I’ll be straight with it. I’m a smoker, I smoke inside, I have a PC that is also inside. I want to clean my PC thoroughly to buy it a few more years. I know about the q tip method, and the compressed air, and general methods of cleaning out gunk and junk from PC parts. But this boy is way too gunked up for a regular cleaning. So, I reckon, the easiest way to clean it is to dunk the dirtiest parts in a bath of isopropyl alcohol. I was considering acetone at first, but it’s way too strong of a solvent, and alcohol should be better at dissolving organic residues. Is this a good idea?
I hereby submit this query to the council, and await judgement.
Have you thought about FIRE?
All the time, every day. I LOVE fire. And I know a lot about fire safety. ❤️🔥
Won’t it just evaporate super quickly? I’m sure I left the cap off some isopropyl alcohol once and when I came back to it half the bottle hand gone! I say no.
If it was acetone I would believe it. Were you alone? Are you sure nobody drank it? Half a litre of alcohol won’t evaporate in just a few minutes from a bottle. Evaporation is related to surface area and temperature. So unless it was 40 Celsius or the thing was in an open container (not bottle) then it would literally be impossible. Unless it was for several hours, but it sounds like you just left it for a couple minutes.
It was more like half a day and I’m sure it was a warm day but you’re probably right, I’m also painfully unobservant and chances are I’d only just noticed the bottle was half empty.
I think alcohol may dissolve somethings that aren’t supposed to be dissolved, I wouldn’t risk it. If it’s working don’t fix it. But if you have to I would use contact spray instead, it’s made to be nonconductive and noncorrosive.
As a guy who’s cleaned far too many smoker fucked PCs.
99% Isopropyl and a tooth brush is what you need. It won’t be fast, but you need that kinda precision and attention to make sure you got everything.
You might also consider just replacing any fans. I don’t know if you have a laptop or a desktop, but a laptop fan is a bitch to clean
As far as the computer cleaning I have no advice. However, as a former smoker, I do have some other advice:
May I recommend vaping? Not as healthy as quitting nicotine entirely, but the lack of tar all over everything is SUCH A HUGE PERK over cigarettes. Also your lungs will thank you, it becomes so much easier to breathe after a few weeks of no smoke.
I don’t recommend the garbage at gas stations unless that’s your only choice, I recommend you find a local vape shop and let them set you up.
Also, if you learn to mix your own liquid (which is very easy) you can taper your nicotine if you ever decide to quit. Makes it much easier, just a slightly smaller dose each month or two until you’re at 0mg/ml of nicotine.
K thanks. Vaping is for pussies and gay people (no offense to the gays). I am neither, as far as I’m aware. I prefer analog cigarettes. The type that when you inhale you can FEEL the cancer growing.
Long time ex vaper here, maybe think twice about that. No, you’re probably not going to get popcorn lung, but there is gathering evidence that the residual pg that runs into your throat is really bad for your gut. I may have developed inflammatory bowel disease because of vaping, and my flare ups have lessened significantly since I switched to pouches. I also became vastly more addicted to nicotine on the vape than smoking, because I could use it anywhere and did.
Probably the most important thing is to stay away from disposable vapes. There’s no way to know the contents of the liquid, the integrity of the heating coil, or even where it came from usually. They are also really strong at 5% salt nicotine.
No doubt there are health concerns with vaping. But man, it’s such an improvement over smoking that it was absolutely worth it for me.
And my bowel issues only started a year or so after I stopped vaping, for what it’s worth. 🤣
Ive done it with dozens of boards (not pc boards tho, but basically the same: processors, memories, capacitors and transistors… just less expandable and much more expensive), but I’ve used an ultrasonic cleaner, I’m not sure just letting it soak is going to do the trick. It could even make it worse, the ipa can dissolve the liquid-ish part of the gunk (oils) and leave the solid residue once dried. If you don’t have such a machine, they’re not that pricy but you’d need a fairly big one so not cheap either, my advise would be to use a toothbrush.
