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.
I would, but evidence seems to suggest that is not a very good idea.
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.
Wow at this point id more seriously consider to quit smoking or at least stop doing it inside.
You know nothing about my situation. I can’t do that. If I could I would.
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.
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
Thank you. But why would I replace fans? They work fine. It hasn’t even been a decade.
Or do you mean replace as in with liquid cooling?
Isopropyl alcohol damages certain plastics.
And metals
I want to clean my PC thoroughly to buy it a few more years.
You can buy yourself and your electronics a lot of years by cutting the smoking :)
Technically you could submerge parts in isopropyl alcohol. The concern with liquid is primarily corrosion and causing shortages. If there is no stored electricity in the capacitors, the isopropyl alcohol shouldn’t cause any corrosion. It would not be the best way to clean it, in reality, but you could probably do it. I would just spray some on and gently clean it with an old toothbrush.
Smoke, especially cigarette smoke, gets onto everything and is awful to try and clean. I won’t buy used electronics used in a smokers home, or much of anything for that matter.
When I used to do computer repair for work I had a hard limit against working on stuff from a smoker’s household or office. Not only am I too asthmatic to enjoy spending time in such a place, but the thick sticky crud in every nook and cranny of the machine made any hardware job far more trouble than it was worth to me.
I’m still willing to occasionally be the “computer guy” for certain friends and family, but smokers can figure something else out because I’m not touching it. (And yes, weed smoke counts.)
Okay. That does not answer the question. I mean, good for you, I guess.
Not to jump on the smoking hate train - I get it, smoking is very pleasurable and insanely addictive - but have you thought about just smoking outside?
I would never smoke in a room I spend any time in. It’s a funny mindset, as I used to smoke inside in my 20s, but when the ban in bars came along it just sort of became second nature.
These days I rarely smoke, but vape more than I should. The vaping is starting to give me a dry tongue that feels like a fading pizza burn. I plan to stop… Soon…
I haven’t been insulted like this in literal years. I did think of it. In fact, I would do it if it was possible.
You know what, I’ll just rant at you, because I can.
I live with two other smokers in an apratment that is around 28 square meters. I can’t convince them to smoke outside (I tried for years, actually decades). Me smoking outside would change nothing.
Just so you know, the two mentioned smokers are very upset to be mentioned here.
Smoke whatever you want wherever you want. Just don’t assume everyone’s situation is the same. I never asked for health advice, just tech advice. It is painful to read comments from all these self righeous pricks telling me how to live my life (no offense, your comment just happened to be the straw that broke the camel’s back). If I want to die from lung cancer, that is my choice. If I want to smoke inside an apartment that is already considered a “hotbox” by most standards (even without me smoking inside), then you can bet your pretty face I will.
Thank you for your imput. Hope it goes well with quiting vaping. Cheers.
Absolutely no way.
It is dangerous to have a flammable, volatile chemical pooled up like that. It’s a fire hazard, not to mention the fumes from it.
Just don’t
I am the danger. I worked with more volatile stuff. I’ve done things that would give an OSHA inspector a stroke, and I’m fine, because I’m not THAT stupid. But thank you for the concern.
I’m fine, because I’m not THAT stupid
Famous last words
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.
Yep, sorry for going between terms. Also, if the confusion stems from just calling it “alcohol” at one point, I was using the word in the more general chemical sense (molecules containing a C-OH group), a class to which isopropanol and ethanol belong.
IPA = Isopropyl Alcohol = Isopropanol = 2-Propanol. Yeah, there’s lots of names for the same thing.
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.
Mostly just leave it be. The smoke is on the outside and as long as it’s visually clean enough it’ll be fine.
Make sure that ventilator fans still run smoothly, and as needed, replace those, as cooling is extremely important
Dude. It made my graphics card burn. The residue conducts electricity.
Don’t a lot of modern boards have a sort of clear coating over the components anyway? Some sort of enamel like substance?
What is “Modern” to you? This is an important question. Are components originally made around 2008 still modern?
Extreme case story here…
I had a fella bring his computer into our shop for diagnostics and hopefully repair after a house fire. The case was originally light grey, but it was covered outside and even inside with nasty stinking black soot and the front panel was mostly melted.
We checked it out though, the PSU had failed. So we pulled out our test PSU and tried that, and the nasty stinking computer actually booted up!
Well, the boss didn’t want to be responsible for this mess, so he told me I could take it as a side job if the customer really wanted it fixed. He already knew that I’ve successfully salvaged flood damage computers, so why not?
Anyways, I took the motherboard and expansion cards out and took them to our local car wash. I soaked the boards with tire/engine cleaner, then pressure washed the crud away with plain water. Then I used an air compressor to dry it as best as I could, and then left it on the roof of my car in the hot sun for like 4 hours.
Everything worked fine after all that, so I hooked him up with a spare computer case I had laying around to replace his nasty half melted case.
You can actually pressure wash the circuit boards as long as there’s no power (do NOT pressure wash the PSU at all!), as long as the boards are completely dry and clean before reassembling and powering it back up. Just, be careful around any sensitive parts, and do not pressure wash the CPU socket, unless you like all your precious pins bent. Also, don’t pressure wash the fans or mechanical drives or such.
This technique isn’t for the faint of heart though, and I usually only reserve such drastic measures for boards that have already failed due to spill damage, corrosion, or other extremes where the board would otherwise end up in the scrap pile.
Water only causes and issue if there’s a charge and or minerals in the water making it more conductive. Plain water is actually quite a good insulator.
I washed a drone flight controller in deionized water after a lithium battery exploded on it and it got it back up and going
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.
I want to clean my PC thoroughly to buy it a few more years.
Is it not working in its present state?
If it’s working all right, I’d just leave it be, and if you don’t want tar buildup in your next case, get a case that has an air filter on it that you can replace, or run an air purifier with a filter in the room.
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?
