Re: Super Serial trouble. -- cleaner

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Linards Ticmanis writes ...
> 
> Hi, never mind this any more, the problem seems to have been in the
> motherboard. I swapped it out with another from an otherwise defective
> clone. Now things work quite nicely, except the 80-chars card didn't
> like the new board, but oh well I don't really need it anyway.
> 
> Another thing, this board was terribly dirty so I cleaned it with
> denatured alcohol (or is "white spirits" the correct English term? You
> know the stuff you aren't supposed to use for lighting charcoal for
> your barbecue, but most people do it anyway.)
> 
> After the cleaning, the cursor blinker 555 acted up (the cursor
> blinked about five times faster) so I had to replace it. From this I
> gather that this alcohol (which conains 6% of water) isn't the right
> stuff for cleaning boards.... what would you use?
> 
 ....

     The stuff you used-- i.e. "rubbing alcohol"-- is pretty good. You just
need to be sure to swab up any patches of goop (slime, etc.) which the
alcohol may create when it dissolves whatever gunk is on the board. (The
patch of goop may be conductive.)  Usually, this means you avoid puddling
alcohol (or any other cleaner) around IC's and IC sockets.

     The 555 you removed may have been okay. Most likely, the process of
replacement eliminated a conductive goop path or gave some remaining water a
chance to evaporate.



Rubywand