My new motherboard has stains?

[FiliDapura]

Hi there, so I bought my motherboard new from amazon and it appears to arrived new but there's weird blotches on it. I don't know if that's normal or not. The motherboard works perfectly fine so far (I've been using it for 3 days now). I'm concerned about the physical condition. Here are pics to see what i'm talking about. I have the Asus B350-f motherboard.

https://imgur.com/a/UpDtmgI

 

[drea.drechsler]

What it looks like is minor residue left after the board cleaning process. Probably harmless but still isn't very good process control in my opinion.

Have you tried cleaning the splotches off? I'd use a cotton swab moistened with isopropyl alcohol or CLEAN fresh tap water.

Power off, of course, and disconnected from mains.

 

[FiliDapura]

What it looks like is minor residue left after the board cleaning process. Probably harmless but still isn't very good process control in my opinion.

Have you tried cleaning the splotches off? I'd use a cotton swab moistened with isopropyl alcohol or CLEAN fresh tap water.

Power off, of course, and disconnected from mains.

No i haven't cleaned off the splotches. But as long as it's not a random spill from a previous owner then i'm perfectly fine with it. But the heat sinks had minor dents on it. I wonder if it was dropped or something feel on it. I guess as long as its functioning 100% then it's all good. Thank you for the quick reply!

 

[drea.drechsler]

No i haven't cleaned off the splotches. But as long as it's not a random spill from a previous owner then i'm perfectly fine with it. But the heat sinks had minor dents on it. I wonder if it was dropped or something feel on it. I guess as long as its functioning 100% then it's all good. Thank you for the quick reply!

Ohhh....i just assumed it was new!

It definitely could be residue left from a PO trying to clean up a spill. You can run a motherboard under tap water to clean off drink spills, for instance. So if the PO did that, it's entirely possible that's what this is. But if it was well rinsed with CLEAN water and is now dry there's no reason to assume it won't continue to function for a long time.

Whether you should be miffed or not depends on how good of a deal you got I guess.

But my faith in Asus mfg. process control has been restored!

 

[FiliDapura]

No i haven't cleaned off the splotches. But as long as it's not a random spill from a previous owner then i'm perfectly fine with it. But the heat sinks had minor dents on it. I wonder if it was dropped or something feel on it. I guess as long as its functioning 100% then it's all good. Thank you for the quick reply!

Ohhh....i just assumed it was new!

It definitely could be residue left from a PO trying to clean up a spill. You can run a motherboard under tap water to clean off drink spills, for instance. So if the PO did that, it's entirely possible that's what this is. But if it was well rinsed with CLEAN water and is now dry there's no reason to assume it won't continue to function for a long time.

Whether you should be miffed or not depends on how good of a deal you got I guess.

But my faith in Asus mfg. process control has been restored!

My motherboard is brand new from Amazon but sometimes returns get sent back out to customers who bought something as new. I haven't experienced that but i've read a review from someone who received a used product instead of a new one. I'm wondering if that happened to me with this motherboard.

 

[smorizio]

get your money back as fast as you can. those are not spill marks there hot gun marks where someone has replaced parts on the mb or did a rewave of soilder joints. the first photo you never get a spill that perfectly square. you get that from a soilder gun and flux flow.

 

[FiliDapura]

get your money back as fast as you can. those are not spill marks there hot gun marks where someone has replaced parts on the mb or did a rewave of soilder joints. the first photo you never get a spill that perfectly square. you get that from a soilder gun and flux flow.

Really?! Damn it! But why are the marks around the screw holes?

 

[drea.drechsler]

...i've read a review from someone who received a used product instead of a new one. I'm wondering if that happened to me with this motherboard.

Not saying that couldn't have happened but I don't see this as evidence for it. It's more possible this was a defective production board that was repaired and then went through a batch cleaning process subsequent to final production cleaning process. Or, as I first said, it's simply minor residue from a, somewhat loose, production cleaning process.

Whatever it is, you've a board that is working fine, was sold as brand new and so has a full Asus manufacturer's warranty. I'd only be concerned if close examination of solder joints revealed poor quality solder workmanship on some parts and/or uncleaned polymerized flux deposits.

Does your vendor offer a full satisfaction, no-questions-asked return guarantee? I can't remember if that's that's the case with Amazon....

 

[FiliDapura]

...i've read a review from someone who received a used product instead of a new one. I'm wondering if that happened to me with this motherboard.

Not saying that couldn't have happened but I don't see this as evidence for it. It's more possible this was a defective production board that was repaired and then went through a batch cleaning process subsequent to final production cleaning process. Or, as I first said, it's simply minor residue from a, somewhat loose, production cleaning process.

Whatever it is, you've a board that is working fine, was sold as brand new and so has a full Asus manufacturer's warranty. I'd only be concerned if close examination of solder joints revealed poor quality solder workmanship on some parts and/or uncleaned polymerized flux deposits.

Does your vendor offer a full satisfaction, no-questions-asked return guarantee? I can't remember if that's that's the case with Amazon....

Amazon offers a free exchange. I just have to (of course) return the one i already have. But there's no technical issues so far so i'll hold onto it. Also, i don't want to re-build my pc if i don't have to.