[SOLVED] What to do about car wax inside pc

[QuadraticState]

I bought a used cd, and it turned out the seller had applied car wax to the cd (in an attempt to remove scratches). Unfortunately, I didn't notice the wax until after I had taken the cd out of my cd drive. The car wax was in powder form because it had dried. Can car wax damage a cd drive?

Does car wax conduct electricity? Should I be concerned about the car wax causing electrical shorts inside the cd drive?

The cd drive is connected directly to my motherboard via sata. If there were electrical shorts inside the cd drive, could that damage the motherboard?

Could other components (like the power supply, which is connected by a cable to the cd drive) be damaged?

Any ideas for removing the wax?

 

[LazerTechX]

Car wax shouldn't be conductive, to remove the car wax, remove the CD drive from your PC and open it up. You can blow out the powder wax using a blower or just pat it out by flipping the CD drive, as for the optical sensor, if its caked in wax, use a soft cotton swab moistened with isopropyl alcohol and gently get at it until the wax is gone.

 

[Math Geek]

considering how cheap a new cd/dvd/blueray drive is, i'd simply get a new one and not risk it.

above suggestion is probably ample to "fix" it but i would personally just drop a new drive in for $15-20

 

[QuadraticState]

Car wax shouldn't be conductive, to remove the car wax, remove the CD drive from your PC and open it up. You can blow out the powder wax using a blower or just pat it out by flipping the CD drive, as for the optical sensor, if its caked in wax, use a soft cotton swab moistened with isopropyl alcohol and gently get at it until the wax is gone.

Will try this out. Thanks for the advice!

So there's nothing in the drive that could be damaged if I aim an air blower at the opening, right?

(I've heard that the force of an air blower could damage fans and camera zoom mechanisms, so I was wondering if there was anything inside a cd drive that's particularly vulnerable)

 

[drea.drechsler]

Will try this out. Thanks for the advice!

So there's nothing in the drive that could be damaged if I aim an air blower at the opening, right?

(I've heard that the force of an air blower could damage fans and camera zoom mechanisms, so I was wondering if there was anything inside a cd drive that's particularly vulnerable)

Probably not but I wouldn't use high pressure compressed air like used for pumping up tires. Canned air shouldn't be harmful. Also keep it moving so nothing gets over stressed.

 

[QuadraticState]

Probably not but I wouldn't use high pressure compressed air like used for pumping up tires. Canned air shouldn't be harmful. Also keep it moving so nothing gets over stressed.

Will keep this in mind. Thanks for the advice!