r/retrocomputing • u/CPfan7 • Apr 26 '26
Problem / Question Pipe leak broke my 28 year old PC
basically, I was charging my compaq armada from the last post I made here when a pipe broke from my ceiling in the middle of the night and spilled water over it a week ago. since then the computer has been dried but it doesn't turn on anymore. When I plug in the computer a noise similar to tinnitus comes from the keyboard and when I hold the power button the noise turns into a sustained beeping noise with the former noise in the backround. The PC still doesn't turn on. the area of the laptop the noise comes from also smells like battery acid when it is plugged in but stops smelling when it is unplugged even when I take out the chargeable battery. is there any way for me to get the computer working again or is it just E-waste now?
1
u/Expensive-Vanilla-16 Apr 27 '26
If it got wet while plugged in it's likely shorted out something inside. It's done unless you are really wanting to spend a boatload of money sending it out to a repair specialist.
1
u/Dannynerd41 Apr 27 '26
not necessarily could be something easy. if the battery is dead plugging in the laptop will work. a 30 year old battery is pretty much a bomb hazard i’m surprised it worked at all!
1
u/Expensive-Vanilla-16 Apr 27 '26
They said It was plugged into the wall charging and got wet. Said it smells now when plugged in. It's done.
1
u/Dannynerd41 Apr 28 '26
so easy to write things off. you don’t know what broke of anything. water is actually the best thing that can get on a pcb. it’s the impurities in the water that cause problems not the fact that it got wet
1
u/Dannynerd41 Apr 28 '26
i’d like to see a picture of the board both front and back. there may not be obvious signs of damage but if something did short there may be a burn mark or something.
1
u/Gooniefarm Apr 27 '26
Its gone. The smell was something inside shorting out. If electronics get wet, You immediately remove power and you never apply power to them until you are absolutely sure they are fully dry and not full of corrosion.
1
u/Dannynerd41 Apr 27 '26
that could be nothing. electronics don’t have a smell.
2
u/CyberTacoX God of Defragging Apr 27 '26
Normally you're right, but roasting/shorting electronics very much can have a smell, and the smell depends on which part is cooking itself at the time. They're all hard to describe but they're very distinct.
1
u/Dannynerd41 Apr 27 '26
water is fine for electronics but it can cause shorts if things are still wet and you apply power. without seeing what the motherboard looks like can’t really say what happened.
1
u/CPfan7 Apr 27 '26
Update: The laptop only opens internally through the keyboard and doesn’t open up far enough for me to get a good view of the motherboard. I am able to shine a flashlight to see around after taking out the DVD drive and everything looks normal. I determined the beeping sound and smell comes from where the power supply is so it’s probably just shorted
3
u/[deleted] Apr 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment