Water Cooler Leaked on Motherboard-Now PC Won't Run

[mynameisjake]

I built a PC in summer of 2012. Of course, my water cooler leaked and is now all over the motherboard. It has been having problems for 2 week now and it won't even start now. Help?

 

[Steltek]

Unfortunately, liquids and electronics don't mix. You may be looking at a new motherboard and/or CPU.

What model water cooler do you have? Depending upon the manufacturer and warranty, it may be something you want to take up with them.

 

[denis280]

Depending upon the manufacturer and warranty, it may be something you want to take up with them.

+1

 

[mindless1]

Too take to tell you now, but when you introduce potential hazards like water cooling you really must stop and check on problems when they first surface.

A few times in the past I have briefly mentioned a problem with modern computer components where there is flux reside remaining and it creates conductive shorts. These may have occurred and permanently damaged the board, or you may be able to rinse (might need gentle scrubbing with a toothbrush and detergent solution) the board off to remove conductive residue.

If you attempt this, take out the battery, remove fan(s), ideally any heatsinks particularly if the heatpipe linked type that cover so much of the board (if you have spare thermal paste or they use a thermal pad type that is reusable (silicone rather than gummy or metallic film type), and be sure to ground yourself with an anti-static wrist strap if there is even the tiniest bit of static electricity as is so often the case in winter unless your ambient humidity levels are high.

Another option is to just disconnect the PSU from AC at the wall or rear power switch, wait a few seconds, connect to AC again and see if it POSTs. This is the lower effort approach and risks further damage but the next thing to try if you don't feel like trying to clean the board off and dry it thoroughly. If the next power on POST attempt doesn't work, remove battery with AC off, clear CMOS, and try again.

 

[mynameisjake]

Still not running, only the HDD works because it is in the other side of the leak. One RAM Stick died, and the whole motherboard including the CPU and PSU are all soaked. I am never going with liquid cooling again .

 

[Steltek]

You still haven't answered the question - what make/model of water cooler do you have? If it is Corsair and it is still under warranty, I've heard they are supposedly better at taking care of this type of thing. Others, not so much.

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

not trying to be an a** here.

When you setup the watercooling did you use a non conductive cooling liquid? or is this a closed loop system?

 

[mynameisjake]

It is the corsair H80.

 

[THRiLL KiLL]

as long as the cables didnt get pinched, corsair should warranty everything

 

[Ketchup]

Keep us posted OP. Would be great if this story has a happy ending.

 

[mynameisjake]

I hope it does...I hate using websites from my iphone. It won't start now, nor has it for 2 days.

 

[Virgorising]

I hope it does...I hate using websites from my iphone. It won't start now, nor has it for 2 days.

I hope as well, am sure we all do!

But also reminds me, given stuff happens, why I could not be at peace without 3 computers in my house at any given time: go to desktop, backup desktop and lappy.

You are not the only human to suffer this or something related! Bet we all have in some way!

Whatever might be involved, you will get it done.:thumbsup: