[SOLVED] Is My PC dead? (RESOLVED)

[TechFailsz23]

Okay, so my gaming PC just endured a water spill through the top of the system. It was around half the bottle, but I only found drops of it when looked at closely. No visible water damage. A few seconds after the spill, the screen went blue. No messages, just dark-ish blue. I continue to unplug my computer from the PSU to look at it, and dry it off. I reconnected the PSU, and all the lights, fans, and most my peripherals turned on okay, except my monitor. It kept displaying a flashing orange light on an indicator, and the few times it did turn blue, all my screen said was the monitor's "No Signal" sign. I checked the connections, and everything was okay. Still hasn't connected to my monitor. Is my PC dead? Is the PC okay and the monitor is screwy? I hope it isn't busted. Cost over 1k.

Components:
Ryzen 5 3600 CPU
Corsair H60 CPU Cooler
Gigabyte DS3H B550M MoBo
16g OLOy RAM
Phantom Gaming RX 580
2TB HDD
222GB SSD
500w PSU
Cooler Master MB311L ARGB Case
PICTEK Keyboard
HyperX Pulsefire Dart Mouse
HyperX Quadcast S Mic
Asus 27' monitor

 

[Newtonius]

Check for a pulse, if you don't feel one then it's probably dead. My condolences.

Now jokes aside, did you inspect the Graphics card? The water may have missed most of the components except the graphics card since it sticks out. The backside might've caught a few of the drops on the circuit board causing a short. If this is the case then the graphics card would be the only damaged component which would make sense given the description you mentioned. On some occasion letting it sit out overnight will let it dry off but don't get your hopes too high.

You also mentioned blinking orange lights. Is this on your motherboard? Where do the lights appear from and do they have any corresponding text next to them? Motherboards usually come with debugging tools like blinking lights or LED displays that show error codes in the event of a fail bootup. It'll usually indicate which component is causing the failure in boot. Please further inspect your motherboard upon bootup and consult your manual if you notice these indicators.

 

[DSzymborski]

It's unlikely that it's the monitor.

The water went somewhere and it doesn't have to pool to cause damage. At this point, after immediately turning it off, the PC itself should have been disassembled into its components, with each checked for moisture individually. From your description, it looks like you just glanced at it, wiped off the PSU's external water -- anything on the outside of the PSU isn't the water that's causing damage! -- and then fired it up.

That some things have visible power does not mean those parts are OK. It may be too late at this point, but I'd do what you should have done in the first place: complete disassembly, drying, waiting 72 hours for anything remaining to dry. Probably go ahead and replace the PSU as well considering you know it got wet and a "500W" PSU doesn't exactly lend itself to the idea that this should be powering the build anyway.

 

[TechFailsz23]

Check for a pulse, if you don't feel one then it's probably dead. My condolences.

Now jokes aside, did you inspect the Graphics card? The water may have missed most of the components except the graphics card since it sticks out. The backside might've caught a few of the drops on the circuit board causing a short. If this is the case then the graphics card would be the only damaged component which would make sense given the description you mentioned. On some occasion letting it sit out overnight will let it dry off but don't get your hopes too high.

You also mentioned blinking orange lights. Is this on your motherboard? Where do the lights appear from and do they have any corresponding text next to them? Motherboards usually come with debugging tools like blinking lights or LED displays that show error codes in the event of a fail bootup. It'll usually indicate which component is causing the failure in boot. Please further inspect your motherboard upon bootup and consult your manual if you notice these indicators.

Okay, so there was a few droplets on the GPU and one of the PCIe slots, but nothing else. After a thorough inspection and drying, turned right back on. The orange light was coming from my monitor, and turns out, when I unplugged my GPU to inspect it, I forgot to plug it back in, so, after doing that, my issues were solved. No catches. I got lucky.

 

[DSzymborski]

Okay, so there was a few droplets on the GPU and one of the PCIe slots, but nothing else. After a thorough inspection and drying, turned right back on. The orange light was coming from my monitor, and turns out, when I unplugged my GPU to inspect it, I forgot to plug it back in, so, after doing that, my issues were solved. No catches. I got lucky.

Glad it had a happy ending!

 

[TechFailsz23]

Glad it had a happy ending!

I was right then replying to you, when you replied to me! I am happy to say that I am currently posting from the formerly broken PC. As for a bit more clarification regarding the incident, as soon as the water fell through the case's top vent, I sat in shock for a few seconds, before unplugging it from the PSU. I looked at it closely, dried any water, and after a bit of troubleshooting, reconnected the GPU and it started back up normally. The PSU never got wet, from my inspection. Like I said, the PC is back up and running safe and sound. But, about that part where you said, " a "500W" PSU doesn't exactly lend itself to the idea that this should be powering the build anyway. " Does that mean it doesn't have enough power for the build? I mean, it's been functioning fine since it was put together in Sept. 2020.

 

[DSzymborski]

I was right then replying to you, when you replied to me! I am happy to say that I am currently posting from the formerly broken PC. As for a bit more clarification regarding the incident, as soon as the water fell through the case's top vent, I sat in shock for a few seconds, before unplugging it from the PSU. I looked at it closely, dried any water, and after a bit of troubleshooting, reconnected the GPU and it started back up normally. The PSU never got wet, from my inspection. Like I said, the PC is back up and running safe and sound. But, about that part where you said, " a "500W" PSU doesn't exactly lend itself to the idea that this should be powering the build anyway. " Does that mean it doesn't have enough power for the build? I mean, it's been functioning fine since it was put together in Sept. 2020.

There are very few quality PSUs at precisely 500 watts. Most good budget ones are 450W or 550W.

 

[TechFailsz23]

There are very few quality PSUs at precisely 500 watts. Most good budget ones are 450W or 550W.

I used the EVGA BQ 500w, and it hasn't blown up on me yet!
I dare say it's a good PSU, but you have more knowledge in this topic.

 

[DSzymborski]

I used the EVGA BQ 500w, and it hasn't blown up on me yet!
I dare say it's a good PSU, but you have more knowledge in this topic.

Rather meh. A budget Andyson with mediocre capacitors and a poor warranty, but there are worse. It's usually a red flag when a specific PSU isn't mentioned!