VOGONS


First post, by Pickle

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I made a purchase mainly for the case. It had this motherboard inside. I already have a number of 486 boards but it might be fun trying to fix this.

I’ve already checked and the memory, cpu, and cache are working.

I think the bottom side might have the worst of the corrosion.

Next steps clean dirt off, remove connectors/slots, white vinegar the green bits
Clean again

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Reply 1 of 5, by byte_76

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Maybe.
These boards are becoming harder to get and more valuable to people who want them.

Clean it up properly and assess the damage.

Let’s see!

Reply 2 of 5, by Trashbytes

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Oof there is a lot of crap on that board, hard to make an accurate assessment but it may look worse than it really is. Clean her up and asses after, I will say there will likely be a ton of trace damage, the amount of corrosion on the bottom is significant, hopefully it hasn't spread under the ISA slots and ICs.

If it has then the repair just got bigger and you may have to remove a bunch of components to asses how bad the trace damage is.

Reply 3 of 5, by Pickle

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So removed the big pieces in that area. Did some grinding of the real bad areas. Doesn’t look too bad.
So next planning to go over it with the microscope and get the places I missed.
Start tinning the traces and add some cap leg support. I might change out the small caps /resisters

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Reply 4 of 5, by PcBytes

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Looks much better now although that exposed copper around CB6 kinda worries me.

"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
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Reply 5 of 5, by Pickle

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PcBytes wrote on 2025-04-08, 20:03:

Looks much better now although that exposed copper around CB6 kinda worries me.

in what way? i plan to tin it and cover it with nail polish. Looks to me to be a very large ground plane. I will try testing those caps maybe replace.