Greg Rundlett writes about computers that have experienced fire stress. I have only a few points to make beyone what I've read in other responses.
If you do wind up trying to use the old units, don't let a few months of proper operation make you complacent about frequency of backups and or mirroring on a new machine. The chemical environment may have been corrosive, and may have started, for example, connector problems, that won't show up for a while. A related warning: Corrosive residue can be transfered. Never put any parts from the old machines into the new ones. Don't temporarily install new parts in the old machines and then put it in the new ones. Do any disk copying over the network, or via USB, and never plug the end of the cable that went into the old box into any new box. Ethernet cables that connect to new hardware should be new, and if they plug into a hub that went through the fire, keep track of the potentially "contaminated" ends. A little red nail polish makes a good marker. The troubles with any cleaning strategy begin with choosing a solvent (DI water is a solvent too). Your looking for something that will dissolve the crud, but none of the good stuff. Sadly, there are so many different materials in a PC that it's hard to know if even water is safe. On the other hand, some of the fire residue can be really resistant. Also, dissolved crud may be simply washed INTO anything porous (some insulation and poorly sealed PWBs, for example). If I were going to try to save one of these, I'd start with compressed air. Be sure you remove any visible residue, gently scraping with a soft wooden stick if needed. Take everything apart that can easily be reassembled (obviously, don't open HDs). You CAN get into the power supplies if you try. I'd avoid using a liquid solvent without much better information than you seem to have gotten here. And remove and discard all fans before you start, replacing them with new ones when you think the parts that you are keeping are as clean as possible. Considering the labor involved, and how cheap new stuff is today, it may well not be worth it. Good luck, Bill _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss