a disaster

[Marcb]

So...how did you dry the bedroom carpet ?

(that'll get them going)

[DoogUK]

LOL...thankfuly it was laminate

[CLS2086]

Never use water, but use alcool instead !!!
Even if they are now safe, use alcool or a contact spray cleaner to protect them !!
Do it quickly !!!

[wawrzon]

possibly if u got an accelerator in one of ur 1200 it had a battery backuped clock on it, which the other 1200 and both a500 had not. it could cause some shorts in the logic while flooded. maybe this is a simple secret to the legendary "water proof" durability of the a500?

[amigadave]

amigaksi wrote:
What conclusion are we trying to draw here-- that even if you bathe the Amiga, it will still work as long as you dry it out for a week+ ?

I had a floppy drive that was really dirty and most disks failed on it.  I bathed it in water and tried after letting it dry for a month and it still does not work.  It was better when it was dirty.  Now it reads ZERO disks.  Seems like I killed something just by the bathing process.

Surely you are joking or exaggerating!  You didn't really try to clean a floppy drive in water, did you?

[amigadave]

Double post problem.

[amigaksi]

>Surely you are joking or exaggerating! You didn't really try to clean a floppy drive in water, did you?

I wasn't joking; given the seriousness of some of the issues I deal with, I try to state that I'm joking if I'm joking in order not to deceive anyone.

Just could not reach the interior of the floppy to clean with a cotton swab so decided to give it a bath only to find it became worse.  No one wanted it when I tried to give it away so I had to do something with it.

So the motor coil/parts would ruin with water-- what about the coil of wire around the power connector on the A500?  Is that a different type of coil?

[Atheist]

DoogUK wrote:

Maybe its because they had 2 n half days drying under heat.

Time must work differently there.

[ottomobiehl]

Geeze!   :-o

I just went through the same thing.  I definitely feel your pain.

I'm sure everybody else is offering you good advice.  The only thing I'll add is:
- remove/toss any batteries.
- Carefully take apart your computers to let them dry
- WD-40 to help reduce the risk of rust.
- run a fan across the wet stuff to increase evaporation
- rice does wonders in soaking up water

Good luck with your endeavors.  I hope you can save your machines.  Original hardware is getting so rare these days that replacing them is getting expensive.

Dan

[DoogUK]

quick update...the a1200 now works thankfuly but the accelerator is still dead.

[DoogUK]

The supradrive lives!

[Marcb]

DoogUK wrote:
LOL...thankfuly it was laminate

In that case, I hope you used a fine haired mop.
I once had a spill on laminate and used a fine haired mop, left it a week to dry out and then it was fine to walk on.

( Good news about the miggys working again!!)

[CLS2086]

the accelerator is still dead.

use a teebrush and electrical contact spray cleaner on the card and the connector !!!  :-?

[Dandy]

ottomobiehl wrote:

...
- rice does wonders in soaking up water
...

Ahhhhh - no wonder that rice price is exploding worldwide, if food is abused this way...
 ;-)
(back on topic now)

[tokyoracer]

Im glad to hear everything appart from the accelerator is fine. Personally I would have chosen a lunchbox type container for the more expensive hardware. Bit late for 'could of's' now though.

[da9000]

ral-clan wrote:
I think it's pretty well known that you can use water to clean enclosed, non-moving components like a circuit board. The motherboard and components (mostly plastic) are all fairly inert things.  A bit of washing & drying won't hurt them (as long as they are not powered up at the time).  Some people have even put computer motherboards in the dish-washer (i.e. Amiga boards) and then allowed them to dry entirely, without problems.

However, you put a disk drive with moving, non-sealed components (i.e. the motors) in water. In a disk drive there are coil-wraps in the motors, other parts that can corrode, water absorbent materials (like the piece of felt opposite one of the drive heads & even cardboard components).  There are also lubricated/greased parts that can be harmed by water (the lubrication can be washed away).  Placing a disk-drive in water was a probably a mistake.

I also suspect that your problem was greater than dust contamination.  Probably head-misalignment.

Water cleaning is only intended for non-moving, inert, sealed components like motherboards, ICs, resistors, etc.

You could have removed just the circuit board from the disk drive and washed that, though, without worry.  In fact, I suspect the circuit board from your disk drive works just fine. It's just the mechanics that are faulty.

Now, in the case of a flood, where you have no choice, and even the moving parts are soaked, a weeks worth of drying is your only choice.

VERY WELL stated. I regularly have washed motherboards and dried them out with 100% success. You just gotta make sure they're dry and you don't do it with mechanical parts like motors. Duh...


@original poster:

Feel your pain - my worse nightmare! Hope for the best recovery!