Coolant has dripped on GPU, now it's broken

[ringmany]

Hi everyone,

It looks like my enclosed water loop has leaked coolant on my GPU. I noticed when my monitor started to do this:

I turned off my PC, then started cleaning it up with 99.9% isypropyl alcohol. I left it in a warm place for 24 hours to complete dry.

I just plugged my GPU back into my PC. It was running fine for around 5 minutes, then the graphics went again, and shut down.

My current GPU is an MSI Nvidia GTX 970. Sadly, both the watercooling loop and the GPU have exceeded their warranty.

Do you have any suggestions of anything else I can do, is it my GPU completely buggered? Sadly, I can't get a new GPU due to Bitcoin mining causing the prices to skyrocket, so I'd rather not spend an unnecessary £150-200 on a GPU.

Cheers.


Any suggestions are appreciated cheers.

 

[ac13044]

Thats the thing about closed loop water coolers accidents like your problem happen. I suggest getting a new Gpu and an air cooler.

 

[smashjohn]

Seems like you might still have liquid in there somewhere. Have you taken the entire thing apart? removed heatsinks, etc? Did you ever smell it burn? There's a very slim chance it can still be saved, but if you can't afford a new one you might as well try. There's a good chance you've got some liquid stuck under those chips. I'd use a few cans of air or a compressor to make sure it's fully blown out. It might not be drying properly if there's no airflow. Also, it looks like it shorted to ground. That could be good news. I'm an eternal optimist Good Luck!

 

[bignastyid]

You can try and save it. I had something similar happen to me and while the motherboard ended up being bad(would post but lost 2 of the 4 memory slots and the pci-e bus was wonky) I was able to save the gpu. I disassembled the card and used some strong isopropyl alcohol(99%) and a microfiber cloth to clean off the coolant residue then let it dry before I reassembled it(will require new thermal grease and possibly thermal pads if they get damaged during the disassembly). But given the pic you might be able to get away with out disassembly as I had a backplate in my way when I was cleaning my card.

 

[cryoburner]

The red makes it look like a crime scene. >_>

Personally, I would probably try cleaning it more thoroughly with alcohol and then letting it dry for a few days before giving in and calling the card a lost cause. It's possible there could still be moisture under some of those surface mounted chips that could be moving around and shorting things out when the card heats up. Did any liquid get around to the other side of the card under the cooler too?

 

[rgd1101]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from ringmany : "Windows screen breaks then stuck on attempting repairs"

Hi everyone,

I was doing some graphics work using Adobe Illustrator when my PC suddenly died. The monitor went black and white with lines then turned off.

I've had illustrator installed for around 6 months, used many times with no issue. Nothing was running at the time except illustrator and YouTube on chrome.

I restarted my PC and it is stuck in the Attempting Repairs window. I've restarted multiple times, done a system repair, even did a system restore to Jan but still broke. I restarted and it still gives the screen shown. Id like to avoid a complete wipe of possible.

My PC did load successfully once. Got to my login prompt, then immediately died. Restarted again, working ok, open YouTube and dead again.

Uncertain what else to check at this point. Whether it's a hardware or software issue.

Any suggestions are appreciated cheers.

Update:
It appears that my CPU coolant has leaked into the GPU.

Currently in the process of cleaning it up with 99.9% isypropyl alcohol. Leaving it in a warm place, hoping it's still salvageable. Inspecting the cooler for any signs of a compromise.

 

[Martell1977]

I'd say, as the others, clean it up. Take it apart and replace the thermal paste(can't hurt), and either give it a few days to dry or use a hair dryer on low heat for a while.

 

[ringmany]

Cheers for the replies,

I've disassembled the GPU. Don't see any other signs of coolant any where. Going to go over it with some compressed air, replace the thermal paste.

There wasn't any burning smell. I just noticed the monitor experiencing artifact, then when I went to remove the GPU, I noticed the coolant on top.

 

[InvalidError]

If you want to make sure it is thoroughly dried even in inaccessible places, put it in the oven at 90-100C for a few hours with a cookie sheet between the oven element and GPU so it doesn't get overheated by IR radiation. That will slowly bake off any moisture that got under or inside components.

The video corruption tells me the problem is most likely data/address errors between the GPU and memory. It could be from solder balls under the memory chip getting corroded or just additives in the cooling liquid messing up board impedance.

I was going to write "use a multimeter to check for short across SMD caps" but if the card still boots, the caps aren't shorted. At least not yet. Baking them off to drive moisture out might save them if they haven't been too badly damaged already.

 

[ringmany]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Sadly, despite all my efforts, it's still broken. After several days and much maintenance, the GPU only works for around 5 minutes, then immediately dies with the above photos of my monitor. I was looking to upgrade to a GTX 1070 / ti. Might have to wait quite a while for a new GPU as I'm not paying an additional £200 due to Bitcoin miners.

Trying to contact the seller of the CPU cooler for any form of compensation, looking through legal stuff:

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

"Fit for purpose The goods should be fit for the purpose they are supplied for, as well as any specific purpose you made known to the retailer before you agreed to buy the goods."

As I've only had the cooler for 2 years, it hasn't leaked through a fault of my own. It hasn't dripped through the cap or the tubes, it's the rubber seal at the very back. Got nothing else to lose at this point, so this is my only option other than paying £600 for a new one, or claiming on house contents insurance.

Any chance anyone has an idea how much a broken GPU is worth on Ebay?

Cheers for the help everyone.

 

[InvalidError]

If the board still works for a few minutes before acting up, then it might not be permanently damaged. Find an electronics shop with an ultrasonic cleaning bath and have your board run through for 30min or so to dissolve and dislodge crap that may have gotten in places you can't reach, put it in an oven to dry at ~100C for a few hours and see if that makes any difference.

With some luck, that might clear out the coolant gunk that got under the GDDR5 chips and fix your problem. It is a long shot. Worst case, you're ~$20 further out of pocket and your unusable GPU goes completely dead. Best case, your GPU is back to being usable again.