What to do, What to do.

[Pferox]

I have spent the last weekend of my workless life building and upgrading computers, for family members.

The last job was for myself, I had bought an upgraded dual core chip for my machine, and both the geeker guy and myself didn't see the + behind the AMD2 socket designator. I installed the new chip into my mobo and of course, it didn't work.

I then had to take the old chip from the heat sink and try to reinstall the old one, there is where it got messy, somehow I got heat sink grease on the pins and now think I have a contaminated chip AND socket.

Any ideas on how to clean up this mess?  Or am I going to have replace the mobo and try the new chip in it?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

[tsmith35]

Was it conductive HS grease, like Arctic Silver, or non-conductive? The conductive would be much more damaging. I would try using some pure alcohol for cleaning the pins very carefully. Depending on the pin pitch, you may need to use paper matchsticks to get between them. It's so easy to bend the smaller pins, so use caution.

Another possible fix is to blast the chip and socket (out of the machine of course) with non-residue contact cleaner. You can put a vacuum nozzle on the socket to help pull out contamination, but take care to avoid static shock.

[Pferox]

Thanks, I was thinking about alcohol, and giving it a bath.

I have a funny suspicion that the socket is goopie also, but am going to try it.

Alcohol, is the best bet because it doesn't leave a bad film after it dries if it gets all the gunk flushed.