corroded Intel cooler ooh what a hottie

I got a PC that locked up before the operation system finished booting.
I checked the CPU temperture in BIOS monitor, and it reached 72 Celcius
with the fan screaming.
The cooler had a 0.6 A fan, should be adequate for the CPU, and it was
firmly attached to mainboard. There was not much dust on it, but I
decided to clean it anyway. When I unclipped the fan, I saw a ring of
corrosion between the copper core and aluminium fins. Then removed the
heatsink and it had same corrosion other side.
So maybe this cooler got wet in the past, or it was scavenged from a
rubbish bin and somebody used it thinking it still works.
So do not trust used components if you know not their history.

On Fri, 6 Sep 2013 20:37:52 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

I got a PC that locked up before the operation system finished booting.
I checked the CPU temperture in BIOS monitor, and it reached 72 Celcius
with the fan screaming.
The cooler had a 0.6 A fan, should be adequate for the CPU, and it was
firmly attached to mainboard. There was not much dust on it, but I
decided to clean it anyway. When I unclipped the fan, I saw a ring of
corrosion between the copper core and aluminium fins. Then removed the
heatsink and it had same corrosion other side.
So maybe this cooler got wet in the past, or it was scavenged from a
rubbish bin and somebody used it thinking it still works.
So do not trust used components if you know not their history.

Corrosion might imply an outer layer, unless it's corroded all the way
through;- undue exposure and a matter of oxidization and changes to
metal substances similar to crystalline lattices. Might soak it first
in an appropriate solvent to restore the original bimetals'
properties, inspect it for carefully reassemble the mating to the CPU
with perhaps a fresh fan. Then again, I've found Intel stock coolers
for around $6US on Ebay.