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Bob
Well, I put a laptop motherboard through treatment that is normally reserved for dirty dishes and bakery goods this weekend. I was amazed it came through this and that this worked. I am curious if anyone else has performed the following successfully? This was an HP Intel-based Core i5 Sandy Bridge again.
I was given a laptop that something had been spilled on and was used around cigarette smokers quite a bit. It was said to turn on, post, and boot to the OS but none of the inputs worked. The USB ports were also dead. It was basically a working laptop but with no way to be used.
I talked to some friends and one of them had actually washed computer hardware in his kitchen sink and the dishwasher as though it were a dish. He told me to make a sink of sudsy water, scrub the laptop motherboard with a brush, rinse with tap water, and then rinse with 91% rubbing alcohol. He then said to bake it in my oven on the lowest setting and let it sit in there an hour or so.
I took the laptop apart and the motherboard, fan, and such were caked in like 1/4 inch of cigarette residue. You could also see where moisture had spilled and all the crud was concentrated where it dried out. I removed the CMOS battery and proceeded with the following.
I then did the initial rinse with tapwater as it was so nasty. I then made a sink of soapy water with dish soap and gently scrubbed the motherboard. I then rinsed with tap water for several minutes and then added another step above and beyond what had been suggested. I got out a baking pan which was just the right size and filled it with distilled water. I gave it a good rinse and then repeated this. Then I gave it a good rinse with 91% rubbing alcohol.
The next stage of this culinary computer adventure moved from the kitchen sink to the oven which had been preheating to 170 degrees. I placed the motherboard on a cardboard box flat and left it for an hour while checking on it to make sure something didn't catch fire.
I removed it from the oven, then re-inserted the CMOS battery and began the rest of the re-assembly. I pressed the power button and figured nothing would happen but it posted, booted, and I had the keyboard, touchpad, and all USB ports and such working.
I figured all this was a long shot but was amazed it actually worked. Only time will tell but it has been working like 3 days with absolutely no glitches. I even ran a BIOS update without issues. After the initial test showed it had promise, I cranked the temp up on the oven and proceeded to cook a pizza!
I just thought this whole thing was funny and that people would enjoy hearing about it. Obviously some of these electronics which I view as being ultra-delicate can take a little more abuse than I would have thought.

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