[SOLVED] Spilled water into my computer, fixed it and then it died after working fine for 5 minutes, now it "almost" starts?

[Wibbman]

Hi, i had my stationary gaming computer set up on the floor next to my table, my friend spilled an almost full (pretty large) glass of water right onto and inside the computer. (it has two fans on the top with a lot of holes so there is water everywhere..) When it happened the computer was turned off but the power was on (stationary mode) I quickly unplugged everything and used toilet paper to pick up the water on top and on the sides, and to dry all the cables that i pulled out. I then opened the computer and dried everything on the inside and outside with a fan until everything was dry, then i let it air dry for 1 day.

I Checked for any remaining moist or water but couldn't find any so i plugged everything in to test it. At first it didn't show any sign of life except for the lights when i turned the power on at the back of the computer. But i couldn't start it. After some time of trial and error with plugging it in and out it started though, and everything seemed to work perfect. so i logged on to windows and tried playing CS:GO for like 3-4 minutes to see if the performance was the same, it was, so i quit the game and get and youtube and after a minute or two it all dies again... Except for the power source and the light indicating the power is on.

And now to the problem in question.. When i try to start it now it looks like starting a car with a bad battery.. the fans turn on for half a second and the lights on the components blinks but its like there is not enough power to start it? I unplugged everything and held the powerbutton down for 10 seconds to remove any electricity and stuff like that but what else could be causing this malfunction? Because it worked perfectly after the water incident for like 5-6 minutes and after "dying" like that its been this way for 3 days.. what do i do?

Really appreciate any help here!
Thanks beforehand.

 

[DSzymborski]

Did you actually disassemble the various parts and dry them internally? If not, a day likely wasn't long enough.

At this point, all you can do is swap out parts to a known working build and test them one by one.

 

[Wibbman]

i did disassemble every part and let them and the computer air dry with a fan and open window in my room for like 6-7 hours after using the hairdryer and letting it sit over night. But the thing is it worked perfectly after all of that, so every part was functioning well until it just died? could this be because of remaining water or moist getting in contact with an active system or something?

 

[Vic 40]

And now to the problem in question.. When i try to start it now it looks like starting a car with a bad battery.. the fans turn on for half a second and the lights on the components blinks but its like there is not enough power to start it?

Sounds like a short and a psu protection kicking in. Can you test with another psu? Maybe from that friend ...

Could be anywhere so might have to see if all is really dry or that there are traces of dried water in the system, clean those with isopropyl alcohol.

 

[ajrettke]

Sounds like a short and a psu protection kicking in. Can you test with another psu? Maybe from that friend ...

Could be anywhere so might have to see if all is really dry or that there are traces of dried water in the system, clean those with isopropyl alcohol.

I concur Vic...my guess is your psu is at the bottom of the case and didn't fully dry out. Best option is to plugin a known working psu and see how it works. At a minimum give the psu a couple days to fully dry and also a reallt strong shot of compressed air as particles in the water may have transported to some spot and is causing a short and or instability.