Is This RAID Card Water Damaged?

Jeremy1998 · April 22, 2017

Hey guys, I just bought this (used) Dell h310 that I plan to flash to an HBA. I noticed these spots on the back of the card, and I'm not sure if it's water damage. What do you guys think?

Windows7ge · April 22, 2017

I see the marks primary around the through hole components. It may be old dried flux residue from hand soldering. I've also seen this on old equipment. Sometimes I think it's sticky adhesive that simply collected very fine particle dust. Try rubbing it off with your finger or nail. You can also try rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip. Mineral deposits from water don't come off easy (I work part time as a janitor. Cleaning hard water deposits suck). If it comes off relatively easily then I doubt it's from water.

Jeremy1998 · April 22, 2017

22 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

I see the marks primary around the through hole components. It may be old dried flux residue from hand soldering. I've also seen this on old equipment. Sometimes I think it's sticky adhesive the simply collected very fine particle dust. Try rubbing it off with your finger or nail. You can also try rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip. Mineral deposits from water don't come off easy (I work part time as a janitor. Cleaning hard water deposits suck). If it comes off relatively easily then I doubt it's from water.

Yeah, the more I looked at it the more I thought the same. I just haven't soldered in years so I forgot about the flux residue. And I also thought of alcohol and q-tip, but for some dumb reason I thought that might hurt the card! Even though that's literally how you clean after soldering. Thanks for the reply, will try it and report back!

Edit: That's exactly what it was, it came off with just a little alcohol. Thanks so much for curing my brain fart!