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[Splinter]

A teacher from the school over the road brought in a PC that wouldn't boot. PSU dead.
She asked me to wait before repairing it as they would have to find the money. She came back later to say that they would have to wait weeks for the money from local govt. Normally the teachers dig into their own pockets for things like this, but she asked me not to repair it and would come and get it back. Meanwhile, I fitted a used one that hadn't seen too much service and told her the PSU was on loan till the funds came through. I honestly thought she was either going to cry or kiss me.
I'm not a knight on shining armour, but fuck it. They need the machine and they need it working. She'll be back.

Later a bloke I know comes in with a nicely specced quad core that had got 'wet'.
In fact it had been flooded in about 6" of water over the GPU and HDD's. He'd sensibly left it for a week with a fan blowing into it.
It was basically dead when it arrived her.
After a lot of faffing about and changing the mobo battery, disconnecting all drives etc, it finally came to life. Reconnected all one by one and it booted to Windows nicely. Even the GPU worked!
I have my doubts about it's future though

[Wooster]

Nice one on the school PC.

The other one...you're probably right. He'll be back as well. 

[digidix]

Why do you doubt the other computer future? Is there signs of mould inside the 'puter?

[Wooster]

It depends what deposits have been left behind from the drenching, there could be anything coating some of the components.

Tbh it might have done more good stripping it down and firing everything through a quick cycle in the dishwasher and leaving it to dry again.
I tried this recently with a manky mainboard from a Cisco 3500 (no detergent, salt or heat) for shits and giggles and it came up gleaming...also the faulty Gigabit port on it was working again. 

[corroded]

It really depends if it made it fully inside the computer as well... if it's just external before seeping in you might stand a chance. A guy here lobbed an entire cup of water on his laptop the other day and it's fine!

My mate also dunked his brand new camera in the bath, whilst it was turned on (this is why you don't take photos of kids!! lol) and it's never had anything wrong with it after it lived in the airing cupboard for a few days.

Good luck.

[Splinter]

What amazes me is that both hard drives (one a nice Samsung 1Tb), the graphics card, a third of the mobo including the small battery and the pci cards were immersed in water for about nine hours.
Completely submerged! I saw the watermark, which is something I've never seen in a PC. lol.
I'd have thought at the very least that the battery would have caused a short somewhere.
The reason Digidix, that I believe it to be doomed was that when I showed the running PC to the customer, an English bloke actually, it kept shutting down after about 10 mins.
My advice to him was to back up the hard drives asap, in isolation to this pc, and we can worry about the guts of it when he comes back from holiday.
It may just be a case of a new mobo and almost certainly replacing the hard drives.
Methinks he will return.
 

[Splinter]

My bank has increased it charges by 33%, claiming inflation is the reason.
I have therefore increased my charges accordingly, in line with the unofficial rate of inflation which is 30%.
The trouble with this practice is that it becomes a vicious circle, but when I explain the increase, my customers don't even blink, they are so used to it.

[Splinter]

Nice one on the school PC.

The other one...you're probably right. He'll be back as well. 

He did come back as he is making an insurance claim.
The mobo is certified dead now.
The mem, gpu, cpu and both hdd's work ok, but as to their long term existence, I'm not sure.

[Patch]

Don't trust teachers.

Did the school teacher go cross-eyed?

Please do not trust school teachers. Especially when they go cross-eyed.

I know all about school teachers, I am married to one.

If you ignore the cross-eyed warning a screeching school mam trill will destroy your central nervous system.

[Splinter]

Patch me old mucker, the teacher in question has a heart of gold and is paid peanuts.
They very often have to put their hands in their own pockets for stuff like this, which is why I have to be broad minded at times.
But I take your point, to an extent.

[Splinter]

Maybe teachers like this?
Billy Connolly...........classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVR3xF8h1Ao#ws

Oops nsfw/k