Deep clean on motherboard after water cooling mishap

[Nossy]

Bit of an odd one I wanted to confirm. Had a pretty bad spill on my old ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition board. I'd love to get it running again.

After cleaning with a box of q-tips and a high grade contact cleaner I could get it as far as power to the mobo but wouldn't actually turn on. No shorts or anything just wouldn't start.

I gave up till today when I tried again. Now however it does start but clicks out on a safety on the psu. (Can hear it) I notice some small amounts of corrosion have appeared on the back and some of the ram sockets still have bloody red dye through them.

Can I soak the entire board in Isopropyl Alcohol of anything higher than 70% for a set period of time? With a soft toothbrush for the bins on the back?

Will I need to completely strip all the motherboards heat sinks?

Tia

 

[AlwaysHope]

Can you upload a pic of the board?

 

[jon_joy_1999]

It seems to me like you've damaged something on the board.
Definitely interested in those computer gore photos to see how bad the situation is.
You want to use 99% Isopropyl Alcohol, and only 99% IPA. If you've got bad corrosion you should immerse the entire board in like an inch of IPA. The water content in anything less can cause more damage to the motherboard, If you have to use something less, you want to let the motherboard dry for several days before attempting to power it up again.

 

[Nossy]

And of the initial leak....

 

[Shrek]

Electronics can be washed in a dishwasher; I often clean my small boards using isopropyl alcohol in an ultrasonic cleaner to remove flux.

The alcohol promotes cavitation, which in this application is a virtue.

 

[Nossy]

Electronics can be washed in a dishwasher; I often clean my small boards using isopropyl alcohol in an ultrasonic cleaner to remove flux.

I would've thought the chance of water being stuck in a chip or behind a heatsink would encourage corrosion.

 

[Shrek]

Good point; that is where I blast wet boards with a DataVac blower, so drying is very fast.

 

[Nossy]

Good point; that is where I blast wet boards with a DataVac blower, so drying is very fast.

I don't mind spending a wee bit in order to get something better suited. I have a makita 36v leaf blower... not usually working on pcbs

 

[Jose Jeswin]

use a hair dryer to warm up the board to dry it completely...

 

[Nossy]

use a hair dryer to warm up the board to dry it completely...

And you agree that a run in the dish washer is a good idea? Obviously no soap... and high temp? Should I pull all the heatsinks apart? Or will they stay intact ok

 

[Jose Jeswin]

i wouldn't recommend a dishwasher.....immersing the MB in 90% IPA and scrubbing with a soft brush will be good....then use a hair dryer at warm setting to dry the board.......heatsinks will stay intact...dont worry about it...

 

[Nossy]

i wouldn't recommend a dishwasher.....immersing the MB in 90% IPA and scrubbing with a soft brush will be good....the use a hair dryer at warm setting to dry the board.......heatsinks will stay intact...dont worry about it...

I was thinking the same. Very dubious about adding water to a mobo. Would've thought standard components would be ok but areas like in the switches I'd imagine would be pretty rough especially on how clean the water is.

Will try find something tomorrow that will suit. Oh I so hope it's recoverable. Being a dad now I cannot afford a new cpu mobo ram combo

 

[Jose Jeswin]

Take your time to do the cleaning process slowly....good luck with your motherboard...

 

[Nossy]

Take your time to do the cleaning process slowly....good luck with your motherboard...

How long do you think I should soak for?

 

[basco]

i use something like rhis for water displacement

Kontakt Chemie FLUID 101 78009-AE Entwässerungsöl 200 ml kaufen

Großes %brandid% Sortiment ➤ Kontakt Chemie FLUID 101 78009-AE Entwässerungsöl 200 ml ✚ Expresslieferung ✓ Versandkostenfrei ab 69 €

www.conrad.at

and isoprop for cleaning or this:

Kontakt Chemie KONTAKT 60 PLUS 73909-AA Kontaktreiniger 200 ml kaufen

Großes %brandid% Sortiment ➤ Kontakt Chemie KONTAKT 60 PLUS 73909-AA Kontaktreiniger 200 ml ✚ Expresslieferung ✓ Versandkostenfrei ab 69 €

www.conrad.at

 

[maxfly]

Pull all of the heatsinks and thermalpads, paste and replace as needed. That's likely where your problems originated. They trap liquid behind them and will absolutely promote shorts and eventually corrosion. If you powered up while there was still moisture trapped behind the heatsinks, backplates, memory slots, gpu slots...well, you get the picture. You are most likely going to be replacing components at this point. If the board is even salvageable.

