HELP! Thermal Paste on Mobo Pins

[vohh]

Building a pc for a friend, tried to start it up after everything was plugged in and the fans turned on for a second and i heard a beep.  I started troubleshooting and found that the thermal paste seeped in to the mobo pins.  Ive attached some pics of the mobo and i have tried getting them out with qtips, toothpicks, and 70% alchohol (only shit i have around here) How else should i go about getting the thermal paste off of it or is it just better to buy another motherboard (i would prefer not because id replace it for him since i fucked it up)  i have access to 90% alchohol, teeny tiny tools, and a extremely powerful microscope at work. I could try to clean it there on my break but i would prefer not to.  Also looks like the pins are fucking demolished and bent by the looks of it.  

IMG_0903.HEIC

[vohh]

pic related is gay here is a different link 

[Redicat]

1 minute ago, Kikouda said:

pic related is gay here is a different link 

OOOOOOOF USE Isopropyl Alcohol 99.9% and spray it down with high pressure distilled water

[vohh]

Just now, Redicat said:

OOOOOOOF USE Isopropyl Alcohol 99.9% and spray it down with high pressure distilled water

please elaborate on "USE" im asuming you dont want me to dump alcohol on this,  what type of tool should i use and how should i go about it (scraping, gentry brushing, pulling out, etc.)  please be specific

[Spotty]

Does look to be a few bent pins in the as well as the thermal paste.

 

Honestly, I'd just replace it. If that's how it looks after you've already tried cleaning it, I don't think you will ever get it properly cleaned, assuming it hasn't already fried itself completely. Even if you could get it to work again, I wouldn't have faith in its reliability.

 

Which motherboard was it? Was the motherboard expensive? Unfortunately warranty doesn't cover physical damage like this, so you're up for the bill of the replacement board.

 

You should also check some video guides on thermal paste application. You only need a small pea sized blob of paste, and if applied correctly it should never overflow out like it has.

 

7 minutes ago, Kikouda said:

please elaborate on "USE" im asuming you dont want me to dump alcohol on this,  what type of tool should i use and how should i go about it (scraping, gentry brushing, pulling out, etc.)  please be specific

Best thing I could think of would be to use a soft paint brush and a soft tooth brush and dip the brush/tooth brush in the alcohol then apply to the board. 

 

I'd still recommend replacing the board for your friend. If you wanted to try fixing it for yourself as a side project then that's how I'd do it.

[Redicat]

2 minutes ago, Kikouda said:

please elaborate on "USE" im asuming you dont want me to dump alcohol on this,  what type of tool should i use and how should i go about it (scraping, gentry brushing, pulling out, etc.)  please be specific

brushing with a paint brush while spraying Isopropyl Alcohol 99.9%

[vohh]

Just now, Spotty said:

Does look to be a few bent pins in the as well as the thermal paste.

 

Honestly, I'd just replace it. If that's how it looks after you've already tried cleaning it, I don't think you will ever get it properly cleaned, assuming it hasn't already fried itself completely. Even if you could get it to work again, I wouldn't have faith in its reliability.

 

Which motherboard was it? Was the motherboard expensive? Unfortunately warranty doesn't cover physical damage like this, so you're up for the bill of the replacement board.

 

You should also check some video guides on thermal paste application. You only need a small pea sized blob of paste, and if applied correctly it should never overflow out like it has.

i havent extensively cleaned it yet,  i want to make sure i know what to do first.

 

the pc was a budget build so the mobo isnt that expensive,  it is a Gigabyte H110M-A i think they go for around 45 - 55

[jiyeon]

I'm gonna be real with you, that looks like too much effort than it's wort, that's a good portion of the pins that are covered in thermal gunk, enough that the CPU is not likely to function properly no matter how much you clean it off.

 

If you want to persevere, you could try using a toothpick or something or a light brush and feather the stuff off. Something not hard enough to bend the pins.

[vohh]

Just now, Spotty said:

Best thing I could think of would be to use a soft paint brush and a soft tooth brush and dip the brush/tooth brush in the alcohol then apply to the board. 

 

I'd still recommend replacing the board for your friend. If you wanted to try fixing it for yourself as a side project then that's how I'd do it.

alright, thank you.  I will do that

[Redicat]

19 minutes ago, Kikouda said:

alright, thank you.  I will do that

i see bent pins in the picture,

UR FUCKED.

[Spotty]

22 minutes ago, Redicat said:

i see bent pins in the picture,

Bent pins can be fixed, however it appears there are multiple bent pins, and coupled with the thermal paste means that it's not even worth attempting. Also looks as if there could even be missing pins as well in some spots. As a whole the extent of the damage is quite severe, so your analyse is appropriate

 

 

1 hour ago, Kikouda said:

pic related is gay here is a different link 

Was on my phone before, but those are the areas that have potential damage to the CPU socket. You may need to further inspect the areas I've circled red to inspect for bent/missing pins (it can often be difficult to say for certain from a photo as light/angles can trick, though I'm pretty confident there is some severe damage in most of those areas). Yellow is the obvious thermal paste damage.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128873

As you mentioned you're only looking at about $45 for a replacement board, so you're lucky in that respect. Things could have been a lot worse if they had a top of the line Z370 board that was $200+. At the end of the day your friend bought a new board, and it would be unfair for you to give him one that is so extensively damaged due to your own fault. Even if you could repair it, I wouldn't trust the reliability of it and it may cause issues for your friend further down the line. The right thing to do would be to replace it with a new board for your friend.
 

Why did your friend choose a 6 series board? Did he already have a 6 series CPU to use or buy one 2nd hand? If not then the 8 series Intel, or even the Ryzens, would have provided better performance & value in their budget offerings.

You should also check these TechQuickie & Jayz2cents videos on how to apply thermal paste.

[vohh]

46 minutes ago, Redicat said:

i see bent pins in the picture,

UR FUCKED.

this kid im building it for has no idea how to build pcs and when i showed up he said he put the cpu on so i was like alright.