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How do I go about cleaning the F3 motherboard

Dloop

Dloop

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Hi all, and thank you in advance for your input on this subject.

I bought an F3 motherboard, that ended up being so gray with dust and dirt that it is hard to see all the components on the board even.

So before I start it, and connect games to it, I would like to clean it for safety reasons and for having an aesthetically board.

I am however unsure how I should go about it without actually damaging or ruining it.

Hence reaching out to you all :)
 
Personally I just use a large, clean paintbrush to thoroughly dust the PCB and leave it at that...
 
nam9 said:
Personally I just use a large, clean paintbrush to thoroughly dust the PCB and leave it at that...
Click to expand...
This would only remove the surface dust, and not any ingrained dirt.
 
  • Remove ICs
  • Wash with soap and water
  • Rinse with distilled water
  • Dry in oven at ~100°F
  • Reinstall ICs
 
the Goat said:
  • Remove ICs
  • Wash with soap and water
  • Rinse with distilled water
  • Dry in oven at ~100°F
  • Reinstall ICs
Click to expand...
Are the ICs hurt by the water?

Wondering since I haven't had good luck removing such before without bending legs.

Or is it primarily not to cook them in the oven?

Should it not be enough to wait a week for it to try on its own?

Or would that still not suffice?
 
Removing the ICs is primarily because they would block cleaning and prevent drying wherever they were still installed. Reinstalling them also acts as a way to clean their connection to the sockets -- metal scraping on metal as you insert the IC.

Drying with the oven allow the water to be thoroughly cleaned out from under components and inside sockets, etc.
 
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