Roach infested computer cleaning

[caboose2321]

So I purchased a computer that would not turn on. I got a really good deal on it and I assumed it was just something wrong with the power supply or the motherboard was bad. But when I opened it up I found that an entire community of roaches had made their home there for quite awhile along with a spider nest with hundreds of baby spiders. After battling the hoards I found the roach <mod edit> is on everything in the computer, mostly on the mobo. Does anyone know a safe way to try to clean all of this <mod edit> off? Ive already blown it out with compressed air and got it some cleaner but the roach <mod edit> is still on everything hardened on.
Pics after I blew it out
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rp8bl8op66ccijz/20140922_160021.jpg?dl=0

<Moderator Warning: Watch your language in these forums>

 

[jaimelmiel]

So I purchased a computer that would not turn on. I got a really good deal on it and I assumed it was just something wrong with the power supply or the motherboard was bad. But when I opened it up I found that an entire community of roaches had made their home there for quite awhile along with a spider nest with hundreds of baby spiders. After battling the hoards I found the roach <mod edit> is on everything in the computer, mostly on the mobo. Does anyone know a safe way to try to clean all of this <mod edit> off? Ive already blown it out with compressed air and got it some cleaner but the roach <mod edit> is still on everything hardened on.

From a heath standpoint get rid of it!

 

[NBSN]

Whew...alcohol? I would think that theoretically you could use alcohol on it and it would dissipate after use...but I would fear the smearing. Hot dang...honestly if you don't think it may be salvageable and plan on trashing it then take the motherboard and soak it in a plastic container of alcohol for a few hours to see if you can get the smears off. Either way...let it air dry for a few days and see what happens. Seriously, only try that if you don't think it can be saved.

Reminds me of during deployment a jack(bad word) dumped my M4 into a mud puddle mess he made. He offered to clean it, but I would not trust my weapon to someone...so I cleaned it in the shower, wiped it dry some and air dried it the rest, then oiled it and all pretty again.

 

[bignastyid]

Fire, it needs to be cleansed with FIRE. But seriously you should just toss it/recycle it and take it as a learning experience. I bet next time you look inside before buying a used system.

 

[jaimelmiel]

Whew...alcohol? I would think that theoretically you could use alcohol on it and it would dissipate after use...but I would fear the smearing. Hot dang...honestly if you don't think it may be salvageable and plan on trashing it then take the motherboard and soak it in a plastic container of alcohol for a few hours to see if you can get the smears off. Either way...let it air dry for a few days and see what happens. Seriously, only try that if you don't think it can be saved.

Reminds me of during deployment a jack(bad word) dumped my M4 into a mud puddle mess he made. He offered to clean it, but I would not trust my weapon to someone...so I cleaned it in the shower, wiped it dry some and air dried it the rest, then oiled it and all pretty again.

Just let it go. Let it go.

 

[NBSN]

Whew...alcohol? I would think that theoretically you could use alcohol on it and it would dissipate after use...but I would fear the smearing. Hot dang...honestly if you don't think it may be salvageable and plan on trashing it then take the motherboard and soak it in a plastic container of alcohol for a few hours to see if you can get the smears off. Either way...let it air dry for a few days and see what happens. Seriously, only try that if you don't think it can be saved.

Reminds me of during deployment a jack(bad word) dumped my M4 into a mud puddle mess he made. He offered to clean it, but I would not trust my weapon to someone...so I cleaned it in the shower, wiped it dry some and air dried it the rest, then oiled it and all pretty again.

Just let it go. Let it go.

I think it would be a good experiment personally.

 

[caboose2321]

Whew...alcohol? I would think that theoretically you could use alcohol on it and it would dissipate after use...but I would fear the smearing. Hot dang...honestly if you don't think it may be salvageable and plan on trashing it then take the motherboard and soak it in a plastic container of alcohol for a few hours to see if you can get the smears off. Either way...let it air dry for a few days and see what happens. Seriously, only try that if you don't think it can be saved.

Reminds me of during deployment a jack(bad word) dumped my M4 into a mud puddle mess he made. He offered to clean it, but I would not trust my weapon to someone...so I cleaned it in the shower, wiped it dry some and air dried it the rest, then oiled it and all pretty again.

