QQ from a new Astrocade owner

[Mattroid]

Someone recently gave me an Astrocade as a gift (!!). I'm familiar with all the usual heat issues, etc, and opened it up the other day to check on the data custom (I'd been seeing some freezing after running the thing for 10 minutes or so). Turns out the heatsink had separated from the data custom which is basically what I'd expected. I plan to replace it with one of the recommended heatsinks from console5. The odd part is the glue/paste left behind - from the photos I've seen here and elsewhere, I'd expect normal looking thermal paste and clean that up in the usual fashion. In this case, there's a layer of something blue - it's unlike any thermal paste I've ever had to deal with so I'm not really sure what it is or how to clean it up. I've tried IPA, Arcticlean, even some mild scraping hoping it might just pop off but it just won't have it. Before I do anything too rash or look for other products that may end up not working, has anyone ever seen this and know what might help safely remove it? Was this common from the factory at any point or could this have been the result of a repair? Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks!

[ballyalley]

4 minutes ago, Mattroid said:

Someone recently gave me an Astrocade as a gift (!!). [...] Turns out the heatsink had separated from the data custom [chip] there's a layer of something blue - it's unlike any thermal paste I've ever had to deal with [...] has anyone ever seen this and know what might help safely remove it?

 

First off, that's a mighty nice gift.  You've got good friends/family.

 

I've never seen this blue substance before on a chip, so I can't recommend how to remove it.  If you don't get an answer here within a few days, then try asking this question over on the Bally Alley Astrocade discussion group on groups.io.  Good luck!

 

Adam

[128Kgames]

11 minutes ago, Mattroid said:

Someone recently gave me an Astrocade as a gift (!!). I'm familiar with all the usual heat issues, etc, and opened it up the other day to check on the data custom (I'd been seeing some freezing after running the thing for 10 minutes or so). Turns out the heatsink had separated from the data custom which is basically what I'd expected. I plan to replace it with one of the recommended heatsinks from console5. The odd part is the glue/paste left behind - from the photos I've seen here and elsewhere, I'd expect normal looking thermal paste and clean that up in the usual fashion. In this case, there's a layer of something blue - it's unlike any thermal paste I've ever had to deal with so I'm not really sure what it is or how to clean it up. I've tried IPA, Arcticlean, even some mild scraping hoping it might just pop off but it just won't have it. Before I do anything too rash or look for other products that may end up not working, has anyone ever seen this and know what might help safely remove it? Was this common from the factory at any point or could this have been the result of a repair? Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks!

Same as Adam stated, I've never seen that before.  Could be some type of epoxy that was used, maybe not in house but maybe a previous owner.  I'm used to seeing what passed as thermal past from back in the day, a grey, metallic colored substance that they used at that time ('77, '78 ish).  I wasn't into computers back then so I don't know what it was made of.  That being said, I know epoxy has been used to attach heatsinks before and I think still is, and not even the metallic type.  Maybe its something like this:

https://www.boydcorp.com/thermal/conduction-cooling/epoxy-interface-materials.html

[Mattroid]

21 minutes ago, ballyalley said:

I've never seen this blue substance before on a chip, so I can't recommend how to remove it.  If you don't get an answer here within a few days, then try asking this question over on the Bally Alley Astrocade discussion group on groups.io.  Good luck!

Thanks, will do 👍

11 minutes ago, 128Kgames said:

Same as Adam stated, I've never seen that before.  Could be some type of epoxy that was used, maybe not in house but maybe a previous owner.  I'm used to seeing what passed as thermal past from back in the day, a grey, metallic colored substance that they used at that time ('77, '78 ish).  I wasn't into computers back then so I don't know what it was made of.  That being said, I know epoxy has been used to attach heatsinks before and I think still is, and not even the metallic type.  Maybe its something like this:

https://www.boydcorp.com/thermal/conduction-cooling/epoxy-interface-materials.html

Could be something like that, nice find.

 

I'd prefer not to apply new paste over it, especially if it's not transferring the heat efficiently but perhaps I'm overthinking things. The last thing I want to happen is burn it out (I've seen and heard plenty of horror stories there!) 🙈

[mutterminder]

On 1/8/2023 at 12:28 PM, Mattroid said:

Someone recently gave me an Astrocade as a gift (!!). I'm familiar with all the usual heat issues, etc, and opened it up the other day to check on the data custom (I'd been seeing some freezing after running the thing for 10 minutes or so). Turns out the heatsink had separated from the data custom which is basically what I'd expected. I plan to replace it with one of the recommended heatsinks from console5. The odd part is the glue/paste left behind - from the photos I've seen here and elsewhere, I'd expect normal looking thermal paste and clean that up in the usual fashion. In this case, there's a layer of something blue - it's unlike any thermal paste I've ever had to deal with so I'm not really sure what it is or how to clean it up. I've tried IPA, Arcticlean, even some mild scraping hoping it might just pop off but it just won't have it. Before I do anything too rash or look for other products that may end up not working, has anyone ever seen this and know what might help safely remove it? Was this common from the factory at any point or could this have been the result of a repair? Any guidance is appreciated. Thanks!

This looks like some sort of thermal epoxy.  We actually use something similar to under-fill BGA components in modern avionics. As far as I know the only way to remove it is mechanically.