# Water damage to RAM?



## Supersamtheman (Apr 4, 2008)

Hi and thanks for reading,

Basically today I found a computer in a river. The inside of the computer had been mostly stripped out so no graphics card sound card hard drive or cd drive etc but there was 1 stick of RAM left in the motherboard. Its made by Samsung and it says KOREA H 0229 M368L1713DTL-CB0. 

I was wondering is there any chance that it might still work/be salvageable and can I do any damage to the rest of my computer by trying it? I have since dried and cleaned it. 

Thanks
Sam


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## speedster123 (Oct 18, 2006)

> Basically today I found a computer in a river


*you found my rig..lol*

jk
i wouldnt waste your time, its not safe once its soaked.


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

There is a possibility that much could be salvaged depending on length of immersion in the water.

It may not be safe if not dried & cleaned properly.

I am assuming that the river was not tidal and that there was not salt water. If there was salt, wash & dry it as described below.

Inspect the pins on the memory stick with a magnifier. Ensure that is no grot lodged between the pins and that it is visually 'clean'. If they are not too corroded, use an eraser to gently polish and shine up the pins again. Then place the unit in a warm dry place for 24 - 48 hours to thoroughly dry it out. The encapsulation of the memory chips should be waterproof. This applies to virtually all electronic components.

Once you have cleaned & dried thoroughly, try it. It should not do any harm to your computer.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anecdote 1:
I ran a two way radio repair shop some years back and with radios that had coffee, cola or other liquid spilt in them we actually stripped PC boards out of radios and washed then in warm soapy water and 'scrubbed' them with a 1/4" paint brush. Rinsed in fresh warm water and left in a dry warm place for 48 hours did not seem to harm them at all.

On another occasion, we received a transceiver from a taxi that had been submerged in a lake for a few hours. after the washing process as above, it was in a better condition than it was before it was submerged!

Anecdote 2 (The smelly one)
About a year ago a friend gave me an electronic module that was a detachable game module (?) from a gameboy or such. A six year old girl had dropped it into the lavatory pan, retrieved it and hid it. When it was found it was plugged into the gameboy (?) and didn't work.
I managed to pop the cover and discovered that it was corroded to the point crystals were growing inside it. It had a button battery that had caused electrolysis etc and caused havoc before it died.

Warm soapy water time...... cleaned up like a new pin but a couple of tracks were corroded away. A quick solder job sorted that out. A fresh button battery & it worked. :grin:
I never found out if it was dropped in the loo before or after it had been used!

The only real danger to electronic equipment that is submerged in water is if there is a battery installed. That can cause severe and quick corrosion to tracks and pins.


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## Supersamtheman (Apr 4, 2008)

Thanks to everyone who helped out,
DonaldG, thanks especially for your help and I enjoyed the anecdotes! I was very surprised that a game module could be salvaged from beyond crystals. 
The RAM itself is visually very clean, it only had a bit of mud etc on it and I could virtually blow those off so it was near dry anyway. I shouldnt have thought it had been in the river for more than about 12 hours or so (the Seaton town council probably would have moved it after a while) and the ram wasnt acutally in contact with the water as the whole case was in the river, keeping most of the water out.

I will try the RAM tonight and let you know how it gets on. 

Thanks


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Seaton? Is that the Seaton in Devon? I'm in Yeovil - we could almost shout out of the window.

I presume that the memory stick is compatible with the laptop you have. You must check it out before you try to slot it in!


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## Supersamtheman (Apr 4, 2008)

It is the Seaton in devon yes! I'm actually from Lyme Regis but was on a bike ride with my friend when we came across the computer. Its not actually a laptop its a desktop.
I tried to put it in and when I booted up it got to the grey bar which precedes the Windows logo on the loading screen, got to the end of the bar and then stopped and wouldn't go any further. I tried again and it said that Windows failed to load properly. I suppose it could have been bad RAM before it was put in the river as it was left in there with the motherboard power supply and a bunch of ribbon cables. 

Sam


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## DonaldG (Aug 23, 2007)

Lyme - our local beach - 15 miles. Good fish & chips! And fossils - one of my pass times collecting them...

OK the ram is probably dead - might have been killed by static discharge - chuck it... was worth a try...

G'night


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## Supersamtheman (Apr 4, 2008)

Yep the fish and chips are goood! 
Ahhh well like you say it was worth a shot. Gave me something interesting to do anyway

Cheers


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

FYI, integrated circuits, including those RAM chips, are 100% sealed against moisture. In the PCB manufacturing process for most plants, water bath is used to clean the acid flux from the boards, doesn't harm a thing.

If the module cleans up and has no corrosion from it's swim, I don't see any reason it wouldn't work.


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## Supersamtheman (Apr 4, 2008)

Oh right. Could it be then that its the wrong PCXXXX number then as the two I had in at the moment are PC3200 and the one I found is PC2700. Im a bit of a newbie at modifying computers so what do those numbers on RAM actually mean?

Thanks


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## speedster123 (Oct 18, 2006)

you wouldnt want to add pc2700 to a system with pc3200, as your computer will default to the slowest component.
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f210/important-before-you-buy-memory-163105.html


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## Supersamtheman (Apr 4, 2008)

Oh right. Is it worth selling it on eBay or something then? 

Thanks


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Well, in the interests of full disclosure, I'd think you'd want to mention the swim the components took. :smile:


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