Spilled (distilled) water into tower...

[Grimbones]

So yesterday, i was playing Xcom, and i was doing pretty well, when i reached for some water from my nalgene water bottle (a lot of water) and spilled it ....so as soon as that happened video stopped showing up in my monitor, so i turned off the computer (i think it was probably already off--dead or otherwise), and unplugged it....

So i went to sleep, woke up and tried drying off the components.....

Plugged it back in, and basically nothing happens when i boot up....like nothing at all, no lights on MOBO, nothing spins, the only signs of life in the entire computer was a faint orange light coming out of my GPU (radeon 5850) fan housing....


This is where i am now, taking apart my computer, i actually have a spare computer (my fathers old one) sitting around....

My question is, do you guys think the entire computer is ruined? From what i could tell some water dropped into the fan on top, and probably flung it around, but most of the water was in the bottom of the case, and some was on top of the GPU and the sound card, but i could not find much elsewhere...


So basically i have a non functional computer...do you guys think if i harvested the power supply from the old one, and plugged it in, if that maybe it would work, or would it possibly damage that other PSU?

Like...which components would be bad if the only light that came on was from the GPU? I was thinking PSU, maybe MOBO bad...maybe all bad....

I was looking forward to upgrading next year, and do not really want to do it right nowww...

I mean worst case scenario do you think i could put my hard drives into my dads old computer and go from there?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[denis280]

do you have onboard gpu on the bord.if yes you should try it.and make sure its all dry

 

[john3850]

My phones fell into very hot water a few times.
I put the wet phone on the forced hot air vent for a two days 2 out 3 worked again.
I use a hair dryer on medium to low to dry wet pc parts when needed.
I leaked pure distilled a few times without damage.

 

[Virgorising]

My phones fell into very hot water a few times.
I put the wet phone on the forced hot air vent for a two days 2 out 3 worked again.
I use a hair dryer on medium to low to dry wet pc parts when needed.
I leaked pure distilled a few times without damage.

Are U sayin it's the minerals and particulate matter in not distilled water which fry computers and not the water per se????

 

[john3850]

Been using water cooling or distilled water for 13 years and had many small spills without any damage so maybe I am lucky or maybe its the lack minerals.

 

[Virgorising]

Been using water cooling or distilled water for 13 years and had many small spills without any damage so maybe I am lucky or maybe its the lack minerals.

Interesting. Would be really good to know which!

 

[frozentundra123456]

I think even distilled water could cause damage if spilled into a computer that was turned on. Even distilled water probably has some minerals, and also has a small amount of conductivity. If you spilled distilled water into a computer that was off, and dried it thoroughly before turning it on, it probably would be OK. But spilled into a computer that is turned on, I am afraid it could cause damage, depending on how much and what components were exposed.

 

[Charlie98]

I would disassemble the entire computer and dry everything out for a few days. If possible, when you reassemble it, use a known good PSU and work up from just mobo/cpu/RAM, adding components as they prove to be operable.

Alternately, once the components are completely dry, swap them one-by-one into a known working computer....

 

[Ketchup]

Depends on the smell when the water entered the computer, and the look of the components in the case. Take it apart and take a close look at everything.

From your description, I think we can say 100% the power supply is gone. Where was it mounted in the case?

If you can post some pics inside the case, I think that would be helpful at this point.

 

[_Rick_]

Off topic, but I hope you weren't reaching for a drink of distilled water - but I fail to see another reason to grab for water while gaming

A good PSU should switch off in a non-destructive manner, when detecting overcurrent or short circuits, unless it's got water in its innards, by which point it's probably gone.

From where you are now, there's no other way than to test individual component by individual component in another machine. I would probably start with the GPU, then PSU, and if both of those are okay or broken, then likely the mainboard is gone (too). No way but the hard way.

 

[pcgeek11]

Pure distilled water doesn't conduct electricity.

You shouldn't drink distilled water. It is not good for you.

 

[Fardringle]

Pure distilled water doesn't conduct (much) electricity, but distilled water spilled on dusty computer components does because the dust mixes with the water and makes it conductive.

 

[Virgorising]

I think even distilled water could cause damage if spilled into a computer that was turned on. Even distilled water probably has some minerals, and also has a small amount of conductivity. If you spilled distilled water into a computer that was off, and dried it thoroughly before turning it on, it probably would be OK. But spilled into a computer that is turned on, I am afraid it could cause damage, depending on how much and what components were exposed.

Above is what I've always thought too.:|

 

[Virgorising]

Pure distilled water doesn't conduct electricity.

You shouldn't drink distilled water. It is not good for you.

True, dat!!!

 

[Virgorising]

Depends on the smell when the water entered the computer, and the look of the components in the case. Take it apart and take a close look at everything.

From your description, I think we can say 100% the power supply is gone. Where was it mounted in the case?

If you can post some pics inside the case, I think that would be helpful at this point.

Above would be my take as well.:|

 

[Grimbones]

I was fairly impatient, so i took the computer apart, and dried it out....put everything back together and tried putting in a known working PSU, and still there was nothing when i hit the power button...

So i am fairly certain i fried the MOBO at best....so i took out the hard drives and put them with the known working PSU into the functional computer, and it seems to be working fine.

I did not try transferring over the GPU, as i know it took a lot of water, also my PSU was mounted on the bottom, and also has a fan that faces the top, so it probably fried as well--though i am unsure.

At this point, it's a fairly old computer, and i have been in the market for a new one for awhile, so i am just going to putter along with my now 4890 GPU until i decide to finally upgrade...

A note--I transferred over the sound card--which also had a bit of water on it from the spill, and there is definitely something wrong with the audio, it is echo-y and garbled, so i know something bad happened to it....i'll probably take it out soon.

I am just happy my HDD's seemed to make it out unharmed, had some fairly important stuff on them.

Thanks anyway...not sure what i am going to do with my old one, may keep it and try it again in awhile to see if something miraculous happens...either that or i may just chuck it.

 

[Ketchup]

...So i am fairly certain i fried the MOBO at best....so i took out the hard drives and put them with the known working PSU into the functional computer, and it seems to be working fine.

...At this point, it's a fairly old computer, and i have been in the market for a new one for awhile, so i am just going to putter along with my now 4890 GPU until i decide to finally upgrade...

All things considered, that is a fairly good outcome. All your data is safe, it was an old computer anyway, and you've probably learned a thing or two.

A tip I will pass along, since your power supply mounts on the bottom in that case: I would mount with the fan on the bottom; it will cycle cooler air, which will help it's lifespan; it's won't pull air in the opposite direction of the other fans (most of them will be pulling up and out the back); and it might just survive another water spill.

 

[ratjacket]

slightly off topic distilled water is often still not that pure and can conduct electricty

it needs to be deionised after distillation and even then can have a conducitivty as high/low as 10-15 uS/cm, typical tap water is about 100 uS/cm. Hard ground waters can be 300-500 uS/cm or higher

RO water can also be quite pure

on the down side if you use these waters in you cooling loops you need to add corison inhibitors because very pure water is quite agressive, and would like to redissolve some minerals

Regular tap / Hard water is particularly bad for cooling apllications as Mg/Ca carbonate has retrograde solubilty i.e. is less soluable in hot water

so when it passes a nice hot heat exchanger carbonate that was once soluable at the lower temp is now insoluable at the higher temp and forms a nice rad block insulating concreation

Silica is even more troublesome (and is the first mineral to slip past a DI or RO system when it is failing) to remove (only slowly dissolves in caustic) as it is particulary hard and adhesive (has a crystall structure similar to diamond)