PC exposed to condensation

[D1Wolfgang]

So with this polar vortex coming through the US, I’ve had 0 degree weather. I thought it’d be fun to try and see what temperatures I could get by letting my pc suck in the cold air through the window. Attatched is a picture of the monstrosity.  I did no research (besides being inspired by a video I saw on YouTube of someone doing the same thing). Now, my pc has reset itself and crashed. I hope it’s not ruined. It has obviously been exposed to condensation, and I currently have it sitting in a dry, heated room. I don’t think it’s too far gone, because it is still functional, but while functioning I could notice oddities. (Screen flickered once). I’m not on it currently. I’m writing this on my phone. 

Now I’m looking for advice on what I should do, what I should check up on, and any help you can give me. Thank you! 

P.S. I will try booting it up again in about 36 hours once I’m back from skiing, unless you all say otherwise.

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, Wolfgang393 said:

36 hours

Before you power it up, ensure there isn't any moisture in it, I'd pull anything you consider valuable, hard drives with data on them, fancy video card, etc. Just the bare minimum to power it up and see something on the screen. 

[kelvinhall05]

F

 

 

 

Take everything apart and soak it in rice. Take the cooler off your GPU, obviously. You should only have to "soak" your motherboard, RAM, GPU, and CPU because why not.

[Slottr]

Oh my god

[Shiv78]

2 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

F

 

 

 

Take everything apart and soak it in rice. Take the cooler off your GPU, obviously. You should only have to "soak" your motherboard, RAM, GPU, and CPU because why not.

Rice is proven not to help with wet electronics. It's better to just leave it in sunlight to dry.

 

I'd take apart the rig and let everything rest on some sponges for a day or two to make sure there's no moisture on/in any connection points.

[knightslugger]

take the whole thing apart. let it dry in a warm dry place.

 

and then pray to god you didn't corrode anything necessary.

[D1Wolfgang]

14 minutes ago, kelvinhall05 said:

F

 

 

 

Take everything apart and soak it in rice. Take the cooler off your GPU, obviously. You should only have to "soak" your motherboard, RAM, GPU, and CPU because why not.

I don’t have anything necessary to soak it, I’m guessing you mean in alcohol, so I hope that isn’t necessary. 

[D1Wolfgang]

Thank you all. I understand it was stupid so thank for not being mean lol. 

[aezakmi]

12 minutes ago, Shiv78 said:

Rice is proven not to help with wet electronics. It's better to just leave it in sunlight to dry.

 

I'd take apart the rig and let everything rest on some sponges for a day or two to make sure there's no moisture on/in any connection points.

Rice attracts asian guys in the middle of the night that will fix or replace any damaged components while you're sleeping

 

kinda like santa used to leave presents for you on xmas (?)

[zombienerd]

I'd tear it all apart.  

 

Place the components in front of a space heater, or in the oven at 120-150 fahrenheit (50-65c) (IF your oven can go that low, many ovens won't go below 170).  Do not go over 150 F (Plastic bits will start to melt at 170F (75-80c)).  Let them bake / sit in front of a heater for a good 2-3 hours to get rid of any moisture.  

 

Let them cool naturally afterwards in a normal temperature area.

 

Best of luck.  If you're lucky nothing was permanently damaged.  

 

 

Disclaimer - Really be sure to not get them hotter than 150F (65c) when doing a heat cycle on them.  I've melted things myself on accident a few times because I went hotter.

 

 

[Firewrath9]

pull out a hair gun/fan (increase evaporation through airflow) set it to low temperture, and high wind, find a dry place in your house (i.e. below 50% humidity), take apart the gpu, first, then blow over the back, same thing with motherboard, etc, then let sit for 36 hours, and try to boot.

[bellabichon]

Tear down everything. Wipe down what moisture you can see with a paper towel, then use a hair dryer to dry everything out. Don't move the hair dryer too close, or you risk messing stuff up. Once that's done, leave it in a dry, warm room for at least 24 hours. Reassemble, and try to boot. 

 

If you have another PSU handy, i'd swap it out for testing. That seems like the component that could most easily fry the whole system.

 

Godspeed.

[D1Wolfgang]

I have taken it apart, but am unable to take the GPU apart now. Not sure if I even have the correct screwdrivers. It is sitting in front of my wood stove. Going to let it dry in heat for like a day then I’ll move it and leave it to cool. I believe this is the best I can do. Thank you again for the help. Let’s cross our fingers. 

EDIT: While I’m very sure condensation is the culprit, I cannot see any on major components. Although my GPU has a backplate, so maybe it’s hidden. 

Edited February 1, 2019 by Wolfgang393

[D1Wolfgang]

10 minutes ago, bellabichon said:

Tear down everything. Wipe down what moisture you can see with a paper towel, then use a hair dryer to dry everything out. Don't move the hair dryer too close, or you risk messing stuff up. Once that's done, leave it in a dry, warm room for at least 24 hours. Reassemble, and try to boot. 

