Thermal Paste in the CPU socket

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davidst95

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Apr 4, 2008
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Hi,

I accidentally got thermal paste in the 1155 CPU socket. Is there any method to remove it or am I out of a motherboard? Thanks.

David
 
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Also it depends on the thermal paste as most of them today are electrically non conductive. If its Artic silver 5 which is a common then you could have an issue as it does conduct electricity so it could cause a short.

In the socket as in the pin slot or did it just squeez out on the edges? If on the edges like the prior poster said a q-tip and rubbing alcohol will get most of up.
 
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Hold motherboard upside down over blotter paper of a different color than the thermal paste. Spray with solvent rated safe for all plastics, such as CRC Lectrosol or Electronic Parts Cleaner, and repeat until drippings are completely clear.
 
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Non conductive is also an issue, obviously.
 
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Hi,

Thanks for all the advice. I tried cleaning the pins but I don't want to risk my CPU with it and short it. I guess I'm out a motherboard. Luckily it was a budget board. Thanks again.

David
 
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If you could post a picture we could tell you how bad it is. I'm pretty sure your board isn't toast. No sense in throwing out a board because of a little thermal paste, but I would like to see it so we can say for sure.
 
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If you have a way to spray a solvent on it, like methanol or isopropyl, you could clean it that way. It will dissolve the grease in the arctic silver.

Take the motherboard out of the case if it isn't already, and spray it or soak it at small amounts at a time. Don't worry about getting some on the motherboard, it will evaporate soon. It should clean it out with a little time and patience.

 
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I said "electrically non conductive" not thermally non conductive. I didn't go into detail but it would also need to be non electrically capacitive as well if you were to ignore the spilled paste and not clean it up.

For example mx-3 is neither electrically conductive or capacitive, you can squirt it all over your motherboard say you wanted that motherboard to looked like a cup cake with icing on it. It would run fine no issue but wouldn't taste to good.
 
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uhm, where he was going with this is as follows.

If the OP was worried about the compound being conductive, it could short the pins causing trouble.

If the compound was non conductive it wouldn't short anything out, however it would effectively completely cut ground any pins that had any on it, therefore also causing the cpu to not owrk.
 
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If it's electrically non-conductive it's still capacitive, but that likely will not matter if it's a thin film.

Electrically non-conductive paste will not cut current flow since the pins will pierce the film. Electrical switches, even many rated for high current, are often lubricated with non-conductive grease.
 
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Agree but if you know what the paste is then I would feel safer trying to clean it up knowing if a missed very small amounts it would be fine with a non conductive non capactive residue. Of course it depends on how much paste fell in in the socket before I would even think about it. If the OP has no idea what the paste is then yes the safest thing is to trash the motherboard.

Im still scratching my head on how one could do this...

Can we get photos?
 
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Great solution, cleaned my Intel Socket 1151 in two minutes. This thing evaporates faster than 98% alcohol. Great solution for cleaning electronics (i.e. CPUs and MoBos when being too generous with the thermal paste..).
Thank you!!!
Dan

 
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I did the same thing yesterday - thermal goo on the tiny CPU pins on a LGA1155 motherboard, but I found a simple and perfect solution. Hold a spray can of compressed air upside down with the nozzle on the spot where the goo is, then spray like mad. The air comes out as liquid when the can is upside down, and this liquid simply blasts away any trace of the goo from the pins and indeed anywhere on the motherboard. It was like it was never there and seemed to evaporate into thin air. I was SO pleased I did a little dance and sang a little song, as this was a brand new motherboard I thought I'd just ruined and was feeling a bit depressed.
 
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Anyone who actually knows the answer to this please feel free to point and laugh loudly at me, but what about WD40?

I know its safe to use on electrical circuits even up to mains voltage, but have no idea how it would fair with low voltage ones where tolerances are much higher or whether it would leave a problematic residue behind but it was just a thought
 
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