Possibly a stupid question.

[tRad23]

Hey guys I am asking this question becasue I am paranoid more then anything since I had an incident like this happen before and my cpu died (not sure if this is why though). Anyway, I got a new CPU and installed it and it works fine. So now I want to sell my old cpu; however, when I was cleaning the old cpu with 91% alcohol and a q-tip a lot of the alcohol touched the green board of the cpu (amd x2 5600+) where the metal meets. Can something like that kill a cpu?? Thanks for the help.

 

[badge]

The alcohol evaporated.

 

[1965ohio]

I used to work for a company that makes parts for OEMs. Let me tell the process involved with surface mount electronics, even boards with soldered on CPUs.

First the blank board is fed into a machine that applies solder paste. Then we ran the board through a surface mount "pick and place" machine that sticks all the parts on the wet solder paste. Then we run the board through an oven at high temperature to melt the solder. Many people will handle the boards without gloves when it comes out, just wear ESD protection. Then we ran the boards through a machine that uses hot water to wash the boards to remove any chemicals left behind from the soldering process. We washed the boards with regular city water that a machine ionized and filtered. After 1 hour, we would apply power to the boards and test them.

To make a long and boring story shorter - alcohol, or even water... won't hurt it as long as you don't use it while it is wet. Or get it wet while it is in use or recently used for boards with caps (the voltage needs to discharge first). Now, I don't recommend using tap water to start cleaning your electronics, because if you don't ionize the water, some of the parts will rust or oxidize... which will make their life a lot shorter. And your CPU doesn't have anything exposed except the pins or contacts. No harm done.

 

[1965ohio]

I never cleaned a used one before. But after a PCB, with it being pin through or surface mount... they will be washed with ionized water after the solder curing process. The chemicals left behind by a wave soldering machine or solder paste can corrode the board after a few hours.

 

[tRad23]

Best answer selected by tRad23.