WOW! Quick desolder all the caps now and replace the psu just in case it will spred like Covid-19

That's a first, I haven't managed to ever open the beepers without wrecking them 🤣. The few I have looked into on by boards look shiny but even if they weren't I wouldn't be all that concerned.

Could corrosion on the beeper ever affect anything on the board, other than the beeper itself?

Do you, by any chance, have a sisters of mercy fan inside that case ?

The rust on that beeper may just be from poor material and dampness. I wouldn't worry about it. Rust does not spread on copper traces like the battery corrosion does (the reaction between copper and the electrolyte forms copper(II) hydroxide which corrodes copper when in contact with air humidity) and it isn't conductive. It only attracts more moisture locally. This means worst case you have to change the beeper.

Tiido wrote on 2021-08-25, 09:28:

That's a first, I haven't managed to ever open the beepers without wrecking them 🤣. The few I have looked into on by boards look shiny but even if they weren't I wouldn't be all that concerned.

I was very surprised when the whole thing blew off with only a bit of compressed air. I doubt they're supposed to come off. But this one did.

Doornkaat wrote on 2021-08-25, 12:12:

The rust on that beeper may just be from poor material and dampness. I wouldn't worry about it.

I don't like the idea of rust forming on something that vibrates. Although it's probably harmless, I worry about flecks of iron oxide breaking away from the surface and making its way onto a trace somewhere. Though this is probably VERY unlikely to happen.

I will be replacing it regardless.

Corrosion? In my beeper?

Fun fact for anyone who may need to replace one of these in the future. These onboard piezo beepers come in the 3V, 5V and 12V varieties. So make sure you pick the right one.

If it's not labeled, it's probably 5V as this is what's normally provided when you attach a speaker via pin headers.

Has anyone ever seen anything other than 5V for a PC Speaker?

Kahenraz wrote on 2021-08-26, 00:04:

I don't like the idea of rust forming on something that vibrates. Although it's probably harmless, I worry about flecks of iron oxide breaking away from the surface and making its way onto a trace somewhere. Though this is probably VERY unlikely to happen.

Again, rust is not conductive. I get that you'd want to replace the rusted beeper but if you don't you're not risking a short circuit on your board.

Kahenraz wrote on 2021-08-26, 00:49:

Fun fact for anyone who may need to replace one of these in the future. These onboard piezo beepers come in the 3V, 5V and 12V varieties. So make sure you pick the right one.

The beeper from your pictures does not look like a piezo beeper but rather like a moving iron speaker.

Doornkaat wrote on 2021-08-26, 05:25:

Again, rust is not conductive. I get that you'd want to replace the rusted beeper but if you don't you're not risking a short circuit on your board.

I always thought of rust as tiny iron flakes when I should have been thinking of it as literal iron oxide. Iron oxide is a poor enough conductor to that, as you stated, it shouldn't be an issue.

Doornkaat wrote on 2021-08-26, 05:25:

The beeper from your pictures does not look like a piezo beeper but rather like a moving iron speaker.

I was under the impression that all of the buzzers in this package were piezoelectric. Are they all moving iron or are some in fact piezoelectric?

I also thought of those small beepers as piezo speakers for the longest time. They're often falsely advertised as such too. I expect that all those intended to be used as PC speakers are in fact moving iron.

I think piezo speakers are better suited for higher frequencies than the typical BIOS beeps and may seriously struggle when producing lower tones in DOS games. That's why I wouldn't expect piezo beepers to be a good choice as a PC speaker.
I do not know if there are any electrical incompatibilities when using them as PC speakers.
I also do not know wether there are actual piezo speakers sold in the same package as the moving iron beepers.

I also thought the same. They appeared similar to piezo and I just assumed that the term was correctly applied as I'd read and heard. True piezoelectric speakers/buzzers are usually very flat or wafer-shaped. I wasn't even aware of a "moving iron" type speaker and it's interesting to look into.

Kahenraz wrote on 2021-08-25, 01:54:

I'm was canned-air drying a motherboard after giving it a good clean in the sink when I accidentally blew off the top of the bee […]
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I'm was canned-air drying a motherboard after giving it a good clean in the sink when I accidentally blew off the top of the beeper (I didn't even know it could come off). This board already had some minor corrosion which I had treated with vinegar but I never thought that the onboard beeper could be hiding further corrosion.

This may be worth checking if you're deep cleaning an already suspect motherboard and want to check all of the hidden places.

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Lol. I never even considered this could ever be a thing 😜
It could help determine a silent onboard beeper being an issue when trying to diagnose a problem but I don't think this is something to worry about (especially when you have a POST card, essentially bypassing the need for needing the beep codes).

Still, nice find, if only because I can imagine it having been an unexpected one 😜

Some photos of the repair. Not much to see but the top of the buzzer broke off during removal so that's somewhat interesting.