Guy at a repair shop told me to use compressed air on a wet motherboard. Worst advice ever.

Last year I spilled a soda into my old Dell Inspiron during a late night troubleshooting session for a client. Totally my fault, I know. I rushed it to this small repair shop downtown and the tech there, older guy maybe 60, said just blast it with compressed air and let it sit for a day. Sounded reasonable at the time (I was desperate). I did exactly that, waited 24 hours, plugged it in, and got a puff of smoke and a dead short. Cost me $250 to replace the whole board after that. Found out later that compressed air just pushes liquid deeper into the chips and under the sockets. Soaking it in 99% isopropyl for a few hours would have been the right move. Anyone else get burned by a shortcut like that from someone who seemed to know their stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

king.ruby1mo ago

idk, maybe it's just me but isn't a bit of liquid usually fine if you let it dry long enough?

robinson.paul1mo ago

Until the corrosion under that "dried" liquid eats your circuit board from inside.