URGENT Need help with a flooded Tower

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by Aioras, Dec 4, 2016.

  1. thatguy91

    thatguy91 Guest

    Acetone has various uses, such as being a paint stripper, nail polish remover for the ladies (and the lad-ies for those that are so inclined), and is also a strong solvent for thinks petroleum based. It also attacks anything that is made of rubber etc. Using that on any part of the computer would likely end in disaster.

    Maybe the videos are made by the same people who showed you how to charge an iPhone 6 in the microwave :3eyes:
     
  2. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

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    Just to be clear: my vote goes against the use of Acetone :)
     
  3. thatguy91

    thatguy91 Guest

    Likewise with me, although a microwave is a good place for an iPhone.
     
  4. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

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    FYI, only use 91%+ preferably 99.9% isopropyl alcohol.

    White residue is from impurities in the alcohol(99.9% has none)

    Use a electronic bristle brush to scrub clean.
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00880B9TA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    Your face is a good place for a microwave.

    :infinity:

    but seriously, good post, has a lot to do with the OP's topic.
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2016

  5. mbk1969

    mbk1969 Ancient Guru

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    I would not be surprised if gurus with delicate nervous system would have nightmares after seeing those shocking pictures.
    I just imagined what would I feel finding my PC in such state and the ground crumbled under my feet...
     
  6. Aioras

    Aioras Guest

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    The reward will be better then. I'm definetly bringing back to life all but the PSU (I'm not that confident)
    Post mobo job pics later
     
  7. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

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    You have a very good chance of bringing everything back. Will be following this thread. Good luck! You're doing a great job already.

    I'd just like to say a few things.

    De-ionized water is non-corrosive and non-conductive until it gets in contact with something else, then it picks up dust and particles and becomes conductive again. However, de-ionized / distilled water would be great for cleaning since they're inexpensive for large quantities. De-ionized is a step further that is unneeded - de-ionized water takes ions from metals so it ends up being corrosive. For cleaning, the duration spent with water is negligible, so it's fine to use.

    You wouldn't, however, want water in places where it ruins upon entry. That is, hard drives and places where water cannot be taken out / it would be damaging to get water out. With electronics such as motherboards, processors, RAM, graphics cards, SSDs, which are non-mechanical, it's totally fine to wash them with water then clean them out with something safer such as alcohol, as the water will not remain after cleaning then the alcohol removes any sediments and residues from the water (only applies if you're using tap water).

    You don't have to struggle to clean every single thing with alcohol when distilled water works for the first step of the cleaning procedure. I would be careful about getting water into a hard drive, so I'd be careful.

    If you've already taken care of that first step, then you have nothing to worry about.

    About the PSU: if the PC has been unplugged for quite some time, the PSU's capacitors are probably fully discharged and there is no internal electrical damage resulting from the PSU being flooded with (muddy) water. However, the PSU is the part you'd have to be most careful in booting up after a cleaning, since any water residue could damage more than just the PSU. Testing it in an isolated fashion by shorting pin 14 (green) and pin 15 (black, ground) is a great idea, as others have suggested.
     
  8. gsc

    gsc Member

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    ...and dont forget the fans - EVERY FAN in there - replace it

    You do not wanna spend a week cleaning up everything all nice and good - turn it on - salivating that it works again only to die on you 15mins in because one or more fans have stopped due to either:

    Bearings running dry due to lubricants having been dissolved / washed away by alcohol cleaning

    Bearings still having impurities in them from mud / dried water etcetc and/or in conjunction w alcohol cleaning see above
     
  9. CPC_RedDawn

    CPC_RedDawn Ancient Guru

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    GOOD F'N LUCK MATE!!!

    Keep us updated!!

    I too would replace all fans in the case, on the cpu and I would get a new cooler for the GPU. You should be able to find a replacement and an identical heatsink on ebay. If not, why not try to hit up ASUS themselves, they may take pity on your friend and try to help out :) After all it would be good PR for them :D
     
  10. AsiJu

    AsiJu Ancient Guru

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    Yea good point about the fans, the bearings are all bust for sure.
     

  11. Kaarme

    Kaarme Ancient Guru

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    Fans are exceptionally easy to test, at the very least. Naturally it would be best to test them separately.
     
  12. Aioras

    Aioras Guest

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    DAY 2:

    So yesterday I went down to my cellar and faced the real mess with some more time... I really looks horrible, probably most of people would have put it straight to the bin...
    But the start point is "we have nothing" so... we have nothing to loose and lots to win guess.

    Go on:

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    One hour and a half later things looked quite better:

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    By now I have Gpu, mobo, cpu and ram resting under rice on a closed bucket until saturday.
    Next step will be cleaning fans and Corsair H100, I´m pretty sure they will work with a little cleaning. The only thing that worries to me is the fact that Hdds (1 HDD + 2 SDD) remains almost untouched because I´m missing some torx screwers, I have big sizes going down to the number 10, but I need torx number 9 or 8 for these parts, I had no time to go and buy one, the owner told me he´s going to find some but he´s working too so...
    Those hdds are under rice until I can open the case of the ssd´s and dissasemble the pcb on hdd.

    I´ll post some more pics tomorrow afternoon probably as I´ll be all the day out working as well.

    Thanks for the replies guys.
     
  13. Aioras

    Aioras Guest

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    That´s a good point... If you´re right I better save some time waste for nothing on the fans... The ones on the H100 are replaced so my friend´s got the original somewhere.

    Thanks for the info!
     
  14. AsiJu

    AsiJu Ancient Guru

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    Good job! Keeping fingers crossed!

    Also should you succeed, which is likely, your friend owes you big time :D

    Plus pro-tip for him: store sensititive things like PCs on a shelf, way above floor level ;)
     
  15. Aioras

    Aioras Guest

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    Sure! The closed bucked with rice is stored on the upper side of a wardrobe to avoid humidity on the floor.

    Thanks!
     

  16. AsiJu

    AsiJu Ancient Guru

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    One more thought about the disk drives:

    personally I'd take them to shop for data recovery first thing (after drying out period). This way you have a backup should the fix not work or if they accidentally get damaged, the HDDs in particular.

    Even if you get them working, I'd recommend your friend to get new drives anyway.
    No way of knowing how quickly the drives may fail even if they seem to be working at first.
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2016
  17. The Goose

    The Goose Ancient Guru

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    Was you friend not covered by insurance
     
  18. Aioras

    Aioras Guest

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    He most likely will be covered by insurance but it takes a long time and keep in mind that he´s got no bill of any component at all... Perhaps the Gpu if I´m not wrong...
    In this scenario insurance here will give him the money they "calculate" it should costs... And that will be so low probably... But maybe enough to buy new hard drives, ssd and a decent Psu as well...

    He´ll probably take the main HDD to a place for recovering data but it´s a hell expensive!
     
  19. Scorch666

    Scorch666 Ancient Guru

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    Hollywood will probably make this into a horror film. ...... Shudder.
     
  20. Aioras

    Aioras Guest

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    DAY 3

    I´ve been really busy the last days and couldn´t do as mush as Id like to... But today was the turn of the Corsair H100. Following recomendations I leave the fans apart as they are 100% wasted and a no go...

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    I took the small pcb inside the pump encharged to controll the rpms I believe, and did the same procedure that the rest, alcohol, care brush, some more alcohol, slow hair dryer speed then bury on rice...

    Tomorrow will be the first "facing reality" day... I will take the Gpu, assemble and try to make it work, I´m somehow nervous, cross fingers :p
     

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