Wife spilled water into computer. Can't figure out what's wrong.

[UglyCasanova]

Yeah. So my wife had spilled some water through the top fan on my case. Not much, but enough that it "smelled like something was burning" and now doesn't work. This was a few weeks ago and I haven't messed with it until now.

I looked inside the case to see if I could see any splash damage. It looks like some got on the video card and the power supply (I can tell from the clean splotches in the dust). I took the ps out and did the paper clip test and he fan didn't spin up, o I figured it was the power supply. Ordered a new one which arrived today. I plugged it up and my computer is still dead as can be. No fans spinning, nothing beeping or lighting up.

I did the paper clp test on this one just to see if my new ps was doa, but the fan spinned up. I unplugged everything but the mobo, CPU, and the power switch. Nothing. Removed video card. Nothing. Tried each memory stick one at a time. Nothing.

Did I fry my motherboard or CPU? I can't think of anything else to do, and I don't really want to order new ones.

 

[Ketchup]

Sounds like the mobo is fried, and depending on what traces it hit, the cpu as well. How old a build are we talking?

Video card is probably dead too.

Fans throw water everywhere.

And I really am sorry for your loss, and will apologize ahead of time, but I found the title wording quite humorous.

There's a guy in the forum who is trying to fix a spill in his laptop. He isn't having much luck either. But good for you for blaming the woman! I just hope she doesn't have your login.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Damn. It's about a 2 year old build.

i5 2500k
Gigabyte z68 mobo
GTX 560 ti


Soooo, if I am looking for a new MB and CPU, should I go with a Haswell or will an Ivy Bridge be just as good and cheaper? I play some games, but not a lot.

The power supply I ordered is a Corsair CX750. I looked on their site and it says 100% Haswell compatible.

 

[Ketchup]

Well, at least this way you can throw stuff on eBay with a "may be damaged" label, if you are into that sort of thing.

And the 600 and 700 nVidia cards should be a nice upgrade, but the Intel graphics on a Haswell may be all you need.

Haswell is a tough one. Not much better than Ivy right now, and it runs hotter, but does have the better graphics, as I mentioned. Also if you feel like you would want to upgrade just the CPU in the future, you would want the Haswell. If you are getting a dedicated card, I personally don't see the need for Haswell. I bought the rig on my sig just after Ivy came out, and only paid about half the price the motherboard was at when it was first released (still was brand new).

On the plus side, at least it's not your fault (that would bug me for a long time), and your hard drives and RAM may be fine.

 

[UglyCasanova]

I don't suppose the issue could somehow be with the power button on my case not working right? Antec 300. I have the power switch on the motherboard correct. Hmm.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Ok I'm about to order a new mb and CPU, but before I do I want to make extra super certain that is the problem. If I hit the power button, the power switch is inserted correctly, and everything is plugger up, should the ps supply at least try to turn on even if the mb is dead? A fan spin or something? Could the CPU still be ok and I just need a new mb?

 

[Saylick]

If I were in your position, assuming I'm not in a rush, I'd change one variable at a time until I can deduce which parts are in need of replacement.

From what you've stated, we can safely rule the PSU out as you've replaced it with a new one. The MB and CPU act as one so it will be harder to tell if one or both are broken.

Why not just order only the motherboard OR CPU for now, plug in your old CPU or motherboard, respectively, and see if it fires up. If it doesn't, chances are it's the other part unless you have really bad luck and need to RMA. This way, you don't have to shell out money for both on the chance that only 1 is borked.

 

[Torn Mind]

Get a new case. One that doesn't have an open top.

 

[Torn Mind]

Ok I'm about to order a new mb and CPU, but before I do I want to make extra super certain that is the problem. If I hit the power button, the power switch is inserted correctly, and everything is plugger up, should the ps supply at least try to turn on even if the mb is dead? A fan spin or something? Could the CPU still be ok and I just need a new mb?

You can remove the two headers responsible for telling the system to power on and short those two pins to eliminate the switch as a potential problem.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Get a new case. One that doesn't have an open top.

Antec 300, I love the case. I may just order a new motherboard for the 2500k and see if that does the trick. I want to future proof this thing for as long as possible since I don't really do upgrades much. How far along have we come since the i5 2500? Are the new Haswell processors worth me just biting the bullet and doing an upgrade on it?

 

[Torn Mind]

Antec 300, I love the case. I may just order a new motherboard for the 2500k and see if that does the trick. I want to future proof this thing for as long as possible since I don't really do upgrades much. How far along have we come since the i5 2500? Are the new Haswell processors worth me just biting the bullet and doing an upgrade on it?

Well then, just find a way to seal up that particular opening then. Or stop consuming liquid products near the computer.


The i5-4670K/4670 is approximately 20% or about 1.25 times faster than the i5-2500. Of course, if we're talking about web browsing, that 20% is being applied to microseconds, so it might save you practically no time. But in other tasks that are more demanding, you might notice it, although it is not a major boost like going from Core 2 Duo to i5-4670.
http://anandtech.com/bench/product/837?vs=288

You do get the benefit of a new platform though. Support for 6 SATA 6.0 Gbp/s ports, and native support for 6 USB 3.0 ports.

I really don't see the case for an Ivy Bridge system now. The prices for Haswell components has fallen from their release day prices and Ivy has less of a IPC upgrade over a Sandy Bridge CPU than Haswell.

Also, Haswell natively supports 1600 Mhz RAM, so you don't have to use an XMP profile to tap into that RAM.

 

[oynaz]

It might be worth checking if your insurance covers stuff like this. Mine does.

 

[John Connor]

I would buy a replacement MB on eBay and if that doesn't work a replacement CPU on eBay.

 

[denis280]

Fans throw water everywhere.

as mention by Ketchup.those little drops go all over.causing short circuit.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

CPUs are tough lil' buggers. I'd be surprised to hear that the i5 is completely fried. I would try just a new motherboard first. And if that's, indeed, the case (sic!), it won't hurt anything...

 

[frozentundra123456]

CPUs are tough lil' buggers. I'd be surprised to hear that the i5 is completely fried. I would try just a new motherboard first. And if that's, indeed, the case (sic!), it won't hurt anything...

This makes sense to me. Really nothing to lose compared to buying CPU and mb, except of course you could not get haswell, and a bit of time lost if you have to order the CPU separately.

 

[Sohaltang]

My wife recently did same thing with saltwater (aquarium). Fried extrem4 MB and 3770K. The rest of the stuff was fine and went into new build.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Can we have a follow-up on this, OP?
I'm really curious as to what happened next and what you ended up replacing.

 

[Virgorising]

Get a new case. One that doesn't have an open top.

:biggrin: