Water spilled in PC - your thoughts?
in [Home Built PC]
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From: Toolpackinmama on 10 Jan 2010 04:17 On 1/10/2010 2:52 AM, shegeek72 wrote: > On Jan 9, 10:54 pm, Toolpackinmama<philnbl...(a)comcast.net> wrote: > > Nevertheless, I reserve the right to not take your advice, no > matter how >> right or well-meant. > > Good thinking. > > My advice is:<g> If it's still freezing shut it down and let it > thoroughly dry out. Disassemble it as much as possible (like I said), > remove the RAM, pull out all the cards and disconnect everything. Blow > with a blow dryer and let it sit overnight. > OK thank you.
From: Dave C. on 9 Jan 2010 18:34 On Sat, 9 Jan 2010 20:10:32 -0800 (PST) philnblanc(a)comcast.net wrote: > Toolpackinmama here, > > My friends, never mind why I didn't know better than to perch the > Captain Kirk water globe I got for Xmas on top of my computer. It was > a narrow cylindrical water-filled teleporter that lit up n stuff, and > I just wanted to look at it a lot, OK? > > I bumped my desk too hard when I clumsily stood up tonight, and the > thing tipped over and shattered. That alone was tragedy enough, but > the water within ran into the fan opening in the top of my PC. Oy, > we're talking sizzling sound, sudden shut-down, broken glass, and > water on and in the PC. > > I had the wits to unplug the PC and everything attached. I knew > enough to carefully open the case and tenderly blot out all the > visible water with a paper towel. Well, it probably didn't do any damage to try that. In general, you don't want to touch the circuit cards (mainboard, video card, underside of hard drive, etc.) with anything. (not even a paper towel) But if they're wet, you don't have a lot to lose at that point. Just note that a paper towel alone won't remove enough moisture quick enough, in this situation. But it's a good start. > > My husband who is A+ certified and a big know-it-all plugged it back > in at that point and got it to boot. I was ecstatic. If he's A+ certified, he should have known better. Then again, you can get your A+ with very little electronics knowledge, so I guess it's possible he really didn't know better... > Two minutes later it bluescreened, refused to reboot, and now I have > it unplugged, opened up, and drying out. I think it could have been saved before someone A+ certified did something he knew he shouldn't have done. I just hope nothing ELSE got damaged when your hubby fired it up too soon. > > Please give me any thoughts you have about how to save my PC. It depends on where the water went. The proper approach (shot to HELL now, but...) would have been to immediately unplug the computer from the wall, open it up, visually inspect to find out where the water went. If any water ended up on exposed circuit cards.... At that point, you'd have to disassemble everything and thoroughly dry it out with a hair dryer on low heat (that could take a while, so be patient and thorough). By disassemble everything, I mean break it down to a collection of 14 or 15 parts next to an empty case, like you just got a big package from newegg or something. The reason you'd need to break it down like that is to make sure that there is no water in places that you can't see, like in the expansion slots in particular. Or in the CPU socket or RAM slots. And getting all the parts dry wouldn't be enough to bring this particular system back to life, I'm afraid. You mention sizzling and sudden shut-down. That tells me that, most likely, some water got into your power supply. If so, that means you need a new power supply. If water is in the power supply, that is one area that you can't dry out. DO NOT disassemble the power supply to try to dry it out. There can be lethal voltage inside, long after the power supply is unplugged. It's not worth risking your life, when most likely the power supply is permanently damaged anyway. Even if the power supply works now, if there's water in there (that you can not get out), corrosion is going to kill it. I wish I could be more optimistic about this system. Based on your description of what happened, it's most likely that your power supply is permanently damaged. The best-case scenario is that ONLY the power supply is damaged. If you can get everything else thoroughly dry before you try to use it again, maybe a new power supply will bring this system back to life. But depending on how long the system was running wet, it's possible that other components (like the mainboard and video card, for example) might have been damaged before the system shut itself down the FIRST time. The blue screen and refusing to reboot is not a good sign, but those symptoms could be caused by a damaged power supply. I think the