1. #1
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    Hypothetical-ish situation... what would you do?

    Bit of a hypothetical situation here, and I'm curious to hear what you folks would've done in the situation.

    You're getting a lift home from a small lan party, you don't drive and since your lift there had already left your friend was nice enough to take you back before he goes to work. You load up your desktop PC and peripherals and head off home.

    Halfway into the short journey it starts raining, you realise this could be a problem when unloading your computer since it's got a vent on the top for a large fan/radiator and getting water in would be very bad. When you arrive home you suggest that the pair of you wait indoors for the rain to stop, but your friend insists he has to go ASAP to get to work. Short on time you come up with a plan to cover the PC, the only thing you can find in your small flat that's water-proof enough to keep your PC completely dry is a small rain coat, designed to fit a medium-ish build, but not go below the waist. You manage to barely cover the vents on the top and back as well as various ports and begin to carry the PC indoors. As you get near the alcove in front of the building the coat starts to slip off, you slam your chin down to stop if going any further but it leaves part of the vent uncovered.

    Once you get inside you check the inside and outside of the case since you notice water on the top of the PC dangerously close to the vent, but you can't see any water inside. Your phone goes off and you notice it's a reminder that your guild has scheduled an early raid on WoW and you really want to attend, the raid starts in 15 minutes.

    So, how do you follow this up? Do you bite the bullet and plug it in hoping no water hit the components causing a short or do you leave it to dry out in your small flat just in-case water did get in? Or maybe something else entirely...

    I'll confess, this isn't completely hypothetical as it happened to me not so long back, I plugged my PC in and thankful it was fine, nothing got inside, or if it did it never touched anything and that was a month or so back, but still, I wanna know what ya'll would've done.

  2. #2
    Epic! Idrinkwhiterussians's Avatar
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    I would say F the raid and make sure my computer is ok first.

    Also, after explaining what happened, I think the guild would be quite understanding.
    Quote Originally Posted by Cyanotical View Post
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  3. #3
    I think the best course of action would be to pop the case open and look for any water drops or trails. If you can't find any then plug it in and prepare to raid.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Raidbozz View Post
    I think the best course of action would be to pop the case open and look for any water drops or trails. If you can't find any then plug it in and prepare to raid.
    You don't find any, but the water near the vent on top of the case still has you worried. Perhaps some managed to work it's way underneath the CPU cooler or into another nook you can't access or check easily?

  5. #5
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    Let it dry off, what's better, missing one raid or missing a months worth of raids because you were too impatient?

  6. #6
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    I'd say let it dry, don't risk, it's not worth it.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Whitey View Post
    Let it dry off, what's better, missing one raid or missing a months worth of raids because you were too impatient?
    Don't forget the cost of new components!

  8. #8
    The Unstoppable Force Elim Garak's Avatar
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    Why would I take my HOME PC to a lan party? I have a notebook for that.

  9. #9
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    Let it dry out for an hour in front of heater instead of risking blowing it up to play video games.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Desparatus View Post
    You don't find any, but the water near the vent on top of the case still has you worried. Perhaps some managed to work it's way underneath the CPU cooler or into another nook you can't access or check easily?
    Take a hair dryer, turn the heat off, and blow air into the hard to see spots and see if any water comes out.

  11. #11
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    I would honestly wonder what kind of rain coat does not cover the top of you case, or what kind of huge case you have? I wouldn't be worried about unloading in the rain, I've done it before, you just need to carry the case with the non-vented side up with something covering the top. Honest I would be more worried if the humidity was damn high.

  12. #12
    Pandaren Monk lockblock's Avatar
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    Sure I have an attached garage but if I didn't I would probably use several layers of saran wrap to cover the top vents.

  13. #13
    Herald of the Titans Kuniku's Avatar
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    a guild SHOULD understand the situation - some guilds might not, but then are you in the right guild? =p

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Raidbozz View Post
    Take a hair dryer, turn the heat off, and blow air into the hard to see spots and see if any water comes out.
    This is good sound advice. Don't use the heat from the dryer, just the air being blown. Do that over your whole PC for a good 5 minutes, and if nothing comes up you can plug it in. That said, if you wish to be totally safe, put it near a heater (Not to close) and leave it overnight. Explain to your guild tomorrow that you'd end up missing out on at least a month fo raids if you had attended.

  15. #15
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    The hair dryer suggestion isn't great as a hair dryer creates a massive amount of static electricity. If you do end up using this, make sure you keep it a good ~10cm at least away from any component. One single discharge and your computer could be permanently damaged. As such, I wouldn't recommend this. Ever.

    I would personally instantly plug out the battery if I even slightly feared that a component was at risk. If not, if it's just a few drops, just let it try off for at least 24 hours. Your guild should understand your situation.

  16. #16
    if your pc goes bust you miss the raid either way

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by ag666 View Post
    Why would I take my HOME PC to a lan party? I have a notebook for that.
    Note books are not lan party equipment dude, a lan part is desktops setup for a good ol party. First off, the whole thing is loony, a towel which yea I am sure you have in your house would have been a better idea, if its raining hard enough to get through a towel in a less than 10-15 second stretch then you have some timing issues cuz thats literally hurricane force.

    ---------- Post added 2012-11-06 at 11:17 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Marest View Post
    The hair dryer suggestion isn't great as a hair dryer creates a massive amount of static electricity. If you do end up using this, make sure you keep it a good ~10cm at least away from any component. One single discharge and your computer could be permanently damaged. As such, I wouldn't recommend this. Ever.

    I would personally instantly plug out the battery if I even slightly feared that a component was at risk. If not, if it's just a few drops, just let it try off for at least 24 hours. Your guild should understand your situation.
    agreed, this would not be a great idea. I'd consider 48 hrs as you really have no clue where a drop could have landed.

  18. #18
    I would let it dry off for a few hours and play on a friends computer instead... It is a lan party after all? :P

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