Just let it go. Let it go.

I think it would be a good experiment personally.

Im going to try and save it, its an i7 3.7 quad processor. Might be able salvage it at least

 

[NBSN]

Can you post on here what you tried and if you were able to save it? Thanks.

 

[caboose2321]

Heres pics for anyone who wants to see what it looked like after I blew it out
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8h9iacaesxaxg7v/AAB1OP5MpgUve3yL-Q8Uu1Hea?dl=0

 

[NBSN]

Wow, for some reason I expected to not be able to see any of the actual board.

 

[sora]

I would just re-sell it on eBay in perfect condition.

 

[Teemi]

OMG, that would totally give me a nightmare. I'm surprised you didn't see roaches crawling out as soon as you lift it or something. Anyway, for this I would try this website below. It gives some nice tips for deep cleaning.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/224328/how_to_clean_your_pc_inside_and_out.html

 

[caboose2321]

Wow, for some reason I expected to not be able to see any of the actual board.

Before I blew it out you could barely see it. The amount of dead and living bugs and dust and unknown debris was amazing. There is a picture of the mobo corner with a lot of junk on it; is the whiteish part there bad corrosion?

 

[USAFRet]

How much did you 'purchase it' for?

 

[caboose2321]

How much did you 'purchase it' for?

paid 100 bucks. It had an i7 3.7 quad core, 16gb of ram and an amd 7770 card. Thought I could just replace the power supply or something cheap but nope. Not sure if any of it will work

 

[USAFRet]

For $100, it might be worth an afternoon or two of cleaning/diagnosing. (but only because it is already in your possession!)

Take it fully apart.
Soak every part - motherboard, RAM, GPU, etc....in distilled water for a few hours.
Scrub gently.
Rinse again.
Let dry for a couple days.

Maybe one or more parts is not totally borked and can be used elsewhere.
PSU? toss and replace.

You can't use the whole thing as a 'PC'.

 

[Teemi]

wouldn't water corrode it or something? Isn't the usual suggestion to soak it in alcohol?

 

[USAFRet]

wouldn't water corrode it or something? Isn't the usual suggestion to soak it in alcohol?

distilled water, for a few hours, will be no problem.
Soak, scrub gently, rinse, dry.

 

[Teemi]

I see, I would still rub some alcohol all over it because of the germs.

 

[caboose2321]

What im probably going to do it get some alcohol and soak it for awhile and scrub it. Also will someone tell me if this is corrosion or not? https://www.dropbox.com/s/rp8bl8op66ccijz/20140922_160021.jpg?dl=0

 

[USAFRet]

I see, I would still rub some alcohol all over it because of the germs.

It would take multiple baths of liquids to be 'clean'.
distilled water, alcohol, more water, wash, rinse, repeat...

One bath of anything won't do it.

Personally, I would not have bought it. I probably would not have taken it for free, no matter what parts were in it.
Severely roach infested box o parts....if the owner let it get that bad, how good was the actual use? Overheating, etc...
That level of crud buildup leads to severe overheat issues.

But since the OP already has it in his possession...

 

[USAFRet]

What im probably going to do it get some alcohol and soak it for awhile and scrub it. Also will someone tell me if this is corrosion or not? https://www.dropbox.com/s/rp8bl8op66ccijz/20140922_160021.jpg?dl=0

Unknown until you wash it off. Maybe just roach poop.

 

[Teemi]

OP, make sure to update us after you finish cleaning everything. I'm curious to see if this thing will actually work.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

For starters, I expect that the CPU and maybe RAM should still be in pretty good condition. GPU is a bit more uncertain.

You'd definitely dump the case and PSU. Maybe the motherboard, so we need to find what socket the CPU is.

There aren't any i7s that I can find that are a base clock of 3.7GHz. So that's probably peak, unless it's incorrect (someone thought i7-3770 meant 3.7GHz?). Which means it's probably a 3770T or 4770T...

Can you pull the heatsink?

 

[Teemi]

GPUs are a bit more tricky, but if worse comes to worse, you can take those apart too to clean it. Just make sure to reapply thermal pads and paste.