[gentoo-user] Can I clean contacts with isopropyl alcohol?

[gentoo-user] Can I clean contacts with isopropyl alcohol?

[Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto]

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Hi. I have instability in my PC and I highly suspect it is caused by
hardware problems in my TV card. I would like to clean its contacts and see
if it, by a miracle, solves the problem. But I don't want to make it worse.
So: is it safe to clean the contacts of a PCI card with isopropyl alcohol
and a cotton swab?



-- 
Software is like sex: it is better when it is free.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Can I clean contacts with isopropyl alcohol?

[Albert Hopkins]

On Wed, 2007-09-12 at 21:21 -0300, Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto wrote:
> Hi. I have instability in my PC and I highly suspect it is caused by
> hardware problems in my TV card. I would like to clean its contacts
> and see if it, by a miracle, solves the problem. But I don't want to
> make it worse. So: is it safe to clean the contacts of a PCI card with
> isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab? 

Use a pencil eraser instead.

--
Albert W. Hopkins

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Re: [gentoo-user] Can I clean contacts with isopropyl alcohol?

[Steve L.]

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Besides the fact consideration of why the contacts of the card are that
dirty.  A short exposure of rubbing alcohol will be okay.  Dust the card off
with compressed air or something similar.  then use the cotton swab soaked
with a little bit of the alchohol on the contacts in question

On 9/12/07, Albert Hopkins <marduk@letterboxes.org> wrote:
>
> On Wed, 2007-09-12 at 21:21 -0300, Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto wrote:
> > Hi. I have instability in my PC and I highly suspect it is caused by
> > hardware problems in my TV card. I would like to clean its contacts
> > and see if it, by a miracle, solves the problem. But I don't want to
> > make it worse. So: is it safe to clean the contacts of a PCI card with
> > isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab?
>
> Use a pencil eraser instead.
>
> --
> Albert W. Hopkins
>
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
>
>

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Re: [gentoo-user] Can I clean contacts with isopropyl alcohol?

[Dale]

Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto wrote:
> Hi. I have instability in my PC and I highly suspect it is caused by
> hardware problems in my TV card. I would like to clean its contacts
> and see if it, by a miracle, solves the problem. But I don't want to
> make it worse. So: is it safe to clean the contacts of a PCI card with
> isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab?
>
>
>
> -- 
> Software is like sex: it is better when it is free. 

I used to use a pencil eraser to do that.  It works pretty good just
don't put to much pressure on it.

Dale

:-)  :-)
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Re: [gentoo-user] Can I clean contacts with isopropyl alcohol?

[Arturo 'Buanzo' Busleiman]

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Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto wrote:
> Hi. I have instability in my PC and I highly suspect it is caused by
> hardware problems in my TV card.

Why don't you take out the PCI card for a couple of days, and see what happens?

- --
Arturo "Buanzo" Busleiman - Consultor Independiente en Seguridad Informatica
Servicios Ofrecidos: http://www.buanzo.com.ar/pro/
Unase a los Foros GNU/Buanzo - La palabra Comunidad en su maxima expresion.
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Re: [gentoo-user] Can I clean contacts with isopropyl alcohol?

[Ricardo Bevilacqua]

2007/9/12, Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto <please.no.spam.here@gmail.com>:
> Hi. I have instability in my PC and I highly suspect it is caused by
> hardware problems in my TV card. I would like to clean its contacts and see
> if it, by a miracle, solves the problem. But I don't want to make it worse.
> So: is it safe to clean the contacts of a PCI card with isopropyl alcohol
> and a cotton swab?
>

Of course it's safe, just turn everything off, take the card out and
clean it with the alcohol.

Another thing...What do you mean by instability?
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Re: [gentoo-user] Can I clean contacts with isopropyl alcohol?

[Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto]

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>
> Of course it's safe, just turn everything off, take the card out and
> clean it with the alcohol.
>
> Another thing...What do you mean by instability?

Abnormalities in the video, and computer crashes when viewing tv.
Without the card, no crashes.

I have cleaned the contacts of the card (with an eraser) *and* chosen milder
settings in the BIOS setup (for example, greater latency for memory) and now
the card seems to work OK. I will test a little bit more.


-- 
Software is like sex: it is better when it is free - Linus Torvalds

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Re: [gentoo-user] Can I clean contacts with isopropyl alcohol?

[Dan Farrell]

On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 22:58:16 -0300
"Ricardo Bevilacqua" <rus.spes@gmail.com> wrote:

> > So: is it safe to clean the contacts of a PCI card with isopropyl
> > alcohol and a cotton swab?
> >  
> 
> Of course it's safe, just turn everything off, take the card out and
> clean it with the alcohol.

Most isopropyl , at least around here, is 70 to 90 percent alcohol.
There is also some other stuff, and one of the most likely things to be
there is water.  While I wouldn't worry about using it co clean openly
exposed contacts, make sure it is well dried and don't go applying it
to sockets or wide areas of the components.  

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[gentoo-user] Re: Can I clean contacts with isopropyl alcohol?

[James]

Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto <please.no.spam.here <at> gmail.com> writes:

> 
> Hi. I have instability in my PC and I highly suspect it is caused by hardware
problems in my TV card. I would like to clean its contacts 

If you have some corrosion, or scale build up, alcohol may not work. For
tougher issues on cleaning electrical surfaces, go to a hardware store
and get 'steel wool'. It is a disorganized bundle if very fine metal
fibers that can be used to clean  gold, stainless, glass, copper, tin
or just about any other surface you can image.

Make sure you put an air compressor on the card after using steel wool to
remove all of those micro sized particles both from the surface of the newly
cleaned contacts as well as over the entire surface of the PCB (circuit board).

Also if the bus slot is dirty or corroded, find and old card and insert it and 
remove it about 5 times to try to clean the contacts inside the buss slot. Also
use compressed air to clean out the buss slot.  For compressed air, you can buy
it in a can, or get a small card tire compressor, or even a 12VDC air pump that
home owners use to fill up inflatable toys around the hose. I attach a needle
for filling a backetball ball so that you get strong air pressure, at the tiny
tip for cleaning  up computers, keyboards and PCBs.

good luck,

James

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