attackes these materials or not.

[dinos22]

Then you magically have some sort of super grease.... ive run phase for years and used the same cleaner and its taken the grease off without any problems.

really

how do i find the equivalent one in australia???


can someone take some photos of the can and ingredients

[dinos22]

i've used these from Jaycar

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...Max=&SUBCATID=

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...Max=&SUBCATID=

[Rubiconx3]

http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov...nds&id=3003012

[whodie]

Well I guess some background is necessary at this point.

Bascially the uguru chip on my QuadGT borked and now the thing won't post (even tried replacement BIOS chip)

The rig was TEC cooled, but condensation was not the culprit.


So, no, I'm not trying to defraud Abit. In fact my intent is to do everything possible to get the board as close to brand new condition before I send it back.