Overclockaholics Forums - So There I was... OC'n when all of a sudden... V2-V3 touched me

Well technically he didn't touch me.. he touched my system.. but my system is merely an extension of myself. regardless, the point is.. once V2-V3 touched me:ohcrap:, his electromagnetic destructive aura completely crashed me in the middle of OverKloggin on a Wolfdale E8600 in a Asus X48 Rampage Extreme. I was up to 5Ghz stable on air.

Well the system was dead, the Motherboard would not post, would not even start a post cycle. All clues pointed to something on the board grounding out. With the amount of turmoil this board had been through, it was not very shocking. So Travis and I came to the conclusion that all we could do is clean the board. With such a obliterated board how would we do it? Why, three to four cycles in a empty dishwasher said V2-V3, as if I was a complete Idiot, perhaps I am an Idiot, because I fully embraced this idea.

Sure enough, we washed it three time in a empty dishwasher with no soap, then popped it into a oven set to Bake at 250 degrees F until dry. Still no post cycle, although the board did look cleaner, closer inspection revealed bits of clear coat debris and other chemicals breeding within the RAM slots and cpu socket. The next course of action could be nothing else put napalm for motherboards, 12 hour bath in Breakelen, a chemical used to clear grease and oil off break pads. This of course was nothing compared to the vat of Acetone used for the final extreme cleaning process.

Acetone is a dangerous chemical, which should be used in a well ventilated area without open flame or exposed active electrical equipment near by... I say this because Travis and I being the geniuses we are didn't ventilate the store when we used both the Breakelen and the Acetone, suffice to say we both felt very light headed by the end of this ordeal.

Also further warning on Acetone- MOST of the plastic components on a Motherboard are high quality, heat resistant polymers... I say MOST because for instance on a Asus Rampage Extreme, the extra fun buttons, such as the Power and Reset are made of a lower grade plastic, which pop off very easily but will be partially EATEN by the Acetone if submerged.

This is your third warning about Acetone- And I suggest any RMA guys skip this line- Acetone will dissolve the glue that holds on any stickers on your board, such as your Warranty tag, not to mention it will eat the ink in most labels as well.. USE ACETONE WITH EXTREME CAUTION AS IT CAN VOID YOUR WARRANTY AND MAY GET YOU LAUGHED AT BY THE RMA STAFF... (Unless you carefully remove your stickers first and put them back on your board once all the Acetone evaporates).

Well this has been entirely too long, but to conclude, after the Acetone bath and scrubbing (we used a toothbrush) We carefully tossed the Motherboard from the 3pt line back into the Dishwasher and spun a pots and pans cycle for the fourth time. This was concluded by a nice Bake at 250 degrees F and sitting over night at the house, while we prayed to the OC gods via ritual booze consumption.

Today, I brought the board in, sanded all the heat sinks and polished them with 0000 grade steel wool until they shined like a mirror, applied IC Diamond and replaced every washer with extra thick plastic washers. Sure enough, through the miracle of booze we manged to post the board, now all that is left is the over compulsive testing of EVERY other piece of equipment in the system.