TLDR: advice for cleaning stinky PC case and components?
A couple of months ago, I trashpicked a gaming tower from a neighbor whose teenager had switched to a laptop, because the tower had some problem that kept it from booting up. It was stored in a (dry) basement for 4-5 years. I lugged it home with the vague intention of converting it to a home media server (since I don't want to add that duty to our mail server). On first testing, I found that its 8-yr-old Intel motherboard seemed to have failed -- I reckon due to inadequate cooling, since the "Deepcool" case had no fans (until I added some) or liquid cooling system, and the CPU fan wasn't properly installed. Other components seemed ok (including the room-decor LED light strips the prior owner had haphazardly duct-taped around the case interior). Anyway, I shoved it under a desk and didn't touch it again until the other day, when I disassembled it fully and installed a cheap Gigabyte board and AMD5 CPU. And it boots, NVIDEA GPU works, storage seems ok.
BUT IT SMELLS. Like a singed basement troll, with hint of stink bug. Mildly toxic. Not quite like stale tobacco. My spouse immediately complained about it. I had already finished a can of compressed air dusting off various parts, wiped down exposed boards and fan blades, but it didn't help much. I'm going to open and clean out the PSU next. Any tips on cleaning techniques are appreciated!
#fixit #DIY #Repair #PCmasterrace #PCgaming #ElectronicsRepair
