Abused hardware stories

[Jimmah]

A company I used to work for was in the insurance restoration business, only electronics. Was passing by the other day and stopped in, ended up walking out with a pile of water-logged equipment. Found a D-Link WBR-2310 still dripping water (supposedly was in more than 6" water for a while).

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a235/xhiron/IMG_0266.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a235/xhiron/IMG_0265.jpg

She still works! It's passing traffic as I type this, averaging 10.5mbytes/sec. wired. Somehow even the wireless works. Can't access the CP though, and DHCP isn't functioning. This is the second soaked D-Link router I have that works (DIR-655 in similar shape, works as my AP).

Crazy how such sensitive stuff can survive such trauma.

Edit: After about 4 hours it has died, giving up it's magical blue smoke.

 

[death123]

good thing i bought a dlink a while back

 

[RebateMonger]

Heck. A friend dropped her Chevy remote lock transmitter into my pool yesterday. It was only in the water for a minute. Before pushing any buttons, we opened it (there was only a bit of water in it) and wiped and blow-dried everything inside. Despite that, it no longer worked.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I ended up with my Canon HF S100 remote controller in my pocket. I was doing laundry one day and luckily i found it before it hit the wash machine. I was doing something with my other hand and talking to someone and not thinking threw the controller back in the dirty clothes basket.

It took a ride in the washing machine and since then hasn't worked and I can't find replacements ... fleebay sucks for those too...

 

[bruceb]

That is because on the car remote, the button battery is still providing power to the IC chip inside the unit. So the water promptly shorted something out.

 

[sandorski]

Ahh, was gonna joke about it dying, until I reached the end of the OP. Probably still had moisture in it.

 

[Blain]

This Is Abuse...

It looked like someone had been using it in the back of a pickup truck, driving down a dirt road.

 

[aigomorla]

Ive had a hose fall off my radiator while playing with a man pump on it.

Man pump being an Iwaki RD-30 @ 25V.

Well needless to say, i was brave not to use clamps. I didnt see my PSU was @ 25V so when it turned on, about 32 feet of head pressure shot though my system.

The tubing flew right off, and i think i emptyed about a good 1/4 gallon onto my both my gpu's, my board, my psu.

XD

I had to prop a 21 inch box fan and put it out in the sun for 6 hours, but after it was completed dried everything fired up like it was fine.

So in short my computer got a very nice shower.

Despite that, it no longer worked.

LOL this is such a tease... telling us all that story only to have it come out as a failure.

 

[pitz]

Its just water. During manufacturing, boards are often washed in water as part of the process.

 

[RebateMonger]

LOL this is such a tease... telling us all that story only to have it come out as a failure.

Can I help it if I have more failure stories than success stories?