Post liquid leak, unable to power on

[PCAardvark]

Hi all.
I'm trying to fix a computer for one of my friends. It is about 4 years old. We were playing a game the other day when he got a warning that his core temp was too high, so he shut the computer down. He had a self contained liquid cooling unit, similar to the Corsair H80i but a knockoff brand, not sure what kind. He took it to the geek squad, guy said he didn't want to try fixing it because he wasn't sure if it was a leak or something and it would take a long time to diagnose. Strange.

Anyways, he brought it to me, I unscrewed a tiny bit of the bracket holding on the heatsink, and sure enough it had a pretty extensive leak. I screwed it back on and the leak stopped immediately. Prepped the area with cotton balls, took the rad off, cut the pipes at the rad and drained the whole thing outside of the case - there was hardly any liquid left in it. My guess is there's been a slow leak for a while since he's been having performance issues for a while, the coolant was almost all gone, and it smelled rancid so clearly something got in there, bacteria or whatever. With my cotton-ball levy I pulled the pump off, very little actually leaked out, and I was able to soak it all up instantly into the cotton balls.

Slapped in a new cooler (actual H80i this time) for him aaaaaand.... nothing. Hit the power button, nothing happens. The mobo has power, because the board lights up - mobo power and reset buttons are illuminated, but even using those buttons I can't get anything to happen. I've disassembled the entire thing piece by piece, nothing. Is it possible the liquid hit something and has destroyed the board? Wouldn't a destroyed board give errors instead of just... nothing at all?

Just looking for some input. I'm hoping I can salvage this thing even if I have to clean it somehow, its like a 500 dollar mobo.

Thanks!

 

[Faux_Grey]

500 Dollar motherboard with 40 dollar knockoff water cooler. Derp.

Firstly, I'd disassemble and inspect everything to look for signs of water damage. If there is, I'd suggest cleaning the areas down with isopropyl alcohol. It could be a simple short.


I would suggest removing the CPU and/or RAM and try to boot the system.
Hopefully you get some beeps or error codes.
Usually get beeping with no RAM.

 

[PCAardvark]

I pulled the RAM before and still nothing. No fans spin, no beep codes, absolutely nothing. I'll pull the mobo from the case tomorrow and check it for water damage, and try it without the CPU in too. I'll post results here.

 

[need4speeds]

Try out your oven on it's lowest heat setting. (Not all ovens will go low enough)
If it's warm inside at least 100F but lower than 200F try a piece of plastic like a plastic spoon or hard plastic lid.

If the plastic doesn't melt or warp. Place the board in the oven.

PUT A SIGN ON THE OVEN STATING NOT TO ADJUST THE TEMP.

It will have to stay in the oven for at least 4 hours.

-Take it out and let it cool down.

Likely the water got between the board's layers. They are made out of thin fiberglass layers.

-PLEASE NOTE THIS IS RISKY AND SHOULD BE USED AS A LAST RESORT, THERE IS A CHANCE PLASTIC CAN PARTLY MELT AND WARP.

Clearing the CMOS might help, but this wipes out everything, you will have to set the date and time, ect. WINDOWS AND FLASH AND MANY PROGRAMS WON'T WORK PROPERLY WITHOUT THE RIGHT DATE AND TIME.

 

[PCAardvark]

Try out your oven on it's lowest heat setting. (Not all ovens will go low enough)
If it's warm inside at least 100F but lower than 200F try a piece of plastic like a plastic spoon or hard plastic lid.

If the plastic doesn't melt or warp. Place the board in the oven.

PUT A SIGN ON THE OVEN STATING NOT TO ADJUST THE TEMP.

It will have to stay in the oven for at least 4 hours.

-Take it out and let it cool down.

Likely the water got between the board's layers. They are made out of thin fiberglass layers.

-PLEASE NOTE THIS IS RISKY AND SHOULD BE USED AS A LAST RESORT, THERE IS A CHANCE PLASTIC CAN PARTLY MELT AND WARP.

Clearing the CMOS might help, but this wipes out everything, you will have to set the date and time, ect. WINDOWS AND FLASH AND MANY PROGRAMS WON'T WORK PROPERLY WITHOUT THE RIGHT DATE AND TIME.

Took it completely apart today, there's some spots where there are obvious water stains. Hoping it is the short and I can clean it up with some alcohol. I'll try the oven as an absolute last resort.