 

If you have another PSU handy, i'd swap it out for testing. That seems like the component that could most easily fry the whole system.

 

Godspeed.

The “Godspeed” raised my spirits, thank you. 

[Shiv78]

22 minutes ago, Wolfgang393 said:

I have taken it apart, but am unable to take the GPU apart now. Not sure if I even have the correct screwdrivers. It is sitting in front of my wood stove. Going to let it dry in heat for like a day then I’ll move it and leave it to cool. I believe this is the best I can do. Thank you again for the help. Let’s cross our fingers. 

 

I'd pull the mobo, PSU, literally everything, and let them air dry in front of your stove for at least a day or two.

 

It'll be a pain, but unplug all the cables and stuff too. Just one drop left behind could potentially kill something or even the whole rig.

[D1Wolfgang]

7 minutes ago, Shiv78 said:

I'd pull the mobo, PSU, literally everything, and let them air dry in front of your stove for at least a day or two.

 

It'll be a pain, but unplug all the cables and stuff too. Just one drop left behind could potentially kill something or even the whole rig.

The mobo and psu are right there in front with everything. They just aren’t completely out. Should I still take it out? I feel like they’re getting the same coverage. 

[knightslugger]

1 minute ago, Wolfgang393 said:

The mobo and psu are right there in front with everything. They just aren’t completely out. Should I still take it out? I feel like they’re getting the same coverage. 

I would. no telling what's underneath. you want to get dry airflow over everything.

 

CPU out of the socket, MB removed, EVERYTHING.

[D1Wolfgang]

Everything disassembled. I have high hopes, since before the pc was taken apart, it was still running, even though wonky. The parts are drying. Thank you all again. I would have fried hardware without you. 

Btw: it’s good I’m learning this lesson at an early age, I want to go into the tech industry, so it’s good common sense to have under my belt. 

[knightslugger]

5 minutes ago, Wolfgang393 said:

Everything disassembled. I have high hopes, since before the pc was taken apart, it was still running, even though wonky. The parts are drying. Thank you all again. I would have fried hardware without you. 

Btw: it’s good I’m learning this lesson at an early age, I want to go into the tech industry, so it’s good common sense to have under my belt. 

well you certainly got a good physics lesson out of it.

 

Sub-ambient cooling destroys electronics for the same reason a cold glass of water gets everything around it wet.

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

this case, more likely some parts loose contact while moving 

apparently nothing to do with condensation/ moisture

[Shiv78]

44 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

well you certainly got a good physics lesson out of it.

 

Sub-ambient cooling destroys electronics for the same reason a cold glass of water gets everything around it wet.

Yep.

 

This, of course, is why subzero cooling builds like these need a LOT of condensation proofing on the motherboard and around the CPU. 

 

 

[kelvinhall05]

10 hours ago, Wolfgang393 said:

I don’t have anything necessary to soak it, I’m guessing you mean in alcohol, so I hope that isn’t necessary. 

 

10 hours ago, kelvinhall05 said:

F

 

 

 

Take everything apart and soak it in rice. Take the cooler off your GPU, obviously. You should only have to "soak" your motherboard, RAM, GPU, and CPU because why not.

 

 

[D1Wolfgang]

PC has been drying for about 24 hrs. It was already my house temp, so I decided to test it slowly.

First, I put the cpu, GPU (1050 for test), and ram in and turned it on with a previous PSU. This was successful, however, one ram stick didn’t turn on until I took it out, blew compressed air in, and tried again. 

Second, I replaced the PSU with the (possibly) shorted one. It turns out that one worked fine and I worked my way up to my full build after I replaced the old GPU. The pc ran fine. Only for a few minutes though, until I powered it off. 

So we seem to be in working order. I’m so lucky I didn’t run the pc continuously with the contraption hooked up. 

One question: if a pc was wet enough to short and fry everything, it would happen immediately, correct? It wouldn’t wait an hour then do it?

thank for all your help! Please tell me if I should check something. As soon as I’m into windows, I’ll run a GPU benchmark. 

[knightslugger]

3 hours ago, Wolfgang393 said:

One question: if a pc was wet enough to short and fry everything, it would happen immediately, correct? It wouldn’t wait an hour then do it?

depends on the component that was shorted. if it was critical, yes. if it was the RGB circuit... not likely.

[D1Wolfgang]

Ok, thanks yall. My PC is working. How lucky is that? 

I'm having a few stuttering issues, but I don't think these things are related. It wouldn't make sense that such a drastic thing as water would cause my fps to stutter. 

Thank you all for your help! I won't choose a solution since it was more of a discussion  Hopefully, someone else can use these tips!