WTF is that weird smell... ugh, roaches...

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, but I just tore an original XBox completely apart to ensure I got all roach poop, guts, and bits out of the chassis..
It was covered all along the hard drive tray with smeary poop residue and there were some bits and guts along the bottom tray after the board came out. Philips DVD drive seems unscathed. Board looked okay before and after cleaning. Power supply was super gross. Seems they enjoyed the fan shroud and power supply space!

Scrubbed up in the sink with good hot water and lots of antiseptic soap.
Now baking in the hot summer sun for a few hours (or days).

Anyone else braved cleaning a roachy system when it is a cheap buy? This one was $10. In retrospect, I should have left it, but it looked okay from the outside.

Edit: I was also able to softmod the v1.0 board before I had to clean it out in preparation for a TSOP flash.

 

Omfg... I usually get stuck with the cleanup on PS4 CUH-120x units
Sometimes weirds out my customers when I sniff the system but that is the easiest way to check

 

Hahahahahah you should try fixing phones..
Having to clean off human slime from around keys is gross

 

i have a PS3 Slim that i got cheap , it works but doesn't smell great due to an infestation of some critters. I was wondering what i should use to clean it with to get rid of the smell ?. It's mostly noticeable when the fan pushes air out the back of the console.

 

How in God's name do they end up in there? In this part of the world we don't seem to be affected by roaches fortunately, but from what I know they're not that small are they. While there are no big openings in an Xbox, makes you kinda wonder...

 

They are pretty bad in Australia

 

Holy crap, that one certainly wouldn't be able to fit inside an Xbox

 

So is everything else!

 

That slime / cheese / crust is a familiar thing to me - I break down all used controllers that come into my house and they get at least a 24 hour soak in Dawn and hot water.

The grime is especially disgusting on Xbox 360 controllers... I'm guessing from the worn down thumb sticks and glossy finish, they put in countless hours on games.

On one hand, I envy that they had so much time to play (I have a full time job) and on the other hand, it is disgusting how people (don't) maintain the shit they own.

I'll have to look closer when I reassemble the system, but there must be a space big enough for adult bugs to squeeze through to lay their eggs and let it [throws up in mouth] incubate inside the system. I don't recall there being any gaps bigger than about 1/4" on an original Xbox.

Update and likely end of saga: I have TSOP flashed this Xbox successfully and popped a new (bigger) hard drive in the system.
I'm guessing the creepy crawlies get in through the side vents. An adult bug could easily get in those long slots. Now I just have to get better at spotting these machines BEFORE I buy them.

 

I most commonly get roached snes consoles and ps3s. I just list them on eBay and give a disclaimer that they are full of dead bugs. People buy them up... I just don't want to deal with it.

 

Nah it'd be playing halo Heuheu

 

I opened a sega cd model 2 that a prehistoric looking insect inside. It looked like a grub or maggot, but was the size of my pinky finger. I wasn't sure how it corroded the rf shielding like it did. Some kind of acid spray! I was afraid it was going to "wake up" and leap on to face or something.

 

I actually like cleaning up roach-infested consoles. I sometimes buy them intentionally because most people don't like to deal with them. Usually the roaches are all dead, but every so often I'll get a system with one or two still alive. I'm a bit of a germophobe, so cleaning these things up is a bit like exposure therapy for me


Everything gets washed. You have no choice with these but to scrub every single little tiny piece. I use an antibacterial dishwashing soap. I even dump all the screws in a cheap ultrasonic parts washer I have to clean the roach poop off them. The entire PCB gets washed in antibacterial dishwashing soap under hot water. I use a big grout brush to scrub off the large bits of filth and then switch to a toothbrush to get into the difficult to reach places. I use an orbital sander to sand away rust and roach poop from any heatsinks or RF shielding.

If you wash everything thoroughly you can usually eliminate the smell entirely. But you do have to actually wash the PCB. A safer way might be to fill a large sonic washer with alcohol and wash the board in that. But in addition to not having one big enough to fit most boards, my view is that if the console is broken already there's no reason not to wash it with a nice lemon or lime scented antibacterial soap. The worst that could happen is that it'll still be broken after it dries.

What's worse than roaches, in my opinion, is cat urine. That odor is really tough to eliminate.

 

Hell yeah - 1CHIP ressurection.
I just passed on a bunch of systems that had a TON of rat poop all over them in a garage a couple weeks ago. They would have been super super cheap, but I didn't "need" them right now... I did pick up some nice Super Nintendo carts I didn't have - That's all I was up to dealing with this time. Oh yeah - cat piss... That's a no = instant pass.

 

I bought a broken PS4 off eBay with a bunch of live roaches in it, contacted the seller and instead of a refund I accepted another broken console from them which of course was also full of roaches. Fixed them up easily enough after murdering all the roaches. I put the PS4s in sealed bags in a freezer to subdue the roaches then just vacuumed them up as I took apart the PS4. Around the same time I had also bought a broken Xbox One which a dog or cat had peed on, just straight up returned that one.

 

Yuck, the stories in this thread about insect infested consoles is horrible. Makes you wonder what sort of shit hole these consoles come from. I buy loads of used hardware but have never encountered one full of insects. Has dusty consoles or grimy consoles but never a pissed on console.