Fixing a Flooded Computer

[thecoroner]

I know it's possible to fix a flooded computer by spraying it with some spray (forgot the name).

How can I fix a flooded computer?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: thecoroner
I know it's possible to fix a flooded computer by spraying it with some spray (forgot the name).

O RLY? Never heard of this stuff. "Miracle ComputAr Fix0r?" 😛

How can I fix a flooded computer?

If it wasn't on - you might be able to let it dry out completely - ie, disassemble it TOTALLY and put it in a dry area for ~1 week 😛 - and save it ... but likely some parts are toast.

- M4H

 

[alpha88]

Was it on at the time?

 

[pkme2]

That's why my water kit is still sitting stored in my cabinet. Just the thought of something going wrong gives me the shivers.

 

[Oyeve]

I recall some article in some PC mag a few years ago where they sprayed silicon on the whole mobo with whatever cards that were installed and the whole CPU socket and all(except any fans) and sprayed it with a hose while it was still running and according to the article the system still worked fine. Of course you can forget about upgrading anything if you do this and all will be sealed. Seems too extreme to me.

 

[phisrow]

Take the thing to bits. Remove CMOS battery and so forth. Wash connectors and boards(particularly in places with visible deposits from the water) with 90% or higher alchohol. Let everything dry very, very well. If you are in luck, it'll work. If not, something is borked.

 

[thescreensavers]

Well my friend says he fixed a comp befor that was floded by dipping it in to Isiprol and leting it dry but no fan should be dipped jsut mobo and stuff Idk if it worked

 

[navyac]

what happened to it?

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Not from me but a fella that has repaired hardware for >25 years.

Full disassembly, spray with Mean Green or Simple Green, both sides of the board & card.
If crud is heavy, you might want to scrub it with a small new paint brush.

Rinse very well with HOT tap water. Let it drip dry for awhile, then blow out every nook&
crany with compressed air. Canned air will do but warm the can up in hot water for better
extended use pressure. Set the goods in front of a box fan over night in a warm place for
full drying. There is no real need for alcohol or distilled water rinse if your tap water is clear.

Soda-pop spills, coffee, old server boards and nicotine crud has been cleaned off in this manner
for years by this fella.


...Galvanized

 

[kainthelongshot]

How flooded is the computer? If it reaches teh power supply, it might be better to just toss that. Everything else should be salvageable.

I would not recommend dumping the whole mobo (fans and all) into a bucket of iso alchohol. I think grease and oil breaks up in in alchohol. Some of the fans have some grease and oil for lubrication purposes. Just take everything apart, toss the CMOS battery (usually thats a toss, as batteries and water don't mix well), swab everything down with some iso alchohol, dry everything out real good. Things that should be able to salvage:

Case
Mobo
Processor
Ram
Vid Card (you'll need to take apart the heatsink setup and clean it out or get a new 3rd party HS, most likely the fan is toast)

Things that will most likely be borked (depending on whats in the water when it did get flooded). Lot of times its just a matter of not being able to clean it that hinders the salvage rate:

Harddrive - Yeah, not all all harddrives are perfectly hermitically sealed (sp?). So if the data is important, you may need to take the HD to a company that recovers data. If the drive is submerged, then its pretty much a goner without some professional help.

CD Drives - You may be able to get away with it, but I doubt it. If the water contained debris of any sort the optics may be messed up as well as the spining mechanism. You can take it apart but as much effort it takes to do that you might as well replace it.

Case Fans - You can salvage these but they sound like crap afterwards. Again if debris gets inside the motor or the bearing its going to sound horrid or may not work at all.

Power Supply - Personally if a power supply is submerged, I toss it. I my eyes its compromised and just becomes a liability if it takes a crap.

So there you have it. Again when you say flooded, I'm thinking submerged. As in hurricane submerged. I fixed a friends computer pretty much the same way after his place got flooded. I'm talking about mud, crap, vegitation, etc. He was insured so it was no skin off his back to get me to try to fix it. So there ya go.

 

[Markbnj]

Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
Not from me but a fella that has repaired hardware for >25 years.

Full disassembly, spray with Mean Green or Simple Green, both sides of the board & card.
If crud is heavy, you might want to scrub it with a small new paint brush.

Rinse very well with HOT tap water. Let it drip dry for awhile, then blow out every nook&
crany with compressed air. Canned air will do but warm the can up in hot water for better
extended use pressure. Set the goods in front of a box fan over night in a warm place for
full drying. There is no real need for alcohol or distilled water rinse if your tap water is clear.

Soda-pop spills, coffee, old server boards and nicotine crud has been cleaned off in this manner
for years by this fella.


...Galvanized

That sounds right to me. The parts most likely to be permanently affected by immersion are ironically the mechanical ones, such as the hard drive motor, spindle, and head. I don't know about the power supply... I'm guessing it could be dried out and survive.

The printed circuit boards themselves are pretty well sealed, and have a low permeability factor anyway. If they absorbed moisture readily the dielectric characteristics of the substrate would change too much in humid environments. Permeability has to do with the resins, and how well the pressing of the board closed the microgaps in the substrate. With dense multi-layer boards like motherboards moisture resistance should be very high. So it should essentially act like a big sheet of plastic.

Components... prety much the same. Most are a board and some chips. The chips I don't know much about, but I would guess they are pretty moisture resistant for the same reasons as given above.

Mechanicals like the hard disk and dvd-rom drive... I'm thinking toast.

Speakers... toast.

Keyboard... probably ok after cleaning and drying. I knew a guy once that opened his keyboard regulary and washed it at the kitchen sink (though I haven't the practice). Not to hard to take it apart.

Mouse... not sure. I'd say it could be salvaged but you'll have to take it apart and have some likelhood of munging it up in the process.

Fan motors... toast probably. Could be saved but see "mouse." Most of this stuff is too cheap to fark around with. Why would you really care about anything other than the motherboard, processor, ram, hard drive, and video card?

 

[mauiblue]

Originally posted by: thecoroner
I know it's possible to fix a flooded computer by spraying it with some spray (forgot the name).

How can I fix a flooded computer?

It ain't worth fixing. Cut your losses and start building your new Conroe rig😉

 

[w00t]

Originally posted by: mauiblue

Originally posted by: thecoroner
I know it's possible to fix a flooded computer by spraying it with some spray (forgot the name).

How can I fix a flooded computer?

It ain't worth fixing. Cut your losses and start building your new Conroe rig😉

he's doing an article on it

 

[pkrush]

If the computer was on and was underwater for a significant amount of time, then most of the traces on the motherboard have likely corrded beyond repair. If it was off, you should probably be able to salvage most of the parts.

 

[justly]

For the most part I agree with GalvanizedYankee, kainthelongshot, and Markbnj.