Sad Tidings

[ottomobiehl]

A few months ago I found out that I would be on the road for a bit so I packed up my Amiga computers and took them to my folks house for storage.  They were put in the basement.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when it started getting nice out.  My dear old dad decided to put on the soaker to water some trees in their yard and then go to work.

Unbeknown him, my mom or anybody else, a pipe burst (probably from ice through the winter) and proceeded to make a waterfall in the basement right on top of the boxes of Amiga stuff I had stored there.  Apparently this event took place the entire 8 or 9 hours everybody was at work.

What was lost:
- 2 A2000s. One I got in the late 80s and another I had gotten about five years ago.
- 1 A500. I got it second hand about 1992.
- 1 A1000, my first ever Amiga that I got mid 80s.  Spent a big (for me) chunk of cash on it.
- A box of software, tons of games, many dollars spent on original titles from the store and second hand from online stores.
- A couple boxes of peripherals. Joysticks, mice, external floppy drives, GVP hard disk for my A500, power supplies and cables.
- Several non-Commodore monitors.

What survived:
- My breadbox C64 with 1541 disk drive plus games I had.
- My very first computer: a TRS-80 COCO
- A box of books on programming plus a bunch of old Compute! Gazette Magazines.

There is probably more but I'm sorting through the mess. So, I'd like to take a moment of silence and quietly mourn my grievous wounds.

 :headwall:

Thank you.

[ottomobiehl]

Man, that sucks.  Any chance you can disassemble them and let dry? It's possible they may still work.

I did take them all apart (the best I could) so they could dry out.  My lack of table and counter space is a testament to that.

I have a feeling anything that was a power supply is shot.  Also, I'm scared anything that was a HDD is toast too.  I don't think the disks will be any good.  I don't know how floppies do with water either.

Retro_71 wrote:
In regards to the Amiga's if they did not have batteries on them there is a good chance they are ok as long as you dry them very well... ie oven at lowest temperature for 1 hr or so (keep your eye on them) or air dry for a week or so.
Just don't throw anything out yet until you can check (after everything dries)

Anyway I am sorry to hear of your loss.

I never thought about the oven trick.  Both A2000 had batteries in them. The A500 had a ram/clock expansion which had a battery too. I'm guessing that might be a losing battle?

[ottomobiehl]

TDScompute wrote:
My 3 year old son put my Palm Treo 680 in the Dishwasher in January, soap and all! I thought I was doomed, but took it apart and cleaned and dried everything. All that ended up being beyond redemption was the keyboard, which I promptly replaced. It works quite well now.
The key is to dry it before the components start to rust. These are just plastic and metal! They can be dried!
Good Luck!

Thank you, you give me hope. :-)

I actually found my self cursing the fact that I can't walk into a store today and buy a brand new Amiga off the shelf.  Fate is cruel.

[ottomobiehl]

Retro_71 wrote:
Get rid of the batteries as they could be already bad and then try to dry them(the boards and cards).

I heard once that someone put a A500 in a barrel full of water and then took it out dried it and all was ok (long ago)

If you can get the water from inside the HDD and dry them they should be ok too (depends how handy/careful you are with them)

I've been thinking long and hard about the oven trick and I think that may be a last resort effort.  However, a hairdryer I have has been getting a lot of use as well as a fan I have.

Batteries are gone.  Got rid of them right off the bat.

As far as the HDD go, I'm am very nervous about opening them up.  Despite all my cleaning the dust seems to win.  Must be all the electronic stuff I seem to use.  So, I'm hoping the HDD drives might have survived the drenching, at least on the inside.  For some reason I'm thinking they are air tight to keep dirt out.

[ottomobiehl]

Retro_71 wrote:

Then again i could just be a mad person....  :-D   :-P   ;-)

You, with the component! Please step away from the oven. :-D

Also wanted to let y'all know I do appreciate the help.  This is pretty nerve racking as I'm a nostalgia nut and I've had some pretty good times and memories with these computers.  Kind of like seeing your whole youth being flushed away with a broken water pipe.

I do not look forward to having to rebuild/replace all the stuff that was lost.  I guess it would be a good excuse to finally get an A1200.  Never had an AGA Amiga.  Yeah, I'm weird.

[ottomobiehl]

pyrre wrote:
If you need an A2000 PSU i have one I cannot use. It is meant for 110V mains. I cannot (though) check if it works, in Norway we have 230V and that will blow that poor thing to another dimension... But the motherboard it came from works just fine.

I appreciate that and I'll let you know if I need to buy it.  Seems like used Amiga gear is a cut throat business anymore.

A6000 wrote:

ottomobiehl wrote:
So, I'm hoping the HDD drives might have survived the drenching, at least on the inside.  For some reason I'm thinking they are air tight to keep dirt out.

Yes, they are sealed, so dust (and water) cannot get between the heads and the platters, just let them dry them off and keep your fingers crossed.

Excellent.  There is still hope for them.

[ottomobiehl]

Alright, quick update.

I took everything apart and labeled them to as where they go.  I also toweled everything off the best I could.  I set up a house fan and blew air across the everything overnight which did wonders in drying stuff off.

WotTheFook wrote:
A water displacing aerosol like Pocket Rocket or WD-40 will also stop things from rusting until you can dry them out properly.

My father had suggested this too so that's what I'm doing as I go.  Great suggestion btw.

I found an old pillowcase, with the component to be dried inside it, fastened to the nozzle of a hair dryer with a rubber band works wonders, as you aren't heating the entire room just to dry a floppy drive out.

Wow, another good idea and it seems a bit safer than using the oven.  I'm so doing this.

You may be pleasantly surprised at what may have survived, I have known an A500, left out in the rain for months in a back garden, come back to life once cleaned and dried.

 :-o I'm trying to think of a logical reason to put an A500 in the backyard and out in the elements other than the turnips needed an occasional game of lemmings.  However, if that miggy came back from the watery grave then I have a good feeling about mine.

webmany wrote:
Another thing you can do is cover it in rice and leave it for two days. The rice will soak up any moisture. Used this to save a cell phone once.

This actually intrigued me so I'm trying it for some of the more water logged stuff that I have.  I lost a cell phone to a water hazard in a miniature golf course last year so I wish I would have known that trick.  I liked that phone. ;-)

Vlabguy1 wrote:
I bet the computers will be just fine, if you give them enough time to dry out.

I sure hope so.  I wouldn't have been half as distraught as I am now if this would have happened to my Wintel box or my Ubuntu box.  The hardware is getting so rare anymore and it makes me sad. :-(

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll keep you informed.  I know I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Oh, just wanted to let everyone know that those plastic storage containers with the lock on lids you can buy at Wal-mart, Target, or other such store, are worth their cost.  My folks had Christmas decorations (some very old) stored in those and they kept all the water out.  I've decide that I'm buying several to store my stuff in just in case.