Disaster - Water everywhere, what to replace?

[greenfrog]

Well the worst case scenario for my watercooler PC has occured. My resevoir was knocked over, and so tugging its pipe causing it to come loose and spray coolant over my motherboard.

Needless to say there's no life left in the PC. Now I need to start the process of rebuilding, however, depressingly I only built the PC 6 months ago so most of the parts I buy will be the same as before. So no excuse to upgrade to something more powerful.

What I'm interested getting is some advice concerning what is likely to be damaged beyond use and what might be recoverable. I appreciate that only testing will effectively reveal what functions and doesn't, but as I don't have another PC I can't test easily.

The coolant itself spilt directly on to the motherboard, not touching the video, sound or TV card, nor the hard drives. So do you guys think these parts may still work or is the damage likely to be all-embracing?

Thanks very much for any help
Lee

 

[mkaibear]

You gotta test it, I'm afraid.

They could all be fine, they could all be fried.

 

[aziraphale]

You gotta test it, I'm afraid.

They could all be fine, they could all be fried.

Yep.

But: was it running when it happened? If no, then I hope you didn't directly turn it on to test if all was ok?

 

[greenfrog]

Thanks for the replies.
The PC was on when the water spilt so I expect the damage to be fairly substantial.
I was afraid you'd say test it. I was hoping to avoid that as it means buying a new motherboard, testing the old parts then buying whatever doesn't work. But I guess that's what I've got to do.

thanks for your help.
Lee

 

[mkaibear]

I would be cautious about this, as well - a fried board can mean that they will damage anything they are plugged into. Any chance of testing in an old machine you don't care about?

 

[nitrous9200]

You know, we had a flood a few years back where our basement was filled with water. 2 PC's were down there, one of them was on and one of them was off. Of course, they were both surrounded by polluted water. The PC that was off is still together and fine. The one that was on didn't appear to work at first, but after cleaning and then testing the parts individually, we discovered the PSU, CPU, RAM, and video card were all working fine. You should be sure to take everything apart and clean it, and then test it, because you never know, everything might be fine. (Except the motherboard) Good luck!

 

[Howard_Stern]

Unfortunately, I see that as the only course of action.

 

[piratepast40]

Well, yes, you're going to have to test components to see if they still work unless you've got a crystal ball that will magically tell you what's working :lol: ! You might as well take a deep breath, laugh a little bit, and then get down to a logical path to test things.

My opinion:
Disconnect the water cooler and get the source of water completely out of the system. Remove all the cards, memory modules, and unplug drives, power cables, etc.. Clean up all the water and evidence of water. You might even want to use a hair dryer on all the slots to make sure there's no moisture left. Personally, I would remove the motherboard to make sure there's nothing left underneath it. I would start by testing the power supply with a multimeter to see if you have power at the expected voltage on all the plugs. Then start reinstalling the components and see what happens.

You could also take things to a local shop and see if they'll test individual components for you.

Good luck .. it doesn't sound like a lot of fun.

 

[yakyb]

yeah i agree i think this is one of those times where it may actually be better to takeit into a shop to test out stuff on as if anything is fried you run the risk of frying whatever it is plugged into.

 

[aziraphale]

yeah i agree i think this is one of those times where it may actually be better to takeit into a shop to test out stuff on as if anything is fried you run the risk of frying whatever it is plugged into.

Unless you have the means for testing the stuff individually where it does not hurt. The shop might be your only sensible option...

 

[AdamBomb42]

When you get it up an running again use some non-conductive liquid such as MCT or FluidXP.

 

[Eviltwin17]

unfortunately you are going to have to test. Since your mobo is fried go ahead and order a new mobo first, then test the parts and if they dont work buy new parts.

 

[fletch420]

shop testing is a good idea. Use DI (de-ionized) water products in the future as it is non conductive. good luck

 

[rammedstein]

get a reservoir that you can seal, it help out big time. i got one with a small screw on cap with a grommet so stuff can get in but none can get out, really good, i gotta say. hmm.. odd your joints must be no way near as strong as mine..

 

[aziraphale]

shop testing is a good idea. Use DI (de-ionized) water products in the future as it is non conductive. good luck

Word.

 

[quantumsheep]

Unfortunately, I see that as the only course of action.

Word.

 

[greenfrog]

Thanks very much everyone for your replies.

One thing which concerns me is that Mkaibear mentioned that 'a fried board can mean that they will damage anything they are plugged into', does this mean that if I buy a new Motherboard and plug in a fried video card to test it, this potentially damage the new motherboard?

 

[aziraphale]

You have to consider this possibility. And vice versa. A fried MB can damage everythig else. A fried PSU also.

 

[quantumsheep]

Thanks very much everyone for your replies.

One thing which concerns me is that Mkaibear mentioned that 'a fried board can mean that they will damage anything they are plugged into', does this mean that if I buy a new Motherboard and plug in a fried video card to test it, this potentially damage the new motherboard?

There is always the small possibility this could happen, although it is very rare.

 

[Badnatured]

If a non conductive fluid spilt on the board..would it fry everything too?

 

[aziraphale]

If a non conductive fluid spilt on the board..would it fry everything too?

Even double-quarz deionised water would conduct electricity. In pure water there is always an equilibrium between H2O <--> H3O+ and OH-

Therefore it will conduct electricity with a high resistance. Since there are high amperages and currents between small spaces around on a PCB; Yes even pure water could cause damage...

 

[AdamBomb42]

If a non conductive fluid spilt on the board..would it fry everything too?

No. I have seen MCT-5 spilled on a video card and it got into the PCI-e slot and the computer was fine. While it was running.

 

[slim142]

Well the worst case scenario for my watercooler PC has occured. My resevoir was knocked over, and so tugging its pipe causing it to come loose and spray coolant over my motherboard.

Needless to say there's no life left in the PC. Now I need to start the process of rebuilding, however, depressingly I only built the PC 6 months ago so most of the parts I buy will be the same as before. So no excuse to upgrade to something more powerful.

What I'm interested getting is some advice concerning what is likely to be damaged beyond use and what might be recoverable. I appreciate that only testing will effectively reveal what functions and doesn't, but as I don't have another PC I can't test easily.

The coolant itself spilt directly on to the motherboard, not touching the video, sound or TV card, nor the hard drives. So do you guys think these parts may still work or is the damage likely to be all-embracing?

Thanks very much for any help
Lee

RAM is what most likely wont work anymore.

Maybe putting all the components next to a fan (not a computer fan, a real fan like the ones people with no air conditioner on their houses use) might work?

 

[aziraphale]

However unlikely; pure water still can cause a short. Got enough dust in there? Bam. Would not test it on my rig... Just has to hit the right spot...

 

[AdamBomb42]

Read this!