RMA your board...get thermal compound on your cpu socket!

[Mibs]

Alright so I just got my RMA'd evga 680i. Opened it up, popped off the socket cover to put in my CPU, and we have a problem. Amidst the pins are a whole bunch of tiny threads/woolies. I ask myself how they got there, but anyway I get out a toothpick and carefully remove them without harming the socket. It gets worse. After I removed some of the threads I noticed what looked very much like thermal compound on about 8 of the pins in one isloated location. My mind is boggled at how this could have gotten on the pins. At closer inspection of the surrounding area, I notice more of this compound smeared around the socket lever and door. Wiping it off with alcohol reveals that it has a silver color, much like AS5 or equivalent. I call EVGA tech support and they suggest wiping it off the pins with alcohol and a cotton swab or something. So I got a cotton swab and some 99% and very carefully, and I mean with my utmost concentration since I have shaky hands, I cleaned the compound off the tips of the pins. But the problem is I can still see some of it down at the base of the pins. I just placed the CPU in the socket to make sure contact was there, and when I removed it I checked for residue on the CPU itself and didn't see any. So I'm fairly certain there is no more compound on the pins where they actually come in contact with the CPU. I don't have any pictures. The compound is only around about 8 of the pins, looking at them that closely just makes me dizzy, let alone trying to get a camera to focus on it. Anyway what do you guys think? I sure as hell don't want to go through the RMA again, hell I've been waiting a month to play Bioshock again. But I also don't want to fry my CPU. If it turns out that stuff down there is conductive and I turn that thing on, who knows what will happen. So any suggestions? I could always try it with a cheaper CPU first I guess, but I don't exactly have an abundance of them around. Input is much appreciated!

I also posted this on the evga forums, but I'd like to get an opinion from you guys as well.

[sswilson]

If your main goal is to get the stuff out of there rather than worrying about whether or not to accept the board as-is, you should get yourself some aerosol spray contact cleaner and just soak the hell out of the socket.

That should get whatever is in there out.

[Mibs]

Excellent, thanks sswilson. How much do you think is safe to use? I mean I guess as long as its evaporated it doesn't really matter. A guy on evga forums suggested a soft bristle toothbrush, so i'll probably try a combination of both. To be honest I didn't even know there was such a thing as eletronic contact cleaner. I just called up radio shack, luckily they carry it so I can get this over with.

[sswilson]

Originally Posted by Mibs

Excellent, thanks sswilson. How much do you think is safe to use? I mean I guess as long as its evaporated it doesn't really matter. A guy on evga forums suggested a soft bristle toothbrush, so i'll probably try a combination of both. To be honest I didn't even know there was such a thing as eletronic contact cleaner. I just called up radio shack, luckily they carry it so I can get this over with.

I would be verrrryyyyy careful with anything in a S775 socket.... the delicate part of S775 is no longer pins on the CPU, it's now the pins on the socket. (They're only rated for something like 15 installations).

The spray contact cleaner should do the trick for you. Just give it a good soaking, and let it evaporate.

[Mibs]

Just soaked the socket for a bit. Let it dry out, everything looks good! Thanks again.

[frosty]

Did EVGA ever explain why the paste was there in the first place?? Did they fix your board then send it back, or give you a new one, or a refurbished board?

[stoanee]

Man that is poor service. Now every time you have a hiccup in your system you will be wondering.....was it the compound......?

[sswilson]

Originally Posted by frosty

Did EVGA ever explain why the paste was there in the first place?? Did they fix your board then send it back, or give you a new one, or a refurbished board?

Originally Posted by stoanee

Man that is poor service. Now every time you have a hiccup in your system you will be wondering.....was it the compound......?

It is inexusable that they didn't properly clean out the socket, but OTOH it also shows that the unit he was sent was tested before it was shipped.

How many times do we hear about folks being sent new boards for RMA only to find out that it's got the same issues as the original unit.......

[Mibs]

Just as a follow up, I cleaned out the socket as sswilson suggested and put it all together today. Everything booted fine and normal! So I was quite relieved about that. Who knows how that crap got in the socket, I guess we will never know. They did have it flashed to the latest BIOS version for me though!