I killed it......

[Steevo]

On a side note mechanical hard disks suck....hard, and that is as nice as I can be. I booted my Win developer setup on my spare 2TB and installed my copy of 7 onto a new small partition.

Back to the story though, drive in question is a OCZ Agility 3 120GB. I dismantled the drive and sure enough some of the coolant "salts" were dried up on one of the memory chips. I attempted to rinse it off with tap water but its stubborn and my water is hard here, I used a old tooth brush but some residue remains. At this point the drive power light comes on, but it does not register with the BIOS or my RAID card.

I propose to sink the drive in de-ionised water for a week, periodically removing it to give it a scrub, then using a hair dryer or other heat source to dry it and or possibly some electrical cleaner and let it sit again for a few days and try it again.

There is a labeled set of serial connection points on the board, however I am unsure what if any program would allow low level access to the chip to reflash a BIOS onto it. I may attempt hyperterminal to see what if anything it spits out if all else fails.

If none of this works, what should I attempt if anything other than using it as a target for .40 cal?

 

[Solaris17]

This ones going to be hard chief if you cant recognize it in bios its probably fubar. However if you can manage to get it to show up see if you can pull smart if you can pull smart you should be able to flash it though some of the modules may still be bad. I really wouldnt reccomend the operations via the raid card either and at this point if your array is dead and the others are still good to go ill just shoot the bitch.

 

[Mussels]

whatever you choose to do, remember:

pics. and maybe videos.

 

[HammerON]

Sub'd to thread for whatever may come

 

[Steevo]

I wish I had pictures of the blue stuff on the memory chips, but I still have the residue in the drives case. Some pics and perhaps a video of its true death if all else fails.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Subbing. I'm interested in this thing coming back to life!

 

[Vario]

Isopropyl might also work as a cleaner. Not sure I'd immerse the drive, might be hard to dry internal components out even if you wait a couple days.

 

[RCoon]

Submerge in distilled water, clean occasionally, then bury it inside a box filled with silica gel packets to absorb all the moisture. That worked for my Z77 motherboard just fine.

If it doesn't work, please post vidya of you shooting it with a gun of any calibre. Please. For Science.

(then mail it to samsung
Hanaro Europe BV
Florijn 8
5751 PC Deurne
The Netherlands

Office +31 (0)493 322 330
Fax +31 (0)493 322 331
Email Samsungmemory@hanaro.eu)

 

[Steevo]

Uploaded pics obviously.


So to date I have only found distilled water, so I used that and an old plastic container I washed out again with the distilled water. It has been soaking for a day when I took these, I peeled the label off so no paper would be floating around in the water, after putting cling wrap over it to seal it well enough I have been giving it some shakes, there is a bit of bubbles now in the water from the coolant I believe.


The first picture is what the coolant dried into, kind of a thick paste, all the blue color from the dried coolant is gone from the drive now. and I didn't see anymore residue (hard water looking spots or lines) on the board itself.

4th picture shows the LED's and the serial connections, at first after it flooded the pwr light would not come on, after my first attempt to just rinse it off and scrub it with a old toothbrush and a quick dry with a hairdryer it would come on. I think the light below labeled flt means fault, it is not lighting up, and neither does the one on my other drive which is still good.

Tonight I will change the water and let it soak again and give it some shakes.

 

[Aquinus]

Just keep in mind that the longer you keep it submerged in water the longer you will need to let it dry. I can imagine water getting into place it shouldn't.

 

[Sasqui]

Splattered Koolance fluid on a MB long time ago, dapped with a towel and everything worked fine... for a month or two. System became very unstable and after a bunch of BIOS flashes, finally took out the memory to find blue dried Koolance fluid residue stuck on the traces. Wiped off with a moist cloth and everything was back to perfect.

Not that the story helps you at all, but before you use the .40 cal, run it through a dishwasher cycle with a modest amount of cascade. Allow to dry on a radiator for a few days. It is solid state after all...

 

[Steevo]

Splattered Koolance fluid on a MB long time ago, dapped with a towel and everything worked fine... for a month or two. System became very unstable and after a bunch of BIOS flashes, finally took out the memory to find blue dried Koolance fluid residue stuck on the traces. Wiped off with a moist cloth and everything was back to perfect.

