Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

How to clean oxidization (?)

Zotaccian

Zotaccian

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 25, 2012
645
7
So, first I want to say that I don't know if oxidization is the properly written word for this but picure will tell what I'm talking about.

There has been couple occasions where my PowerBook G4 powers on but nothing is on the screen, chime is always heard. Powering down and trying again has so far resulted in succesful boot. Yesterday there was also first kernel panic during the time that I have owned this (which is only couple days), it was after the machine run hot and I powered it down and then tried to boot so I don't know if heat was the reason.

When disassembling I noticed that all is not well near the CPU. For some reason I didn't start to clean it, only took some of that "powder" away with screwdriver, I kinda though that since the machine worked fine for most of the time there is no reason, but since yesterday I had bit problems I started to think that maybe I should have cleaned.

Can I clean that by just tipping a small brush in water and carefully removing that powder? I checked that there is indeed liquids sold just for this purpose.

EDIT: and I have to say that I have never spend this much time fixing a computer than I have spent on this PowerBook G4 :)

13359647.jpg
 
I typically use rubbing alcohol with a toothbrush to clean stuff, so give that a shot on a toothbrush. Be sure to wipe it clean! It's safe on PCBs as silicones metalloid structure is tough!

I only say that stuff works pretty well cause I used it to clean the "whiterice" on a G5 CPU. Works nicely!
 

Attachments

  • figure13.jpg
    figure13.jpg
    38.8 KB · Views: 96
Zotaccian said:
So, first I want to say that I don't know if oxidization is the properly written word for this but picure will tell what I'm talking about.

There has been couple occasions where my PowerBook G4 powers on but nothing is on the screen, chime is always heard. Powering down and trying again has so far resulted in succesful boot. Yesterday there was also first kernel panic during the time that I have owned this (which is only couple days), it was after the machine run hot and I powered it down and then tried to boot so I don't know if heat was the reason.

When disassembling I noticed that all is not well near the CPU. For some reason I didn't start to clean it, only took some of that "powder" away with screwdriver, I kinda though that since the machine worked fine for most of the time there is no reason, but since yesterday I had bit problems I started to think that maybe I should have cleaned.

Can I clean that by just tipping a small brush in water and carefully removing that powder? I checked that there is indeed liquids sold just for this purpose.

EDIT: and I have to say that I have never spend this much time fixing a computer than I have spent on this PowerBook G4 :)

Image
Click to expand...

That looks like corrosion buddy, like its came in contact with water. Isopropanol Alchohol (IPA) is best to get it off. but if its preventing the machine working all the time that will point to damage. Fingers crossed it will fix it for you but don't expect miracles if its been damaged
 
No most of the time the machine powers on and works just fine, there just has been couple occasions where it powers on, chime is heard but nothing is on the screen. As far as I know GeForceFX 5200 should not be that prone to failure but who knows, when there is no picture I immediately suspect GPU, but in this case there indeed is something near the CPU which does not belong there. I have not disassembled the machine yet, I used it yesterday just fine.

I hope I had cleaned it once I had the machine torn apart since I saw that, but I was more focused on looking the optical drive and reapplying paste... then again now that I have taken the machine apart couple times it doesn't feel that difficult, power and microphone cables come off pretty easily if you use two flat headed screwdrives and have patience.
 
Zotaccian said:
No most of the time the machine powers on and works just fine, there just has been couple occasions where it powers on, chime is heard but nothing is on the screen. As far as I know GeForceFX 5200 should not be that prone to failure but who knows, when there is no picture I immediately suspect GPU, but in this case there indeed is something near the CPU which does not belong there. I have not disassembled the machine yet, I used it yesterday just fine.

I hope I had cleaned it once I had the machine torn apart since I saw that, but I was more focused on looking the optical drive and reapplying paste... then again now that I have taken the machine apart couple times it doesn't feel that difficult, power and microphone cables come off pretty easily if you use two flat headed screwdrives and have patience.
Click to expand...

Paste and alike wouldn't cause the computer to simply not show anything on the screen and it could be far more than the graphics too. Clean up the board and see what it's like but do you hear the hdd continueing to boot when the screen doesn't power up? If so at least then you can defiantly isolate the issue to graphics/screen issues
 
I didn't replace paste because of this issue, the CPU was simply running hot and also optical drive was somehow stuck soI disassembled the machine and only after then I did notice that stuff there.
 
I opened it for heat and optical drive issues. When trying to make this thing to boot from USB for os install (as optical drive didn't work) it once did not show picture (trying different usb stick was the solution but I ended up doing several reboots). Because the machine did this only once I didn't think it as problem.... Then I opened the machine and fixed those two problems and also noticed that stuff near the cpu. I quickly scraped some of it off but that was it. Then after reassembling it once did not show picture and after that there was also first kernel panic.

This is the timeline :)
 
Check your video plugs etc, they become oxidised over time too (the little flexi cables) but your best using an eraser (pencil rubber) gently in one direction to remove that sort of oxidisation. You can actually buy a proper rubber for that sort of thing but if you don't have one or the ability to get one local, a normal one works too but takes a bit longer
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back