Cleaning MB and cards or leave dirty?

[Wangel]

I had a friend over to work on my computer and when he opened the case, everything was very dirty. (Hasn't been cleaned in many years). He tried to use a can of air to blow the dirt, but it only removed the very top layer of dust. He pulled out the cards and motherboard, removed the chips on the motherboard and then went over to the sink and started to rinse off the boards under tap water. He then immediately took a blow dryer and dried the boards. The boards appeared brand new. He put everything back together and it worked fine. Is this an acceptable way to clean cards. The cards that he cleaned were the motherboard, video card, soundblaster card, SCSI card, modem, and network card. When I asked him about it, he said that the important thing is to quickly dry the card, otherwise rust will set in.

 

[AMD4ME2]

hmmmm... thats a new one! I have heard that you can put your keyboard in the dishwasher as long as you don't have real hard water in your area. so I assume the same would go for the cards as long as they were completely dry. although if I were to try something like that I believe I would go buy some demineralized water.

 

[vm]

dunno if i'd have the guts to put everything in the water

 

[jd in IL]

:Q Wash the MB and cards? Is he nuts? Oh....nothing worse than copper traces rusting, but I guess a good coat of WD40 on there before you reinstall it would keep that from happening.

"operator........get me the number for 911" Homer Simpson
"no.......this is 912" Cheif Wiggums

 

[Tominator]

....trip to the carwash and a dose of engine drgreaser works wonders.....

 

[Subversal]

Wha? I use anti-static wipes to clean my stuff... no problems whatsoever.

 

[CocaCola5]

I like to use a 1 to 2" soft paint brush and unhook everything and sweep all the dust off. It might not be as squeakly clean as a water washing but its much safer.

 

[Mustanggt]

I dont think washing in water is good idea I would never do this. I allways have been able to pull hardware out after a year or so and blow it down with air back to new condition. wait a minute if im upgrading every six months how can this be possible LOL

 

[NforSa]

washing in water works great just make sure its dry b4 u turn it on!!
really, its the best way to clean stuff, if its really dirty anyways, water doesnt do anything bad to electric components as long as its not there while its turned on or wet for an extended period (galvanic corrosion between the different metals will wreck it pretty good)

 

[Jamey]

I wouldn't recommend you washing it in water. Get someone else. Dish pan hands can be bad for roughing up your keyboard. Seriously, I wouldn't do it. I second the motion of using a 1.5 - 2 inch paint brush with gentle bristles to brush the dust off. A better way may be a vacum cleaner's brush attachment so you can get some sucking action. Hmmmm, that gives me an idea, gotta run

 

[Dan]

I agree it's a good practice to clean your mobo and cards but I don't subscribe to the kitchen sink approach. I periodically wipe everything off with a soft, clean paint brush and hit it with compressed air. Once in a while I like to haul the unit down to the corner gas station and blast it with the air hose. It's unbelievable what flies out of the power supply!

 

[billyjak]

You can use TV electronic contact cleaner to clean your slots and cards, the dirt will melt away clean with no harm to your motherboard, It dries instantly. Use it all the time.

 

[groovy]

I prefer my 5.5 horsepower power wash and then to get the cards really dry, I use the back pack blower.----- Gotta hold the parts down with bricks so they don't blow away though. L.O.L.