Help: Thermal grease stuck INSIDE socket

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noinimod

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Aug 23, 2006
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I was taking out my c2d processor out of the socket and to my horror, some thermal grease found its way into the LGA775 pins. I tried using some pointy metal tools to scrape the thing out but it's quite an uphill task.

Anyone with ideas how i can remove them effectively without damaging the pins? :confused:
 
What brand of thermal grease ?

Most have a silicone oil based carrier. If it were me I would avoid any tools at all in the socket until I tried everything else. I think I would try to flush it out with some kind of solvent first. Electrical contact cleaner comes to mind (TV tuner cleaner) but no idea if it would work on silicone grease. I did find one silicone solvent, link below. I would take the motherboard out of the case and spray an entire bottle of this stuff into the socket while holding the board upside down and praying feverently in hopes of flushing it out. Maybe a very very careful wipe with something like a cut up old cotton T shirt. For sure NOT a Q-tip or cotton ball that has fibers to catch and pull on the contacts. No clue where it is sold. The site does sell direct but that product is not listed, Might be worth a phone call. It is the only hit I got on "silicone solvent".

http://www.valco-cp.com/solvent200.htm

Their solvent 184 might work too based on the description /shrug

Other degreasers may work but many are harmful to plastics. The stuff above seems ideal if you can find it.

There is likely a better way but I cant think of it.
 
I had a socket 939 board given to me with artic silver in the socket i went and got a can of break Kleen from advance auto parts and sprayed the hell out of the socket and it was fine just let it dry out good or you can use some compressed air to dry it out with.
 
DieHard007 said:
I had a socket 939 board given to me with artic silver in the socket i went and got a can of break Kleen from advance auto parts and sprayed the hell out of the socket and it was fine just let it dry out good or you can use some compressed air to dry it out with.
Click to expand...

This.

Carbeurator cleaner works as well.
 
Go to home depot or ace hardware or radioshack, get some plastic safe electrical contact cleaner and flush it out if it's silver based. If it's ceramic based I'd probably just leave it be. Other spray solvents will work, but I wouldn't chance it damaging a motherboard because I wanted to save 50c. on contact cleaner.
 
Carb cleaner will EAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK out of most plastics, I'm not dissing what cyclone said... I'm just warning you I've personally seen an LGA775 socket (as well as the adjacent memory slots) melted by carb cleaner.

I would buy an Arctic Cooling cleaning kit and squirt a bunch of solution 1 in there, then flush out the residue with tons of rubbing alcohol (the higher percentage the better). (a squirt bottle full of alcohol is really handy for situations like this).

Then just allow it to dry on its own or hurry it along with a can of compressed air.
 
This is what I use on my MAF when I do a tune up on my car. For those that don't know what a MAF is, it's a sensitive, fragile piece of electronics incased in plastic that measures air flow.

I would imagine it would be pefect for your situation. Cleans almost as well as brake cleaner but not nearly as hard on plastics - made for electronic contacts. Cheap too available at any kragens, pep boys or vatozone.

CRC_cleaner.jpg



Good luck!
 
Blue Falcon said:
Carb cleaner will EAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK out of most plastics, I'm not dissing what cyclone said... I'm just warning you I've personally seen an LGA775 socket (as well as the adjacent memory slots) melted by carb cleaner.

I would buy an Arctic Cooling cleaning kit and squirt a bunch of solution 1 in there, then flush out the residue with tons of rubbing alcohol (the higher percentage the better). (a squirt bottle full of alcohol is really handy for situations like this).

Then just allow it to dry on its own or hurry it along with a can of compressed air.
Click to expand...


Hrmmm... I've used carb cleaner before.. but that was a while ago. Maybe they are not using the same kind of "plastic" anymore. The older sockets and ram slots used to be made out of this bakelite/composite stuff... maybe the quality has gone down.
 
KVW said:
This is what I use on my MAF when I do a tune up on my car. For those that don't know what a MAF is, it's a sensitive, fragile piece of electronics incased in plastic that measures air flow.

I would imagine it would be pefect for your situation. Cleans almost as well as brake cleaner but not nearly as hard on plastics - made for electronic contacts. Cheap too available at any kragens, pep boys or vatozone.

CRC_cleaner.jpg



Good luck!
Click to expand...

A maf(mass air flow sensor) - [newer style like the one in the pic] has heating coils in it that change resistance based upon temperature. Not really all that complicated at all.. just a lot less air restriction than having an AFM(air flow meter).
 
cyclone3d said:
A maf(mass air flow sensor) - [newer style like the one in the pic] has heating coils in it that change resistance based upon temperature. Not really all that complicated at all.. just a lot less air restriction than having an AFM(air flow meter).
Click to expand...

Yup. I know it's not complicated, I just figured if it's safe for a MAF (which is inherently fragile), it should be safe enough to clean that crap out of his motherboard socket.
 
Soap water hot as you can take it, then get out your hair dryer blow it dry then get out your contact cleaner spray it off to remove any leftovers. :rolleyes: Just kidding by the way. I would just try 70% alcohol a tooth brush and follow with contact cleaner. Should get it clean.
 
Is the thermal grease even conductive? If not just wipe off the best u can and be done with it. Long as the tips of the pins are clean (which are also easy to clean) they'll make contact fine with CPU.

Cleaning sounds like lots of work. I know many systems with thermal grease all over the pins. Not an issue at all.
 
Great to know. I did what i could with soft bristles + isopropyl alcohol. Pretty sure i got rid of all the gunk on the pins themselves.

Here's hoping the new owner of my mobo doesn't have any problems with it lol
 
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