Rather disturbing method of removing silver heatsink paste from an XP

[radu386]

Well, I was switching chips out in one of my other machines, and I happened to make a little mistake and got silver-bearing paste (non AS3) all over the core and packaging of one of my XPs.
Note to self: never make mistakes. I wasn't aware it was _possible_ to cover most of the bridges with silver...

Attempting to clean it the conventional way only made it worse, spread it from here to eternity. Realizing that I had nowhere to go but up, I thought of something. Some of you will say I'm insane. But it worked.

I'll give you a hint. "Mr. Clean gets rid of dirt and grime and grease in just a minute..."

Somewhere in the ballpark of 40% Mr. Clean and 60% of (70% by volume) rubbing alcohol. The alcohol alone did little, but MAN, did the silver RUN from the Mr. Clean. I mean, it just dissolved visibly and was pushed out to the edge of the liquid.
Went through forty Q-tips to pick it all up, but it's clean again. Mr. Clean _eats_ silver heatsink paste for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Wow, considering I covered about 2/3 of the packaging area and core with paste by accident... Flushed it with pure alcohol afterward to clean out any residue, but the chip appears quite fine.

Started up. Runs perfectly. Overclocked by 15%, running Prime stress test right now, but is running sufficiently well as to be considered working.
I'm quite frankly amazed that it still works after that. It's a testament to the power of Mr. Clean! Mental note for the future...

[JDXNC]

LOL... too funny, sloppy OC'ers will be stocking up on Mr. Clean now... I can see it :P

[IdreamofDSl]

Thanks for the tip, now I don't have to use all of the wifes nail polish remover when that happens to me.

[Mizzery]

I actually use auto degreaser to get rid of the silver paste. Works really well. Then i clean it up with alcohol. A warning on these extereme cleaning chemicals - I've dissolved the rubber standoffs with it if you value these.

[UberBlue]

Mr. Clean tastes funny.

Return to Earth.

Ammonia is the active ingredient in Mr. Clean.

[radu386]

Hmm, perhaps I should check the standoffs, I got the cleaners on at least one or two of them. Any timeframe info for dissolving them?

As for ammonia, I've no idea how ammonia is supposed to interact with silver or the base in the paste, it's never come up that I've seen. Why, would that be a bad thing? Does ammonia do something to the metals in the core or the packaging that I'm not aware of?

[JimmyG]

You may want to put in an order to newegg for a backup 2100+ :D

[fhanderson]

I got a refurb 2400XP from newegg for $45. When it arrived the entire back was covered with either AS or Alumina. I was going to send it back but decided to give it a try. I wiped as much as possible off with a dry cloth, then used the cloth soaked in alcohol to clean as much as possible. I used a 1/4 inch artist brush and alcohol to clean the rest. It just finnished 24 hrs. of prime 95 and 12 hrs of 3DMark 2001SE without a glitch. I think its going to be OK.

[radu386]

Oh, wasn't my 2100+, it was the funky Mobile/Low Power Palomino 1100, the one that overclocks 40% at stock voltage and came with unlocked multipliers. Now you see why I was so desperate to save it...

It appears to still be fully functional, despite being washed, rinsed, and then overclocked for a day... I am impressed.