Yes, it didn't. But I'm worried that rust will "eat" metall faster
until everything is gone. (if not cleaned) Besides, it smells bad (but
that probably isn't coming from rust).
Where can that desiccant be bought?
I see mail order ads for it from time to time. It lasts forever, so I
haven't bought any in a long time. They pack it in cartons arriving
from overseas and I save what comes my way. It comes with all new
electronics shipped here. Small envelopes of the stuff (marked
"discard - do not eat" - like that would be my plan . . .)
Sold for and used in chemical labs to preserve reference standards.
They buy the loose crystals and it has an indicator added so the
crystals turn from blue when dry to red when wet.
You can bake the crystals in an oven or microwave to drive off the
moisture and make them more effective.
Very handy stuff for preserving gummed envelops or stamps in a humid
climate. Put the stuff in a plastic bag with a some desiccant.
The chemical name is "silica gel."
No, the fan is *trying* to start and some clicking is heard. I've
opened the computer and removed PSU from it, but the same thing
happens (clicking). At one moment fan started to work slowly but it
stopped. When I unplugged it from AC it started rotating again for
short time. After opening PSU, it looks like electrolytic capacitors
have leaked, but I'm not sure. (never before seen leaked capacitors,
only heard about them). Do you think they should be replaced?
Clicking can be a symptom of a shorted load or open load (no load
plugged in). Switching supplies use a type of over current protection
that clicks when the supply is over loaded - in the case of no load
the over voltage protection kicks in and shorts the supply. It is
normally a rapid clicking ("Hiccup") several times a second on PC
supplies.
The internal fan on PC supplies usually is run from the +12 volt
output and in between clicks it might turn.
Electrolytics can vent and leak. There is very little actual liquid
electrolyte. The ones I've seen have had a white deposit around the
leads and between the cap and board. Some also had corroded leads
that would break off the cap. I wouldn't want to guess about
replacement unless I saw them - but if they really did leak they may
need replacing. The vented leaked caps have lower capacity. They
may be "low ESR" type capacitors if it they filter the output of a
switching supply.
Probably the best thing is to take it to service. (hope it wont cost
too much)
BTW, the computer is Amiga 2000.
And just one more thing. It seems that motherboard is affected by
moisture, too. After trying to clean it with alcohol, the cotton was
green. Whats best for cleaning PCBs?
There's a lot of differing opinions on cleaning PCB's. One place I
worked at used a trichloroethane solvent in a vapor de greaser for
machine produced boards, on the human produced boards they used
acetone. The manual technique was to lay a paper towel against the
board and work a brush wet with acetone into the paper - the idea was
to let the solvent dissolve flux and let the paper towel soak it up
and trap it. (good technique for spot cleaning rugs) They also soaked
boards in acetone.
Whatever solvent you use may damage the board. What you really want
to avoid doing is finding the solvent that dissolves the "mask" a
green varnish applied to the traces to protect the copper and prevent
solder from getting where it doesn't belong during production. That
mask also protects the board from condensed moisture.
At home I use acetone with the towel technique and will sometimes also
use distilled water. I bake the board in my oven at low temperatures
to dry them immediately after. Acetone vapor is explosive - so that
stays out of the oven until the solvent evaporates. When using a
solvent that evaporates rapidly (like acetone) the temperature of the
board drops and if it is humid, moisture from the air can condense on
the board so even acetone can wet the board with water under the right
circumstances. Alcohol frequently contains some water.
The worse thing to do is apply power to a board that is wet.
Those pictures you had up on the web with the case don't look
encouraging . . . You ever heard the expression "beating a dead
horse?"