Water damaged computer won't turn on

[Tppc]

First of all, I would like to say this; yes, I am a complete idiot for having water near my desktop and for being so careless as to knock it over onto the computer.

My computer recently suffered a 3/4 glass of drinking water being toppled over and landing onto it, spreading a decent amount of water all over the inside through the fan holes on the top of the case. I quickly rushed to turn off the PC and remove as much of the water as possible using a towel (which I understand now was a mistake) and removed the gpu and ram to let the system and components dry. It's not quite cold enough here in Texas to use the heater to speed the process, but my solution was in my room, under a ceiling fan and next to a standing fan. It has undergone about 1 1/2 days of drying as of right now, and in an attempt to see how well it responded, I put it back together and was greeted with half a second of spinning fans and LEDs before the system immediately turned itself off again. It now sits with the gpu, ram and psu outside of the system, drying under similar circumstances.

A few questions:
1. Given the errors faced on startup, starting into an immediate shut down, can you identify what parts may be broken and need replacement?
2. What edits should I make to the drying process to reduce the chance of damage and for how much longer?
3. Is all hope gone to this system working as is without replacement?

Thank you in advance to anyone who can answer these questions for me. I will list system specs below.


FX-6300 with stock cooler
MSI R7 265 OC edition
1 TB Seagate 7200 rpm drive
Corsair CX430 power supply
Asus M5A97 R2.0 motherboard
2x4 Gb 1866 Crucial ballistic memory

 

[Mrcrazed]

Afraid not. water is like the cyanide of computers. do you know what components got wet? the only thing in the pc that I can think of that could survive being wet is the cpu.

 

[Tppc]

Thankfully, I'm almost certain that more of the water went past the computer than in it, however enough got in to potentially damage things. Most of the water was closer to the bottom (PSU), but it was spread out pretty well, some on the gpu, CPU cooler, ram and motherboard. I'm believe most was on the motherboard in terms of components since it is of course the largest.

 

[Mrcrazed]

Well, the only thing i can tell you to do it keep trying to get it working again, let the parts dry out for another day or two and try again.

 

[Captainawzome]

Parts usually have warranty's of 1-10 years. Try to RMA the parts that no longer work through the place you bought them at.

 

[Tppc]

I plan on testing the components again tomorrow night, so about 3 1/2 days of drying at that point. These parts are less than 2 months old, so they should all still have their warrenty, but I'm also aware that most of them do not support water damaged components as part of the warrenty. I guess if any components need to be replaced I will start by trying to RMA them. I'll get back to you all tomorrow night.

 

[Barty1884]

Hopefully a little bit longer drying out will help.

Realistically, the PSU & motherboard are the most susceptible if we really are talking a small amount of water that made it into the rig. Moreso with the potential static when using a towel to dry it out.

I would suspect your GPU, RAM & CPU will be fine, but you may have to replace the motherboard & PSU.
For the water damage, I would think PSU would be the most likely, but with using a towel, the damage may be done to the motherboard.

Hopefully the warranty of these items cover either water damage / static discharge (as both are possible).
Do you have another computer? Or a friend that'll let you open theirs up?
You can test the GPU/RAM (maybe the CPU if it's compatible) so you know whether they're still working or not.

 

[Xuebao61]

If it did mostly pool around the PSU, that is most likely gone. Of course, let the other parts dry out and test them in hope that they still function. You could stick the components in bowls of rice after an initial drying, since rice will absorb the water from the components. Just to be more thorough.

 

[Tppc]

I have multiple friends to borrow from, so that is probably possible to test what is broken. I say most was near the bottom, but there wasn't enough for any of it to "pool" near the bottom, granted I could see exactly how much for into the PSU. I would assume it works at least somewhat because of the power coming through for the small time that it did before the computer shut itself off. I dont trust myself to remove all of the rice if I used that to dry the water quicker, otherwise I would be more than willing. Thanks for all your responses!

 

[Barty1884]

The short while the PSU turned out was likely all it needed for any water that got inside to damage it.

Water hitting any of your components isn't really too much of an issue while the rig is turned off. The minute you send electricity through it is where the issue arises.

Any water that got inside the PSU itself would be more difficult to dry out. When you turned the rig on, it was likely still wet/damp inside. Electricity+moisture is a bad mix.

My gut feel is the PSU should be all that's damaged (at least by the water). The towel drying on a motherboard may give you additional issues.

I would grab a PSU from a friend initially & try it out in your rig. If all is good, then you just need a new PSU. If there are problems, then I would test individual components in a friends rig (GPU/RAM etc). If all is good with those, a new motherboard is likely in order too.

 

[Tppc]

Update. I tested the system again on Friday, adding one component at a time to see if anything was broken. The system turned on fine most times, with the exception of when I added the graphics card. This to me would indicate that there is a short occurring on the gpu, and that, if anything, is the damaged component. Without the gpu, the system seemingly starts fine, and plays a motherboard beep code of 1 long-3 short-1 long. I believe this is an indication that the gpu is missing and I don't believe it is notifying me of another problem (fingers crossed). I used a toothbrush covered with a small amount of isopropyl alcohol and applied that to any spots the gpu seemed to have water remaining. Waiting until later today to test again.

 

[Tppc]

Tested the system again, and got the same result. PC will not turn on with the gpu installed. I had an RMA in the works with MSI for a previous issue I had with the card, and plan to send in the card with a note detailing the current status. Does anyone know if MSI's warranty for their gpus covers water damage? I read through the website and couldnt determine that based on what I read, maybe I just missed it.

 

[BrandX]

(edit - misread post)

There's no way a warranty will cover water damage, a warranty will only cover failure due to defect. Unless the fault you reported before has been acknowledged, you're not going to get a replacement on the graphics card. Check that the PCI-e slot is working with another graphics card.

 

[Tppc]

In that case, while I test the system to make sure everything else works, should I do what I said before and send it through the same RMA notice I got, or just make a new support ticket to them? If I make a new support ticket, what is the best way to describe the issue without detailing water damage?

 

[BrandX]

If the original problem you had with the graphics card was a significant fault then you could just return the card and keep your mouth shut about the water damage. But TBH you don't have a leg to stand on if they test the card and notice that there is water damage.

If you are honest and tell them that water damage occurred after the original fault then they might still send you a replacement graphics card if the original fault was considered unrepairable, but they could reasonably argue that if there was a significant fault with the card you should have stopped using it and sent it back at an earlier date instead of continuing to use it.

I don't know, if it were me I might tell them that I had taken the card out because it had become unreliable and it accidentally got wet during storage.