 

[freeagent]

Ultra sadness

 

[Bones]

i wouldn't recommend a dishwasher.....immersing the MB in 90% IPA and scrubbing with a soft brush will be good....then use a hair dryer at warm setting to dry the board.......heatsinks will stay intact...dont worry about it...

While I can't blame you for not suggesting it, can be done no prob IF you know what you are doing.
I've done it many times and never had any issues from doing it.

The trick is in how you do things and also know this isn't a "Just blow it off with compesssed air and it's dry" kind of thing - Far from it.

The procedure isn't complicated and it does work.

What I do is I'll remove all the heatsinks that's possible to remove, the CMOS battery and whatever else I have to, then setup the dishwasher.
I will set the board in so it's face is leaning down a little and also so that the periphical ports are down too due to their weight, that being down low will aid in keeping the board in the right position during the wash.

Use a hot water wash cycle and I normally do the "Pots and Pans" cycle with the extra rinse cycle too but no heated dry - It's not required.

After the washing is done, remove it from the washer and drain it off well.
After that is where many get impatient and mess up - It requires enough drying time to make sure all the moisture trapped in the board's nooks and crannys is gone.

Best way is to set it up in front of a small fan for a few days.
That's right.... I said days, not hours.

Note I didn't say anything about heating it - Can be done and yes, I've done it before but moving air itself is what you need as long as this air isn't humid. For high humidity situations warming it is the way to go but beware about using alot of heat, all you really need is a nice, warm (Not hot) flow of air to it.
As long as it feels decently warm it's fine and will work, just give it the time it needs to dry out (12-24hrs).

24-48 hrs unheated air is best because it's the movement of air that does the job.
Once it's sat for that amount of time it should be ready to test.

DO NOT EVER hit it with compressed air if possible, since the compressed air always has some has water vapor in it and because you're blowing this air on to the board with force, it tends to inject moisture into stuff/components because the water vapor will come out along with the compressed air - Not good.

I know some will argue with this but to me there is no arguement about the risk of such - I've worked with compressed air for decades and it was part of what I did for a living, including servicing these compressors, those being at or above 100HP air or water cooled units.

BTW, with what you described yourself as doing with it already it's is possible you've already popped the board and don't be suprised if you did - Again it needs alot of drying time to deal with the risk of killing it with moisture.

 

[Nossy]

While I can't blame you for not suggesting it, can be done no prob IF you know what you are doing.
I've done it many times and never had any issues from doing it.

The trick is in how you do things and also know this isn't a "Just blow it off with compesssed air and it's dry" kind of thing - Far from it.

The procedure isn't complicated and it does work.

What I do is I'll remove all the heatsinks that's possible to remove, the CMOS battery and whatever else I have to, then setup the dishwasher.
I will set the board in so it's face is leaning down a little and also so that the periphical ports are down too due to their weight, that being down low will aid in keeping the board in the right position during the wash.

Use a hot water wash cycle and I normally do the "Pots and Pans" cycle with the extra rinse cycle too but no heated dry - It's not required.

After the washing is done, remove it from the washer and drain it off well.
After that is where many get impatient and mess up - It requires enough drying time to make sure all the moisture trapped in the board's nooks and crannys is gone.

Best way is to set it up in front of a small fan for a few days.
That's right.... I said days, not hours.

Note I didn't say anything about heating it - Can be done and yes, I've done it before but moving air itself is what you need as long as this air isn't humid. For high humidity situations warming it is the way to go but beware about using alot of heat, all you really need is a nice, warm (Not hot) flow of air to it.
As long as it feels decently warm it's fine and will work, just give it the time it needs to dry out (12-24hrs).

24-48 hrs unheated air is best because it's the movement of air that does the job.
Once it's sat for that amount of time it should be ready to test.

DO NOT EVER hit it with compressed air if possible, since the compressed air always has some has water vapor in it and because you're blowing this air on to the board with force, it tends to inject moisture into stuff/components because the water vapor will come out along with the compressed air - Not good.

I know some will argue with this but to me there is no arguement about the risk of such - I've worked with compressed air for decades and it was part of what I did for a living, including servicing these compressors, those being at or above 100HP air or water cooled units.

BTW, with what you described yourself as doing with it already it's is possible you've already popped the board and don't be suprised if you did - Again it needs alot of drying time to deal with the risk of killing it with moisture.

