Post-water damage reboot loop

[dramamoose]

I managed to spill some liquid in my homebuilt machine. I would like to say I was able to cut power before any damage happened, but I apparently was not. After drying it out, the first thing that POST let me know was wrong was the graphics card. I replaced it with an older model I had around. Now, the computer will post and will occasionally even get to the windows startup screen. However, it won't get past there, and it fails at a random time; sometimes during memory enumeration, sometimes before then, and sometimes after, but it's never gotten to the Windows login screen. None of the LEDs power off or anything, so I'm not sure that it's a power supply failure. It's an older CPU socket so in order to replace either the motherboard and CPU they will have to go together. I unfortunately don't have access to any testing equipment.

What should I replace next? The power supply or should I bite the bullet and get a new mobo/CPU?

Update:
Unfortunately, I'm not sure where the liquid (which was alcohol plus a diet soda) went, and there's no integrated graphics, so without the card it's just beeping at me. I did some testing this morning after giving it more time to dry out; all the random reboots appear to have stopped, and Windows is stuck at classpnp.sys. It looks like this is probably a BIOS problem; I did clear the CMOS to be safe before when it wasn't working, so I think I may have to switch the SATA controller back to something that's friendly with my SSDs. Hopefully this will get me back to booting, and then I can make 100% sure the old graphics card is dead, and go about getting a new one if so.

 

[yatys93]

you need to find a way to test the PSU, coz if thats damaged and you buy a new mobo CPU combo, you will just fry them with teh damaged PSU, if there is any doubt replace all 3

 

[chaz_music]

What was spilled in the machine? If it was something sugary, you may be ok but will have to clean things. If it was something like a soft drink that has a low pH (or something with a high pH), it would be readily conductive. Gatorade is bad because it has salts in it that make it conductive.You can clean the board with water with if removed from the system (and obviously unpowered). It is best to use deionized water, but that is hard to find, so distilled water will work and lightly dried. But: you have to be careful about ESD!

Since you changed the GPU, you need to boot in safe mode (hit F8 before Windows starts) so it does not load the graphic driver for your old card. I would not run the PC unless I was sure it is completely dry. Blow a fan on it for at least a day **after** you are sure it is clean. The GPU problems could be errors around the PCIe slot and controller. Make sure the slot is clean and the traces around the connector and controller IC are clean.

The PSU is usually either good or bad. The things that liquids would hurt typically just have a hard failure (smoke, cap blowing, etc.). So I doubt that is a place to look. Focus on the main board.

 

[giantbucket]

first, where did the liquid go? are there traces of the now-dried-up liquid? was it anywhere near or in the CPU socket? near the ram sticks? if it's an AMD cpu then it's going to be a pain to clean it out, all those holes. if it's an intel it might be easier. but yeah, DI / Distilled water!!! you can usually find it in the auto shop since that's what's used for radiator refills (in addition to glycol). or at the drug store in large gallon jugs. maybe even grocery store.

does your CPU have built-in graphics? if so, don't bother plugging in a card. the less parts you have installed the faster it will be to isolate the part that is troublesome. even if you swapped cards, it might be the card's socket on the board that's iffy, so having it empty might cause the lanes to be ignored by the CPU and the problem might lessen.