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Gassing Off - Motherboards that Smell?
dmauer asks: "I recently purchased what ought to have been my Dream Machine. An uber-fast dual Athlon with oodles of speedy RAM, a Geforce4, and a hard drive big enough to choke a horse (all in a snazzy aluminum case, even). So I get the thing home, set it up, and proceed to install Debian, making sure all my hardware is working nicely, etc., etc., and then I realize that there's a problem I hadn't anticipated. It smells." Usually when consumer electronics have a distinctive smell, something is wrong. Has anyone else run into such a problem, before? Assuming this isn't a electronic or health problem, what can one do to eliminate the odor from the immediate area without resorting to periodic fumigations?
Unless the store that you bought the board at has an obscene return policy (or is thousands of miles away), just take it back and get a new one that doesn't stink. It'll probably drive you nuts and you can't blame it on the dog forever.
Otherwise, stick a plug-in deodorizer in your power strip and keep it fresh.
As an aside, isn't the most common computer 'stink' burn-in which usually goes away? Just curious.
Remove the MB and any cards. You can use rubbing alcohol to cleanse the boards. That might get any oder off. Make sure to let them dry for a few hours after dipping the boards.
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I've noticed that *all* new electronic toys smell at first, but it shouldn't be too strong. Kinda like that smell, but I do realize it's probably not too healthy.
I remember my 15" Hitachi smelled for a month or two when I first got it--and I had to sleep in the same room with it!