Throwing away infected classic consoles

[redblaze57]

If there were dead roaches inside I don't blame you for throwing it out cause I would have done the same. Then again I would have had Puked from the site of it

[turf]

I picked up an N64 this past summer that, apparently, was part of a time capsule; minus the capsule. It was easily the dirtiest box of stuff I've ever bought; but hell it was $20 for the whole box.

The reset button on the N64 was stuck down, so I cracked it open. It was like a small zoo in there.  There were beetles, roaches, and spiders all in this little box. They were all dead and crunchy, but it was still gross. I cleaned it up and passed it on to a new home. Those things are tough.

[burningdoom]

Brown sauce is salvageable, too. I just got a copy of OutRun with some mysterious brown sauce dried onto it. A little rubbing alcohol and a paper towel took it right off.

... I wouldn't let anything with the sauce touch other things. It's mold. Alcohol may wipe off some stuff, but it won't get rid of everything...

It definitely came all off, not a trace.

What I couldn't get off was the marker with someone's initials. Usually rubbing alcohol takes it right off, not this time. In fact, I rubbed the red on the label off a little, and it still didn't come off (it was a Master System game).

[pacpix]

Brown sauce is salvageable, too. I just got a copy of OutRun with some mysterious brown sauce dried onto it. A little rubbing alcohol and a paper towel took it right off.

... I wouldn't let anything with the sauce touch other things. It's mold. Alcohol may wipe off some stuff, but it won't get rid of everything...

It definitely came all off, not a trace.

That's what you think, but no one can escape the brown sauce. No one.

[turf]

Brown Sauce stains the soul. Nothing can get that out. 

[sin2beta]

If you get into picking up and repairing old consoles, you will see this a lot. Roaches and ants LOVE living in electronics. I've heard it is because of the magnetic field. But more likely, it is easily defendable and perfect for nests. The little guys invade modems so much that most internet tech people will have "roach bags" for infested modems.  When they get called out for a broken modem and see roaches or ants, they just throw them in these bags. I've heard that some companies have trailers full of these. I'm not sure about that part though.

But yeah, you'll find roaches and ants in consoles a lot. Just clean em out.

Interestingly enough, this damages cars a lot too. Mechanics routinely clean mice nests from engines and exhaust. Usually having to remove several cooked critters as well. I'm a fan of Kawasaki Ninjas and the Ninja forum I'm on gets posts like that several times a year.

[htimreimer]

If you get into picking up and repairing old consoles, you will see this a lot. Roaches and ants LOVE living in electronics. I've heard it is because of the magnetic field. But more likely, it is easily defendable and perfect for nests. The little guys invade modems so much that most internet tech people will have "roach bags" for infested modems.  When they get called out for a broken modem and see roaches or ants, they just throw them in these bags. I've heard that some companies have trailers full of these. I'm not sure about that part though.

But yeah, you'll find roaches and ants in consoles a lot. Just clean em out.

Interestingly enough, this damages cars a lot too. Mechanics routinely clean mice nests from engines and exhaust. Usually having to remove several cooked critters as well. I'm a fan of Kawasaki Ninjas and the Ninja forum I'm on gets posts like that several times a year.

this is definitely true, my NES also had spiders

[sin2beta]

One other thing I can say is that I bought my XBox from Vintage Stock. Once I brought it home I noticed a roach crawling out of the fan grate. Not that Vintage Stock is dirty, it's just something about electronics that bugs like. I just cleaned it out.

I make a point to routinely open and clean my consoles not just for maintenance but to make sure there are no bugs creating a bugtropolis in there.

[blipcs76]

I've had stuff that had spider webs in it, but I don't think I've actually even seen a cockroach.  It's just not a common problem around here.  That being said, now I'm wary of every console I have sitting in my house, as if they're all roach bombs ready to explode and infest my house.

[sin2beta]

Lol. I think i is different bugs in different areas. Here in Texas... it is roaches. But it seems to be a problem here. Not a huge problem, but they seem to be the pest. Boulder Colorado had field mice galore. Walking the sidewalk home you would just hear them in the bushes and see them darting across the sidewalk as you walked. Again not a huge problem. But just the resident pest.

If you don't live in a warmer part of the world, bugs probably won't be a big issue. If you are in the southern (east or west) part, it's probably a bigger issue.

I wouldn't worry. I've never seen any in my consoles after being in my possession but I spray the casing with cleaner. Protip: Pledge (a type of cleaning product for people in other parts of the world) on the the casing makes them look hella shiny and new!

[90snostalga]

Lol. I think i is different bugs in different areas. Here in Texas... it is roaches. But it seems to be a problem here. Not a huge problem, but they seem to be the pest.

You know what else Texas has?  I promise you, my family and I drove through Texas a while back to get to California.   Well, one night we stopped at a rest stop and at a hotel.  Both in Dallas.  No lie.  Both were infested with crickets!!!  When we first got out the car and walked onto the sidewalk to the rest stop.  As soon as we hit the concrete part walking into the restroom, you could see them.  There had to be hundreds.  And we said screw the hotel which was some where else in Dallas.  Too many crickets infested the hotel.  All the way from Georgia to California, never seen so many crickets in one place in my life.  These were not the little small green crickets but the big brown ones.  It was kind of freaky 

[scott]

You wanna see something disgusting? About 6 years ago, up in Michigan, we had the worst June Bug infestation I've ever seen. They were everywhere, you'd see piles like this all over.

[tripredacus]

I hate june bugs! blech

[90snostalga]

I hate june bugs! blech

This is the first I ever heard of june bugs.  Is those beatles?

[desocietas]

[grossed out face]

So glad I live where I do.  The worst we get is ants and a variety of small/medium spiders.  We get wasps, yellow jackets, and bees when it's warm out and grassy.  We have other bugs but we hardly ever see them.  Cockroaches only when it's super super dirty somewhere (like a restaurant), and the library will get a brown cricket (those things are way bigger than I ever think they are) from time to time roaming around inside.

I'm going to LA this winter but I always hate that the cockroaches come out at night and like to hang out on the sidewalks.  They scurry away when you try to walk through them, but it totally freaks me out when all I'm wearing are summer clothes (shorts, tanktop, flipflops).