Is this Mac Pro 5,1 CPU tray unhealthy?

[frou]

I replaced the CPU on my Mid-2010 5,1 yesterday and while I was doing it got a close look at the CPU tray.

I was a bit startled to see several areas on the tray where various metal pads and surrounding PCB have a corroded (almost "burnt") appearance to them. The most pronounced area, I show in this photo:

Should I be concerned about this? Have those of you that make a habit of servicing Mac Pros seen this before?

 

[h9826790]

I replaced the CPU on my Mid-2010 5,1 yesterday and while I was doing it got a close look at the CPU tray.

I was a bit startled to see several areas on the tray where various metal pads and surrounding PCB have a corroded (almost "burnt") appearance to them. The most pronounced area, I show in this photo:

Should I be concerned about this? Have those of you that make a habit of servicing Mac Pros seen this before?

May be it's normal. My CPU tray was replaced by Apple last year. It's very clean and relatively new, but still looks brown in colour in the same area.

 

[jdryyz]

That's funny! There are similar circuit board markings on my 2010 Mac mini that stopped working for me. I immediately thought the "burnt" appearance was related to the problem because it just didn't look right but I honestly do not know what purpose these markings serve other than to collect dirt. I cleaned them using a white pencil eraser but it did not nothing to help the problem.

 

[Synchro3]

There is something missing on your board.

Look at my seven years old Mac Pro 2009 board:

 

[frou]

There is something missing on your board.

Look at my seven years old Mac Pro 2009 board:View attachment 626608

Hmm, well both locations are labelled "ITP", which apparently stands for In-Target-Probe and is a hardware debugging interface (for factory use only? not in the field?):

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-target_probe

Googling also just turned up a 5-year old thread on this forum with photos of the exact same phenomenon:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cpu-board-and-fan-concerns-mac-pro-2010-6-core.1024454/

I'm not too worried about it now that I've been shown it's common. As has been said, it's maybe not even corrosion or burns, just simple dirt or discolouration.

"If it ain't broke, ..." has come to mind. Thanks folks

 

[Macschrauber]

I have seen 4.1 Single CPU trays same age with those connectors soldered on and without.

 

[bizzle]

There is something missing on your board.

Look at my seven years old Mac Pro 2009 board:View attachment 626608

A lot of boards have those connectors still on them but most don't.

 

[ScottishCaptain]

It's not corrosion. It's just simple tarnishing/discolouration.

My 2010 did the same thing within about 6-8 months of me getting it. I've been using that system for close to 6 years now, never had a single problem with the CPU board. The contacts don't appear to have deteriorated in any way, they just look ugly. I wouldn't worry about it, unless they look like they're rusting out or the pads are lifting off the PCB.

-SC