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Liquid Cooling Ruined my ... ?

S

sanadin

n00b
Joined
Aug 25, 2008
Messages
5
Hi folks. Discovered a leak from my CPU block that was dripping down onto my video card one day when I couldn't get anything to display. I felt the card, it wasn't even warm (usually scalding hot). I shut down the rig and removed the card. I put in another video card and the rig booted up and displayed to my monitor normally.

I removed that backup card and saw liquid was the strip where it plugs into my PCI-E slot, then realized that the slot itself had got liquid in it as well. I carefully cleaned my backup video card and the PCI-E slot and then re-inserted my backup card.

Now nothing, didn't even turn on. There is also a high pitched whine even when NO video card is plugged into the PCI-E slot. I can't tell if the whine is coming from my PSU or Mobo. When I jiggle the the 24pin ATX connector the whine changes frequency and stops upon removal of the 24pin. Tried a different power supply that I know works and the computer would still not turn on, although there was no whine either.

Trying to figure out whether or not my motherboard is toast as well as my video card, right now it looks like yes. Wondering if anyone has any experience with this kind of issue, knows about this high-pitched whine I'm getting, or has any other ways to assess the extent of the damage. :confused: Thanks for any help guys.
 
once you discover water the best thing to do is remove the system from power completely, then let it completely dry out BEFORE you turn if on again. its fairly amazing that it worked with the backup video card once with water in the slot, so no surprised you killed ti on the next boot.

are you even sure all the ther components are dry? how long ago did this happen? also the high pitched whine with no video card plugged in could be just a warning error (IE, no video card plugged in)
 
Ah, interesting. This happened two days ago, so everything should be dry by today. It was only a few drops of liquid. The backup video card is still working as I am using it my backup rig right now. Motherboard isn't looking good though, eh? Should I try it again with my backup card today now that everything is probably dry? Will I run the risk of ruining my backup card?
 
sanadin said:
Ah, interesting. This happened two days ago, so everything should be dry by today. It was only a few drops of liquid. The backup video card is still working as I am using it my backup rig right now. Motherboard isn't looking good though, eh? Should I try it again with my backup card today now that everything is probably dry? Will I run the risk of ruining my backup card?
Click to expand...


Ok here is the thing, you can't try turning things back on when they are "probably dry". You need to be certain its "actually dry". Two drops should be gone by now though :p
 
Haha, good point. Though as you said it is really is most likely dry now. Unfortunately I also recieved this high pitch whine when the video card was plugged in.

Now another question, is there any risk of testing out my probably-busted original video card in my backup rig? I mean, is there any risk to the rest of my rig if I plug in that video card? That would really put me in a tough spot.
 
This post should really be, "I ruined my rig with liquid cooling because I was too cheap to buy a good set and too lazy to tighten the crappy untightenable nuts." :p
 
This is why I'm afraid to do liquid cooling. If one of those tubes leaks it can be one hell of a mess and might short out something.
 
then again a pipe in the wall could burst and kill your pc, or a power surge, a truck could come through the wall, a tree could fall on the house...
get things set up right (use clamps, don't have tubes torquing connectors etc), leak test it for a day and check the pc every week or so to make sure it's still fine. on top of that, be smart with the rig if it does get wet. dry it out, then turn it on. most of the catastophic failures you will hear about were from people forgetting to turn AC pumps on or unclamped tubes popping loose
 
sanadin said:
Now another question, is there any risk of testing out my probably-busted original video card in my backup rig? I mean, is there any risk to the rest of my rig if I plug in that video card? That would really put me in a tough spot.
Click to expand...

First of all, look for any type of burn or scorch marks on the possibly dead video card, especially around the contacts for the slot and anywhere near there. If there is nothing the chance of damaging another system is lessened. However, you still need to take some isopropyl alcohol, preferably at least 91% alcohol, and carefully clean the the contacts and anywhere else on the card which may have gotten wet. I'm sure you are using an additive in the water and that additive will leave a residue which more than likely will be conductive. Once you do that cleaning, I would test out the card in your backup system.

If you did not use alcohol to clean up everything in and around the PCI-e slot, there was probably still some residue there which may have fried the motherboard.

 
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