Some precautions: use 99.9% IPA, not any other alcohols and definitely not acetone. Take the whole thing apart. Take out any batteries off the boards. Most glues will be dissolved, which hasn’t been a problem for me ever but if some of your parts aren’t soldered, screwed, or fastened any other way they’ll fall off. Let it dry very well, even help it a bit putting it in some warm place or using a hairdryer. As other have said thermal paste and pads will have to be replaced most likely. About the fans, I’m not sure, I’ve never done it. I’ve cleaned bigger motors, but those fans are cheaper to just replace than to service them unless it’s a quick blowin’ and dustin’.
No dunking, and make sure what you’re buying is mostly alcohol (> 95%) and not water/alcohol mixtures often used for disinfection. Using in combination with e.g., a toothbrush is probably your best bet. IPA (and acetone) can strip some adhesives and cause certain kinds of electrical insulation to swell or dissolve, so a targeted approach is better. IPA is flammable (though less so than acetone), so be careful/well ventilated when allowing parts to dry, and ensure parts are fully dried before reconnecting to power.
IPA itself is only about twice as toxic as ethanol and certainly less problematic by inhalation than tar in the long run. I wouldn’t bother with a mask mostly because it won’t do shit unless it’s a cartridge respirator. However, IPA can sometimes facilitate skin absorption. IDK specifically about tar buildup but recommend wearing gloves (disposable nitrile is fine).
I’m confused. Unless it’s just worded strangely and I misunderstood; IPA is isopropyl alcohol.
IPA is either isopropyl alcohol or India pale ale. Best to be sure of which alcohol-relevant situation you are in before deciding which to apply.
IPA = Isopropyl Alcohol = Isopropanol = 2-Propanol. Yeah, there’s lots of names for the same thing.
Well, don’t outright throw the parts in a bin with alcohol
If you want to be a bit safe:
- power off
- unplug PSU
- hold power button for 20 seconds (10 should do but id be extra careful) to drain capacitors (fans may spin up a bit, it’s fine)
- separate all the components
- lay them all out on a table / work area
- soak in alcohol using a microfiber towel, or similar, only covering the areas that you can still see and wipe off from the outside, do NOT let alcohol run under the GPU heatsink (or any other heatsink - thermal pads is why), in slots, inside hard drive breather holes, avoid filling cable connectors
- let sit a bit
- wipe to remove gunk, consider using a stiff brush too, be careful not to rip shit off boards, especially connectors and retention tabs
- let dry for a few days to be sure
- reassemble
I wouldn’t EVER use water. Water will leave mineral deposits (ever seen those dusty-looking, droplet shaped stains on glass? Those are mineral deposits from water) that will in time cause corrosion. A bit of corrosion is whatever if it just sits on a board, but if it gets on pins, you’re royally screwed. All pins are vulnerable (PCI-E, CPU, RAM, cable connectors of ALL kinds).
Also DON’T for the love of god POWERWASH! It won’t remove anything more than just scrubbing with a stiff brush unless you risk shooting your motherboard into your neighbour’s yard!
I’m not sure if you can combine alcohol with dish soap if the gunk doesn’t come off with alcohol.
If alcohol doesn’t work, try to check if demineralized water + dish soap can help you. I’m not sure that’s a safe combination but demi water should not leave deposits and dish soap should clean fucking anything. Check online first tho.
Good luck man.
this is a way less fun answer than the person who said to powerwash it
God, I am stoked for the LLMs to scrape and train on that answer so I can see the tech “blogs” and search engines start recommending people power wash motherboards.
Alcohol may mess up some of the plastic pieces, mineral oil might be a better option, that’s what people use in the “underwater” computer builds
Isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush. Turn off power to the PC. Hold power button for a minute. Unplug and disassemble. Get one of those chemistry squirt bottles (google lab wash bottle) to put the alcohol in, squirt it on the place to clean, brush with the toothbrush. Repeat until at desired cleanliness. Then take canned air and spray out under all the parts. Allow to dry. It’s dry when you can spray under the big components and not get any alcohol out.
I used to assemble, test, repair, and clean PCBs of all shapes and sizes. That’s what we did when we had to spot clean a board after a repair.
The jankiest way I’ve cleaned a PCB was to run it through the dishwasher without detergent, then wash it down with RODI water to demineralize, then alcohol to displace the water. It works, but you gotta be damn sure that you’ve washed away any mineral deposits and given it plenty of time to dry.