Thanks for that. These two here would be the only heat sink I could remove. Would you think a bath of iso 99% would be better off first? Or straight to the dishwasher? One problem I do face is I don't have a plastic cpu cover anymore. Not for the lga2011 at least. I've lost the box somewhere.

 

[GerKNG]

buy 99% IPA, a plastic container and submerge the board while cleaning everything with a paintbrush.
leave it there for another 10-15 minutes and let it dry.
and take off all heatsinks and thermalpads.

 

[xrobwx71]

Bit of an odd one I wanted to confirm. Had a pretty bad spill on my old ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition board. I'd love to get it running again.

After cleaning with a box of q-tips and a high grade contact cleaner I could get it as far as power to the mobo but wouldn't actually turn on. No shorts or anything just wouldn't start.

I gave up till today when I tried again. Now however it does start but clicks out on a safety on the psu. (Can hear it) I notice some small amounts of corrosion have appeared on the back and some of the ram sockets still have bloody red dye through them.

Can I soak the entire board in Isopropyl Alcohol of anything higher than 70% for a set period of time? With a soft toothbrush for the bins on the back?

Will I need to completely strip all the motherboards heat sinks?

Tia

Was there power connected to the mobo when this mishap happened?

 

[Bones]

Thanks for that. These two here would be the only heat sink I could remove. Would you think a bath of iso 99% would be better off first? Or straight to the dishwasher?

Actually there is no point in using alcohol first since it removes moisture - And then you are getting it wet again from the washing.
I normally just pop it right in the dishwasher and so far I've never used any iso 99% or any alcohol period during the cleaning process.
Dunking it in that after it's washed will give a drying effect but even with that, still let air blow on it for awhile due to the fumes.

You can also just set it out in the sun for a day if you want - Heat from the sun will aid in getting it dry, esp if there is a breeze to go along with it and you'd be suprised how warm it can get just sitting out that way.
Just make sure you still use a fan on it overnight to be 100% sure it's dry and ready.

I forgot to add I also use a standard dishwashing packet too as if I'm doing a load of dishes but be sure to use the extra rinse cycle too as said.

One problem I do face is I don't have a plastic cpu cover anymore. Not for the lga2011 at least. I've lost the box somewhere.

That may be a problem - I prefer to use a cover due to the force of the jets possibly affecting pins in the socket.
If you can find one or the one you had that would be the way to go here. I cannot suggest doing this with the socket pins exposed to the waterjets in the washer.

For boards that use a CPU with pins on the chip it's nothing to worry about at all.

 

[forman313]

I use IPA, a stiff and a soft brush. Then I give it a hot shower before I dry it out in the oven with hot-air @ 75-80°C.

Laptops, keyboards, motherboards, GPUs... worked every time. Twice on my old HTPC motherboard. It diddnt work a 3rd time, but I diddnt expect it to as there was a lot of rust several places.

Check the battery, and use a DMM to check the power rails. If your PSU shuts down right after powering on, its almost certain that you have a short somewhere. Power rails and super-io chip is the first I would check. Look for corrosion or discoloration of the super-io legs. In this case, its the nuvoTon chip.

Also, while troubleshooting, put the motherboard on a table or cardboard box with nothing but a fan connected. No CPU, RAM, GPU, USB-front panel connector ...nothing. Then connect PSU cables and try powering it on. If it stays on and the fan keeps spinning, shut it down and insert one stick of ram and try again. After that you insert CPU (no cooler as you only let it run for ~5sec), then you keep adding components one at a time.

 

[Jose Jeswin]

How long do you think I should soak for?

10 mins or 15 min or so...not more than that....or you can dip one part and start scrubbing slowly..

 

[jon_joy_1999]

Electronics can be washed in a dishwasher; I often clean my small boards using isopropyl alcohol in an ultrasonic cleaner to remove flux.

The alcohol promotes cavitation, which in this application is a virtue.

Ehhhh.. If you don't have the cover for your socket I would advise not washing a motherboard in a dishwasher. der8aeur can do it, but you really gotta know what you're doing. Seeing red in the socket is a big red flag for me (pun not intended ) . You could try flooding the motherboard in IPA and using a plastic syringe to clean out all of the crevices and holes that fluid got into.
I would be careful with stiff bristled brushes around SMD components. They're usually glued down securely, but if they're not you'll find out the bad way