best approach at this point... Order a new power supply that is a good name brand and over-sized for your current system. I'm thinking about something like a BFG ES-800 or a Corsair TruePower New 750W or better. After drying everything with a hair dryer and letting it sit (while waiting for the new power supply to arrive), install the new power supply and see if that brings the system back to life. If a new power supply doesn't work, you are probably looking at a total rebuild from scratch. That's why I suggested a power supply that is overkill. If you get a high quality over-sized power supply and that doesn't work, you've got a good power supply to use for your next system, regardless of what you want to build. Good luck, -Dave
From: Man-wai Chang to The Door (24000bps) on 10 Jan 2010 07:55 > My husband who is A+ certified and a big know-it-all plugged it back > in at that point and got it to boot. I was ecstatic. > Two minutes later it bluescreened, refused to reboot, and now I have > it unplugged, opened up, and drying out. Dry the whole thing *completely* first!! Use a hair dryer to heat it up a bit if you could not wait. -- @~@ Might, Courage, Vision, SINCERITY. / v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and Farce be with you! /( _ )\ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.32.3 ^ ^ 20:54:01 up 1 day 6:07 1 user load average: 1.25 1.11 1.03 不借貸! 不詐騙! 不援交! 不打交! 不打劫! 不自殺! 請考慮綜援 (CSSA): http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa
From: Mike Tomlinson on 10 Jan 2010 08:33 In article <65511d2e-47d1-44e5-8e08-dbb63c95a642(a)u37g2000vbc.googlegroup s.com>, philnblanc(a)comcast.net writes >Please give me any thoughts you have about how to save my PC. Turning it on while wet was /the/ big mistake, I'm afraid. Tell your other half to send his A+ certificate back with a letter saying he's too stupid to have it. >The thought occurred to me to disassemble it and dry it more >carefully, but I also thought that moisture might creep in to places >it didn't go yet if I took it apart right now. No. Strip it down, give parts a shake to expel any water in slots, under chips, etc. and leave the parts out to dry in a warm place (airing cupboard for those of us Brits that still have them :o) for a couple days, longer if poss. If the power supply was under the top fan that took the brunt of the water, I recommend you replace it before trying again. It'll just go bang if you try, possibly doing more damage. When you come to reassemble, start with the bare minimum - board, memory, video card. Power it up on an insulating surface (the box that the board came in is ideal) and work from there. -- (\__/) (='.'=) Bunny says Windows 7 is Vi$ta reloaded. (")_(") http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/windows_7.png
From: do_not_spam_me on 10 Jan 2010 11:17
philnbl...(a)comcast.net wrote: > I bumped my desk too hard when I clumsily stood up tonight, and the > thing tipped over and shattered. That alone was tragedy enough, but > the water within ran into the fan opening in the top of my PC. Oy, > we're talking sizzling sound, sudden shut-down, broken glass, and > water on and in the PC. > > I had the wits to unplug the PC and everything attached. I knew > enough to carefully open the case and tenderly blot out all the > visible water with a paper towel. > > My husband who is A+ certified and a big know-it-all plugged it back > in at that point and got it to boot. I was ecstatic. > > Two minutes later it bluescreened, refused to reboot, and now I have > it unplugged, opened up, and drying out. > > Please give me any thoughts you have about how to save my PC. Frankly A+ certification is not a reliable indication of anyone's qualifications for doing hardware repairs. CET or a First Class FCC license are much better certifications for that. I'm glad everything is normal again, but the next time that happens, let the computer dry in a warm room for at least 24 hours. That's typically enough, but I would prefer to then blow off the dust (no vacuuming or brushing - can cause static damage), and liberally spray everything but the mechanical parts (disk drives, fans) with plastics- safe electronic parts cleaner (will be labeled as such, but check ingredients anyway - should be mostly isopropyl or ethyl alcohol) or isopropyl alcohol of at least 90% purity. Do not let the hard disks get wet since they are not sealed but have a weep hole to allow air pressure equalization. Let that dry at least 12 hours (alcohol evaporates faster than water). Even spraying distilled water can help, but parts cleaner or 90% purity alcohol are much preferred. Never use mineral spirits, WD-40, or anything that leaves an oily film. I avoid methyl alcohol since it's so poisonous. |