Question Water Damage

[Ronin625]

Hey,

So my incompetent brother placed a glass of water next to my PC tower and my cat knocked it over, with some water spilling into it.

I unplugged it and immediately and dried it off completely, however when I try to turn it, everything seems to boot up normally except there is no display output and the CPU fan spins initially but stops after couple seconds. The RAM, motherboard, GPU and everything really seems to light up and work…? What would be the easiest way to tell what’s dead and what isn’t? My initial guess is the CPU or motherboard’s gone but could the components that light up and seem normal be ‘dead’ as well?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

[Math Geek]

sadly you have to test each part in a different system to know if it is working or not.

you may not have that option, but really the only way to know for sure is to try everything out separately in a different system.

 

[Ronin625]

sadly you have to test each part in a different system to know if it is working or not.

you may not have that option, but really the only way to know for sure is to try everything out separately in a different system.

I see thank you.

Also just a question, is it safe to test possible water damaged components on a working system?

 

[Math Geek]

I piece at a time watching close to be sure it posts and it'll be ok. Not saying it's 100% impossible but in my experience I've never had an issue testing parts.

It works or the system won't boot for the most part. Memtest for ram, a quick stress test on CPU and GPU usually is enough to declare things good to go

 

[punkncat]

I see thank you.

Also just a question, is it safe to test possible water damaged components on a working system?

To be completely honest, no. Damaged parts can damage good parts during testing. It really depends on what the damage is.

 

[Paperdoc]

The "tricky part" background here is that some water still is in your system in small places that you were not able to dry out. Some of that will "cure" itself simply by evaporating slowly. But there is some possibility that, while the water remains as liquid in some spots, it may promote oxidation to foul up contact points and create poor connections. If you carefully remove components one at a time, drying and wiping clean any contacts along the way, you may remove all those remaining bits of water so it works when re-assembled. IF you have the ability to temporarily install each component you have removed in a second system just to test whether it works, so much the better.

 

[Ronin625]

The "tricky part" background here is that some water still is in your system in small places that you were not able to dry out. Some of that will "cure" itself simply by evaporating slowly. But there is some possibility that, while the water remains as liquid in some spots, it may promote oxidation to foul up contact points and create poor connections. If you carefully remove components one at a time, drying and wiping clean any contacts along the way, you may remove all those remaining bits of water so it works when re-assembled. IF you have the ability to temporarily install each component you have removed in a second system just to test whether it works, so much the better.

I see, thank you.

Whilst removing my CPU I realised something weird, I think this is just some thermal paste, but I’m not sure how it would’ve even gotten there, could this be a burn?

CPU

EDIT: Just realised my GPU also has some mark on its PCIE connector

GPU

 

[Paperdoc]

That stain among the pins of your CPU MAY be a deposit of dissolved minerals from the water. If so, it might be an electrical conduction path to interfere with the signals, so try to clean off what you can. I suggest a semi-stiff brush, like a toothbrush, used DRY. Brush between the pins and a lot of it should get brushed off. If you think something more needs doing, you CAN use a bit of clean water or rubbing alcohol with a tiny wiper of some kind to try to wipe it off wet. Then just make SURE you let it dry completely before re-installing. The chip base is sealed, so the water you use will not penetrate into the chip case, but you don't want any left on the outside.

I don't see clearly what you mean on the graphics card contacts, but maybe. Anyway, a good cleaner for a strip of contacts like that is a clean plain pink pencil eraser. Use is just like you are trying to erase some pencil marks on the metal contacts. It is mildly abrasive enough to remove small surface deposits, but not so abrasive that it might harm the metal.

 

[Ronin625]

That stain among the pins of your CPU MAY be a deposit of dissolved minerals from the water. If so, it might be an electrical conduction path to interfere with the signals, so try to clean off what you can. I suggest a semi-stiff brush, like a toothbrush, used DRY. Brush between the pins and a lot of it should get brushed off. If you think something more needs doing, you CAN use a bit of clean water or rubbing alcohol with a tiny wiper of some kind to try to wipe it off wet. Then just make SURE you let it dry completely before re-installing. The chip base is sealed, so the water you use will not penetrate into the chip case, but you don't want any left on the outside.

I don't see clearly what you mean on the graphics card contacts, but maybe. Anyway, a good cleaner for a strip of contacts like that is a clean plain pink pencil eraser. Use is just like you are trying to erase some pencil marks on the metal contacts. It is mildly abrasive enough to remove small surface deposits, but not so abrasive that it might harm the metal.

Thank you so much! I just saved a lot of money

After cleaning the CPU with a toothbrush, the system posted and booted into Windows.

There is some memory or CPU problem, Windows seems unstable and freezes/lags a lot. I'm still not sure if it's the RAM or CPU though, I tested all the sticks in all different combinations and it's all the same. Turning off OC for the RAM seemed to have stopped the freezing and lagging though, so I'm sitting at 2133 MHz for now. I'll run some tests and see what has to be replaced, but thank you so much man.

 

[Paperdoc]

You're welcome. You might try almost the same thing for your RAM. Shut down and disconnect from the wall. Remove all the RAM sticks, noting which was in which slot so you can return them.

1. Use the ERASER idea to "scrub" the metal contacts along the circuit board edge of each RAM module - both sides. When done, carefully brush each set to ensure no eraser loose debris remains on the contacts.

2. Use the toothbrush idea on the RAM SLOTS on the mobo. There might be debris or oxidation on the metal contacts in those slot sockets, and this may help. They are really hard to reach into with any other tool.

Replace the RAM modules when done and see if it made any difference.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I once talked to a tech who was from Hawaii. Go to Walmart, or a jewelry store, any place that sells cleaner for rings/jewelry and get gold cleaner and use that on it.

The reason he told me about that was that in Hawaii they are surrounded by oceans and people would bring their pc in with different issues. With all the salt water, some of the salt content would get into connections and so cleaning the contacts off with that cleaner apparently helped.

 

[Paperdoc]

Yes, that's an idea. A Gold "cleaner" is a paste of VERY fine abrasive particles that will help you "scrub" dirt and oxides off a metal surface without damaging them. After using that you MUST then clean off any dried residue of the cleaner. The "eraser" technique I mentioned above is similar except that it is dry, and may be easier for a person to find.