Motherboard Corrosion here?

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flamehead269

flamehead269

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Feb 12, 2013
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Okay, so I happened to be switching out a fan today and replacing a broken sata cable, and it would seem i have found this greasy residue of some sort on my motherboard front an back next to the power regulators.

I have some pictures tell me what you think, and if this is corrosion can I get rid of it and save my motherboard or will it only get worse and break until i have to get a new one......

This is the back
http://imgur.com/2yWvGUL,szgx5Ad

Front
http://imgur.com/2yWvGUL,szgx5Ad#1

Thanks guys
 
Solution
AdmiralDonut
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I'm not saying this is going to save you but do it and you will have the board for a bit longer.

Brush the area with isopropyl alcohol, take your time, get in between as many hole as possible, do this until the corrosion is gone. Next is to use a different brush and clean the area with distilled water, this will ''purify'' the corroded area. Leave it to dry for about a day.
 
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That is not corrosion, it is heat damage. Either you are overclocking on a motherboard you shouldn't be overclocking on, or the power regulators are broken. Please list full specs and where in your house the rig is positioned. I ask this because I can also see what appears to be a rather large amount of hair on and around the components in your picture and a dirty environment can definitely be a factor in overheat issues.
 
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My computer is on top of a wood desk in my room.

I am running:
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) ...
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX ...
Corsair H100i Water Cooler
Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Titanium Grey (case)
AMD FX-8350 Black Edition Vishera 8-Core 4.0GHz ...(no overclock)
Corsair 750 TX 750 watt Power supply
Gigabyte Ghz Edition 3gb Radeon HD 7970

Heat damage sounds right, I used to overclock my cpu a little bit but never to the point it got super hot, but my gpu would make my case a furnace in the summers so that could of contributed...

So I am assuming that there wasn't exactly any damage done lethally to the board I just need to stay away from heat.. fair enough.. I used to oc a little but I just figured it really isn't worth it..

Think I could keep my board or you think this significantly decreased the life of it? Just stay away from heat? what?

 
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Grab yourself some Isopropyl alcohol (at least 75%) and some of those cotton buds you use to clean your ears, dip the buds in the alcohol and carefully clean off the front part of the board where the damage has been done. Look carefully around each component and check for signs of serious damage, especially around the capacitors and the heatsinks. If any of those components looks physically damaged in any way after you've cleaned it off, then you will have to get a new motherboard. If it is still under warranty then I would suggest returning it and claiming it as a manufacturing fault.

If however there is no sign of any physical damage to any of the surface components then I see no reason why you shouldn't continue to use the board, albeit with no OC. I would also recommend you do something about the heat from your GPU, either by retrofitting it with a water cooler, or selling it and buying one that doesn't run that hot. Whatever you choose to do, remember that the board has clearly suffered heavy wear and tear, and whilst running it should not pose any significant problems, that does not mean that none will occur.

As with everything electronic, motherboards are fragile and to be treated with all due care, doing otherwise will shorten their useful lifespan and risk damaging other components.
 
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The likelihood is that the weird discoloration is solder flux from the manufacturing process. Does it feel sticky to the touch? If so, all you'll need to do is get some 85-99% rubbing alcohol (I think Frys stock it in the US) or from Amazon just about everywhere in the world and give the area a clean with the board out of the case.
 
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On the front when i touch it.. It's almost like a soft greasy but yet liquidy feeling... and It has all that discoloration like as if its oil or something, My card usually runs at around 70 C and I have high quality fans pushing air out of the case and some pushing in...

You think it could of been because of the extra voltage I had to push in to OC my cpu when I used to because the damage is where the power regulators are.

Even when I did High OCs and stuff I closely monitored like crazy and it was just for testing really.. But I have a good idea of what it was from and its been forever since I've looked behind the case like that so i dont have a clue what could of done it really accept overclocking.

I've ran open case when I was gaming and felt for heat around that particular area of heat damage and there was none.. The buses run really cool too so I am thinking of rubbing it down carefully like you said, give it a day to dry, blow the dust off and supruse it up some.. It's a nice board and it doesn't seem to have any problems, they system runs very smoothly.....

But I also remember this one thing happening in the past month.. We had a power surge... (yes I have a surge protector) and it fried a sata cable in my pc.... Could the surge of been powerful enough to do that to the motherboard?

And I only came across the heat damage when I was doing a little maintenance.
 
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The power surge could definitely have caused other issues. There have been a handful of reports, one most notably from a Tech website that was running tests on CPU's using the same motherboard as yours, where the MOSFET's on some boards were found to be defective. Given this new piece of information regarding the power surge I think it best you not take any chances and return the board to its place of purchase and get a refund. Do not, however, mention the power surge to them.
 
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Solution


So you think I should tell them I found this damage when I was replacing a fan?
Also I got this from Newegg.
 
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You could tell them that, yes. After all it IS true.
 
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