PC got rained on

[Dijas]

Ok, So I built my first PC about a month ago, and now this has happened.

So I have my PC next to my desk which is next to the window. I leave the house and come back a few hours later to find my window open. It had been raining for maybe 5 minutes until I found it. So my PC case has an opening for a fan on the top. Water had come through there and onto the PC. The PC was turned on and as far as I could tell was still fine. it hadnt powered off and everything was still on. I pulled power and instantly opened it up and dabbed up as much water as possible. The PSU didnt get wet at all because its right under the GPU, which got wet. Nothing was soaking, just drops of water. I dried up as much as possible then took the GPU, the DVD Burner, and the RAM out as unplugging all the connections to and from the motherboard. I took a blow dryer and on low heat I took care of the rest of the visible moisture. It wasn't that wet. Then I laid the computer (basically just the motherboard and case) open side down so the motherboard is hanging downwards, and then took the other side of the case off.

What should I do?

 

[humphreybot]

nothing put a big house fan on it for a day maybe two. it should be ok

the fact that is was still running is a great sign. best of luck

 

[quas]

It's probably nothing. I've read about people cleaning their PC by putting the motherboard under the tap. The only thing they kept away from the water is the processor and the PSU. Not sure if they did the right thing or not, but it shows how water-proof most of these PC parts are.

 

[Viking2121]

you will be fine, let it dry for a day or so and all is good. Here is guy who put his PC in the dishwasher to clean it, and all worked great after he let it dry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahhSDEgkqQ8

 

[Dijas]

Yes yes, but did that guy have the PC turned on during the washing? Probably not.

 

[hyrule571]

Dijas, if you haven't already hooked up your PC and turned it on listen to this...

I was riding my bike around the neighborhood one day and spotted an old Pentium 4 based computer thrown out with the HDD taken out of it. I rode off then thought about it again when I was at home later on that night. It had rained that day, and yes the computer was exposed to the rain. Eventually that night I brought it home. I let that computer sit in the basement for approximately 2 to 3 days. Then I rebuilt it and threw in an extra 160GB HDD I had laying around. Installed XP and sold the computer for $100. Works until this day for I had sold it to a friend.

Bottom line... Don't worry about this. I'd give it a minimum of 2 days(48 hours) to sit and dry off completely. Then I'd hook it back up, test all the interfaces, the audio, and game a bit to see if your video card has been affected. If all seems normal forget about this and act like it never happened.

 

[Dijas]

Hm, ok. Well I will definitely consider what you say. I had a rag that I was using that got probably 80% of the water off the whole entire thing, and it wasn't enough to even get the whole cloth wet, and if I squeezed it, nothing would have dripped out. I dried it for maybe 15 minutes with a blow drier after it happened yesterday at around 2 pm. Its now 10pm next day and I haven't booted it up. I will wait until tomorrow at around 2ish to turn it back on. Sounds good?

 

[quas]

Not sure if correct, but I don't think you should use blow dryer or vacuum cleaner or anything of that sort? It's the static issue.

 

[hyrule571]

I've used a vacuum many, many times on my PC to clean out dust and other junk. Now a blow drier I wouldn't know about, but I'd imagine its almost the same concept except it's blowing not sucking air. I'd turn your PC on later on today and see if it boots, because this should have been enough drying.