Not that the story helps you at all, but before you use the .40 cal, run it through a dishwasher cycle with a modest amount of cascade. Allow to dry on a radiator for a few days. It is solid state after all...

Our water here is hard. I am trying the distilled water first, and I may try the dishwasher if this fails. First things first though.


If all else fails what ammo should I use, FMJ, JHP or some steel shot? I have all three rounds, I just don't know if its enough to mushroom a JHP.

 

[Sasqui]

If all else fails what ammo should I use, FMJ, JHP or some steel shot? I have all three rounds, I just don't know if its enough to mushroom a JHP.

Definitely either hollow or steel shot. FMJ is boring

 

[Mindweaver]

Pick up a can of LPS CFC Free Electro Contact Cleaner. It will clean it and it drys in seconds. It's very useful to have around.

EDIT: The can should last for a long time.

 

[Steevo]

I pulled it out tonight and rinsed it off, there was a bit of residue still left, I used the toothbrush again and then rinsed it with almost the rest of the gallon. Then I swung it around in my hand and then used the hair dryer. I will be at the shop tomorrow so I will grab a can of electrical cleaner and hose it off, then blast it again with canned air and hair dryer again, then perhaps give it a try.

 

[Mussels]

I pulled it out tonight and rinsed it off, there was a bit of residue still left, I used the toothbrush again and then rinsed it with almost the rest of the gallon. Then I swung it around in my hand and then used the hair dryer. I will be at the shop tomorrow so I will grab a can of electrical cleaner and hose it off, then blast it again with canned air and hair dryer again, then perhaps give it a try.

please record the power on, in the slim chance there is fire and brimstone.

 

[Bansaku]

Isopropyl might also work as a cleaner. Not sure I'd immerse the drive, might be hard to dry internal components out even if you wait a couple days.

Not sure if it will help now, but I will +1 on isopropyl alcohol being a great cleaner for boards and chips. I have been using it for years for all sorts of internal cleaning of electronics. It even works great for removing thermal paste from cpu/heatsinks. The alcohol leaves no residue and evaporates quickly.

 

[MT Alex]

If all else fails what ammo should I use, FMJ, JHP or some steel shot? I have all three rounds, I just don't know if its enough to mushroom a JHP.

If you are worried about not causing enough carnage, tape the offending SSD to a small propane canister and shoot it next to a small fire. DO pay special attention to watch for shrapnel.

 

[Mindweaver]

I pulled it out tonight and rinsed it off, there was a bit of residue still left, I used the toothbrush again and then rinsed it with almost the rest of the gallon. Then I swung it around in my hand and then used the hair dryer. I will be at the shop tomorrow so I will grab a can of electrical cleaner and hose it off, then blast it again with canned air and hair dryer again, then perhaps give it a try.

I've got my fingers crossed for you buddy! Which electrical cleaner are you going to use? CRC seems to be pretty cheap. WD-40 has an Electrical cleaner and it's pretty cheap, but I've not used it.

please record the power on, in the slim chance there is fire and brimstone.

lol

 

[Steevo]

I forgot my keys and apparently no one came in to the store today. So either I have to go back or it will be Monday.

Valspar makes it for us, I have used it a lot and it leaves no residue on anything, and its explosively good too, so perhaps if it fails the rest of the can will go to that end.

 

[xorbe]

in for win!

 

[micropage7]

what about warm water to clean the salt or any residue on it? it looks 50-50

 

[Steevo]

Tried it and its still dead.



So its time to put it in the grave unless someone has a brilliant idea. I have not tried to hookup to it with a serial connection, don't really have time.


So sometime in the next week or two I will be shooting it with a .40 JHP taped to a can of something flammable with something on fire by it for special effects. Video for sure.

 

[xorbe]

rust must be bridging gaps?

 

[The Von Matrices]

Not that the story helps you at all, but before you use the .40 cal, run it through a dishwasher cycle with a modest amount of cascade. Allow to dry on a radiator for a few days. It is solid state after all...

I highly recommend against the dishwasher (at least with conventional dishwasher detergent). Dishwasher detergents are much more caustic than the liquid dishwashing soap you might use if washing by hand. I'm sure the dishwasher detergent would remove all the salt residue, but it would also remove all of the copper on the PCB traces as well. This is the reason why copper pots aren't supposed to go in the dishwasher.