»

[Jule]

I am from Biloxi MS. The hurricaine wiped out my first floor, which is where my Amigas were. Mud and sal****er to the ceiling. I am retrieving the muddy remains, taking the Amigas apart, and soaking the boards and hard drives in the bath. I have no idea if anything can be saved. Any advice? I also have a lot of mini dv and 8mm videotapes that are water logged? Any ideas? Jule

[kd7ota]

Sorry to hear about what happened. Kinda saddens me.

I am not sure if doing that is actually gonna fix it, but what i would do is try not to break anything, and clean it off the best you can, and try drying them off. Dont use anything that is gonna cause electrostatic.

Yea, its a tuff one, but I hope it works again!

[patrik]

@Jule:

All circuit-boards, power-supplies, etc should be fine as long as you wash them up and clean all contacts (everything from IC sockets to regular contacts) to prevent them from oxidizing. Drying the stuff after cleaning with a compressed air system would be very good to prevent oxidization.

Unfortunately, I think it will be hard to salvage the harddrives as I am quite sure it will leak in some water/moist through their ventilation and it will probably be hard to remove as they doesnt survive being opened. Nevertheless, it wont hurt to clean them, let them dry and then test them.

Other stuff with motors in them, like fans, diskdrives etc will not like the sal****er very much, but clean them and try them out and see.


/Patrik

[drwho]

First off, I am very sorry to hear about your loss, I can only imagine how awful that must be.

I used to refurbish old systems, and cleaning them is something that I have done frequently. It sounds like you are on the right track though.

Here are some pointers:

1. With salt water damage the most important thing is to make sure that everything is thoroughly rinsed with clean, cold tap water, if available.

2. The rule of thumb with electronics is that they only get ruined if you turn them on soaking wet. I have found that the average dry time for motherboards, cards and keyboard innards is 4 to 5 days in a warm and dry environment. Right out in the sunshine on your porch is fine. They just need to be bone dry.

3. Hard drives can be tricky. technically, a drive should be hermetically sealed and therefore, should be rinsed, dried and used again.

4. Floppy drives. You might be out of luck. I think that floppy read/write heads sit in a sort of ceramic tile, which if exposed to something as rough as salt water, might get ruined. Worth a shot though.

I am sure also, that knowing the level of experience of all the folks here on amiga.org, and the fact that Amiga's somehow end up being the most filthy and disgusting systems known to man, many folks here have had their share of cleaning experiences that they might be able to share with you as well.

As far as the hurricane goes, I think I speak for everyone in saying that our thoughts are with you folks and your family and we hope that everyone is accounted for and in good health.

Hope this helps,
Mike

[leofoe]

Awful what happened to you and your neighbours. Hope you find the spirit to get things going again. And using this forum that soon, I think you do!

[motrucker]

At least you're OK. It must be hell down there right now.
As others here have stressed, you are on the right path. Just make really sure everthing is dry before power is applied.
If some parts are beyong repair, post here (or E-Mail me) for replacements. I have a several dead Amigas that still have good parts I would gladly donate. I'm sure others would help too.

[TjLaZer]

It is sad I have been to Biloxi a few times over the last few years. I am in the Air Force Reserve and would go to Keesler AFB a lot for computer traininig. I loved that place but I hear it is in total ruin now. I hope everyone is ok down there...

[Jule]

I want to thank all of you for yous support. I will let you know how it turns out. Jule