I found a laptop in the trash, pushed the power button and it came on with a stuck key error. F1 key is missing looks like pad was smashed. Thought what a deal!!! Till cockroaches fell out of it. Yuck!!

I bagged it and filled with different kinds of roach killer put it in the shed and forgot about it till just the other day while doing some spring cleaning. Probably been out there 6 months? or longer.

I decided to pry it open via the keyboard to look inside, just dead roaches and crap. Double yuck!

Any ideas how to clean out that junk? I don't want to bring it in to diagnose till it's all cleaned out. Or should I just rob the ram, hard drive and re-pitch it?

MSI K8N Neo
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2.21ghz
1GB DDR 3200
nVidia 128mb FX 5200
WD 120gb SE
NEC ND-3500AG DVD R/RW

Hitting the innards with roach-killer may likely have taken out more than the roaches. Most insecticides are petroleum-based, and electronic devices hate petrol worse than water. Even after months, some of it may remain (making using any "robbed" parts risky). Even worse, the low viscosity would make seepage (into the HDD) quite easy. Your (potentially-flammable) gamble, but I'd just toss it altogether...

No spray just boric acid and trap things.

I may just rob ram and pitch.

MSI K8N Neo
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2.21ghz
1GB DDR 3200
nVidia 128mb FX 5200
WD 120gb SE
NEC ND-3500AG DVD R/RW

You could run it through the dishwasher and then put it aside for a couple of weeks to dry out. Who knows, it might work. :-) But disable the dry cycle if you decide to try it.

I probably would have thrown it the moment I saw the roaches! But since you have braved that out you may as well try get it going. If you want to clean it take out the battery AND the bios battery. Then pull out all the PCB's. Then clean them with distilled water, and let it dry thouroughly over a couple of days in warm conditions like near a heating vent (Not too close though!). Just wipe down the HDD with a rag. You can clan all the plastic bits in soapy water.

If you dont want to have to take off the heatsink and replace the thermal paste later, just clean around the heatsink and dont get water on the cpu or in its connector, otherwise you will have to remove it!

If you decide to keep only the RAM, I'd clean the contacts with turps.

Mattwizz3

My Super P3
PIII-S @ 1.5GHz
768MB PC133 @ 145MHz
128MB 9550 340/240
Now with a new motherboard and AGP4X!!!

"run it through the dishwasher"

Now that's funny! Maybe I should just sell it in a garage sale let someone else be surprised. Or is that cruel and unusual?

MSI K8N Neo
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2.21ghz
1GB DDR 3200
nVidia 128mb FX 5200
WD 120gb SE
NEC ND-3500AG DVD R/RW

Use "electronic parts cleaner" comes in a aerosol can you can get at AutoZone.

Great stuff, cleans oil and buildup off of electrical components without damaging the components.

I would try to get it to boot if I were you, the laptop could have some useful information on it. ;)

$20.00, as is

There is nothing to learn from someone who already agrees with you.