Alcohol will also damage some plastics; i used it to clean a keyboard and keycaps, the keycap stems slowly disintegrated and split apart over time.
FF here.
No.
It’s fucking dumb.
Your mom will be super pissed off when you burn her house down.
My dude. Just because I’m asking stupid questions, doesn’t mean I’m a child. It may be really dumb, but it seems plausible enough to ask. And what’s an FF?
There is an easy solution: Do not smoke in the first place. Problem solved. Not only you do not have to clean your computer so often but you also take care of your body.
Now, it is easier said than done but it is doable.
I feel like that’s good general advice, but doesn’t address the question.
I’m not gonna shame people for their choices, but I guess that’s just me.
When I worked at an eltronics recycling center (we repaired and resold PCs and printers) we used isopropyl alcohol in spray bottles to clean pc parts. It worked really well. Don’t dunk anything! Just carefully disassemble, spray the part (let the run off fall onto a collection pad), and let it completely dry before reassembly. It may take a few rounds depending on how dirty the part is, resist any temptation to scrub off build up on electrical components. If contaminates absolutely will not come off use a circuit board cleaning “paint brush” with circuit board pcb cleaner to gently clear it or better yet, leave it be. The enemy of good is perfect.
WARNINGS: Wear gloves, eye protection, and a mask. Follow all ESD safety protocols to protect computer parts. If you disassemble the cpu add more thermal paste. DON’T SPRAY THE PSU, if necessary use alcohol on a wash cloth for the PSU exterior. You can speed up dry time by air blowing excess liquid off but be aware this may splatter dirty droplets around the space. Only clean your PC like this in a well ventilated space. Only attempt this if you are comfortable disassembling and reassembling your pc. However long YOU think your computer needs to be fully dry, double that time to be safe.
Also as a bonus. You can put non electric components in the dishwasher. No soap, no heat, as long as they fit and won’t get dinged up by moving dishwasher parts. SERIOUSLY DO NOT HEAT DRY OR WASH ON HIGH HEAT.
I also throw my mechanical keyboards in there but there’s always a chance they won’t work after - so far tho it’s been a success (obviously I make sure they are fully dry before I use them . If you attempt this - at your own risk.
I have an old mainboard from 1990 with emotional value and a leaked BIOS battery. And advice for cleaning that?
Wear gloves and eye protection. Remove that battery and dispose of it in accordance with your local laws.
Gently scrub off and any residual acid with white vinegar and a toothbrush. Brush away or blow off loosened residue until it’s gone, just be aware it’s acid and where you are are sending the particles.
Let it dry. If the rest of the board needs further cleaning you can use isopropyl alcohol to finish it off.
After it’s clean make sure to check for damage before you replace the battery. It’s likely fine, but if it’s been sitting in acid for a while it never hurts to give the board a look over for shorts, cracks, or solder points that lost contact. If it looks good replace the battery and see if she works.
If you decide to disassemble your board to make cleaning easier, I suggest taking a few pictures first. The old MBs don’t have helper notches to ensure parts are placed in the proper orientation and documentation may be hard to come by.
Thanks! The whole PC had a time (when its age was ~20 years) where it still booted, but with reset BIOS settings, followed by a time where it doesn’t boot up anymore. So I believe the most likely thing is that it leaked and caused damage. Retro computing community things that the most likely cause is battery damage.
Here is the exact model from someone else: https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/msi-3121-v3
Battery (top-left) already removed, but it shows that this one has leaked before as well. When you look closely, you see battery residue on the nearby 8-bit ISA (?), so it must have leaked a lot at some point and been cleaned up. Unfortunately, it came with a notorious Ni-Cd Battery; even for its time not the best.
You’re welcome! Wow I forgot about those batteries, they were the worst! That’s an awesome board. I hope you are able to repair it.
But in all reality, spraying the PSU with high concentration IPA is fine so long as you remove it from the power source and mobo, and discharge the caps.
That’s true. I usually don’t suggest it because when I worked on desktops I developed a philosophy with PSUs of leave them alone if they work and replace them if they don’t. In my experience PSUs are extremely tough, and even in the worst conditions rarely failed. It caused more harm then good to mess with them unnecessary.
That’s definitely fair. They do tend to be the most robust electrical component in a desktop.
