S
Scott Long
Guest
A friend and I tried an experiment last summer involving submerging a
motherboard (old one with a 486SX-20 processor) into antifreeze, to
see if it would function. The idea being to use the antifreeze as
coolant.
Both attempts failed. The first attempt was at booting the system when
it had already been submerged in antifreeze. Nothing observable
happened. We rinsed off the motherboard with tap water and blow-dried
it to dryness. I did not think this would work, but when we booted the
motherboard again, the BIOS came up, self test succeeded, etc. Wow!
Anyway, we tried again. This time, we booted the system to a DOS
prompt, then slowly dipped a corner of the motherboard into the tub of
antifreeze. The instant the first trace contacted the antifreeze, the
screen went black, and the system was unresponsive. We repeated our
cleaning procedure, but I haven't yet tested the board again.
Does anybody know why the antifreeze caused the system to malfunction?
We were very careful to acquire water-free antifreeze. I assume the
failure is due to one of several possibilities:
1. Antifreeze is actually conductive
2. Antifreeze has a low impedance at the frequencies in question
(several megahertz), in effect turning everything into a capacitor.
3. The antifreeze was not, in fact, water-free.
4. The antifreeze dissolved materials from the motherboard and somehow
became conductive.
5. Something else???
I have no formal chemistry background, but I'm capable of
understanding any physical/chemical explanation for this phenomenon,
if anyone can give one. I've heard of Fluorinert for this application,
but it's far too expensive. Any other possiblities? If the board still
works, I'll give it another shot with a different cooling medium.
Oh, and by the way, we discovered that antifreeze is a very effective
cleaning agent for dirty motherboards!
It's very weird to look at
a board that's a decade old, yet appears to be straight off the fab,
with the plastic nice and green, the contacts and traces nice and
shiny, etc.
motherboard (old one with a 486SX-20 processor) into antifreeze, to
see if it would function. The idea being to use the antifreeze as
coolant.
Both attempts failed. The first attempt was at booting the system when
it had already been submerged in antifreeze. Nothing observable
happened. We rinsed off the motherboard with tap water and blow-dried
it to dryness. I did not think this would work, but when we booted the
motherboard again, the BIOS came up, self test succeeded, etc. Wow!
Anyway, we tried again. This time, we booted the system to a DOS
prompt, then slowly dipped a corner of the motherboard into the tub of
antifreeze. The instant the first trace contacted the antifreeze, the
screen went black, and the system was unresponsive. We repeated our
cleaning procedure, but I haven't yet tested the board again.
Does anybody know why the antifreeze caused the system to malfunction?
We were very careful to acquire water-free antifreeze. I assume the
failure is due to one of several possibilities:
1. Antifreeze is actually conductive
2. Antifreeze has a low impedance at the frequencies in question
(several megahertz), in effect turning everything into a capacitor.
3. The antifreeze was not, in fact, water-free.
4. The antifreeze dissolved materials from the motherboard and somehow
became conductive.
5. Something else???
I have no formal chemistry background, but I'm capable of
understanding any physical/chemical explanation for this phenomenon,
if anyone can give one. I've heard of Fluorinert for this application,
but it's far too expensive. Any other possiblities? If the board still
works, I'll give it another shot with a different cooling medium.
Oh, and by the way, we discovered that antifreeze is a very effective
cleaning agent for dirty motherboards!
It's very weird to look ata board that's a decade old, yet appears to be straight off the fab,
with the plastic nice and green, the contacts and traces nice and
shiny, etc.