Alcohol: The Solution to Everything?

B

BecauseScience

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 9, 2005
Messages
1,047
I dug an old Z77 motherboard, CPU, RAM combo out of storage to use on a short term project. The parts had been sitting around a couple years.

I put the bits in a case, add disks, install OS, and boot.

OS reports only 1/2 the RAM. I pull the sticks, blow the slots with air, reinstall. Same thing.

I play musical chairs with the RAM slots. Now it doesn't boot. Fails at post with bad RAM code.

I install one stick in at a time to find the bum stick.

I notice that some pads on the defective stick look strange. They look tarnished. A few pads on each side are like that. The rest are bright, shiny gold.

I clean the pads with alcohol and wipe with a lint free cloth. Tarnish is gone. Allow time to fully dry and reinstall.

Machine posts fine. All the memory is there. Run memtest. Passes.

Thing is, gold doesn't tarnish. Weird.

First time I've run across this in 20 years of building PC's. Thought it was worth sharing.
 
I thought donuts was the answer to everything?

AyTmbrOAh58V12FQni1L7f0pPnI=.gif
 
BecauseScience said:
I dug an old Z77 motherboard, CPU, RAM combo out of storage to use on a short term project. The parts had been sitting around a couple years.

I put the bits in a case, add disks, install OS, and boot.

OS reports only 1/2 the RAM. I pull the sticks, blow the slots with air, reinstall. Same thing.

I play musical chairs with the RAM slots. Now it doesn't boot. Fails at post with bad RAM code.

I install one stick in at a time to find the bum stick.

I notice that some pads on the defective stick look strange. They look tarnished. A few pads on each side are like that. The rest are bright, shiny gold.

I clean the pads with alcohol and wipe with a lint free cloth. Tarnish is gone. Allow time to fully dry and reinstall.

Machine posts fine. All the memory is there. Run memtest. Passes.

Thing is, gold doesn't tarnish. Weird.

First time I've run across this in 20 years of building PC's. Thought it was worth sharing.
Click to expand...

They're gold plated copper. Are you certain what you have now is gold and not copper? Or perhaps dust or something built up on them?
 
Basically the same logic that applies to old Nintendo cartridges....

Aka, clean the contacts with alcohol.

Makes sense, and I'll remember this for future troubleshooting applications.
 
I have a weird habit of cleaning even brand new LGA cpus with isopropyl (both sides) before installing. My small OCD.
 
Well, pure gold theoretically doesn't tarnish, but I don't think any of this stuff would be pure solid gold, and plating is probably really thin and easily worn away. Gold also won't stop other crap from building up, like if the air is humid and filled with contaminants. I'm imagining, for example, a PC set up in a living room next to an open kitchen likely get clogged up with grease and whatever else pretty easily.
 
Pure gold is susceptible to chlorine, which may be present in the air. Principal reason prongs on a diamond ring are coated with Rhodium (heard of that metal?) to prevent the stone working loose when the gold is weakened from chlorine in water supply and/or dish soap. Another question is the gold 100% pure (24-ct), or is it made with 14-ct that contains copper? In any event, good to hear your are up and running.
 
i think it is a 14k mix as i have seen tarnished tabs before. usually clean up just fine like this.
 
"Alcohol: The Solution to Everything?"

No, that would be duct tape ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top