cleaning my pc turned into a nightmare!

[Eclipse247]

i was cleaning my bc this morning and after i fineshed my clean out i turned on my pc and all of a sudden i started getting boot loops. i then started to panic as it had never happened before so i turned off the pc and unplugged it. i then plugged it back in and the boot loop stopped but i was no longer getting a video output. I then left it for a while to think about it and came back to fidle with the HDMI cable and before doing anything i tried it again after plugging out and plugging in the PCIE cable and it went back to normal. Has this happened to anyone else and is it normal for this to happen to your pc because i hope its not a failing GPU as i only got it about 5 months ago

[idkfreak]

did you try reseating the ram sticks and the gpu? this kinda worked in my case...

[p51mustang23]

Sounds like maybe you nudged your GPU loose, or nudged it's power connector lose?  Or something else came loose and got plugged back in?

[Eclipse247]

Just now, idkfreak said:

did you try reseating the ram sticks and the gpu? this kinda worked in my case...

i didnt reseat my GPU or RAM sticks all i did was unplugg my PCIE cables and plug them back in and it started to work but i am just confused from going from a boot loop to nothing and then back to normal in the matter of minutes 

 

[p51mustang23]

What method did you use for cleaning?

[idkfreak]

1 minute ago, Eclipse247 said:

i didnt reseat my GPU or RAM sticks all i did was unplugg my PCIE cables and plug them back in and it started to work but i am just confused from going from a boot loop to nothing and then back to normal in the matter of minutes 

 

ah.. maybe the power connecter wasn't all the way into the slot..

[p51mustang23]

I'm leaning pretty hard towards loose cable.  

Unless you sprayed it down with water and booted it wet, or zapped it with static electricity.  Both of which are a lot less likely to kill your computer than you might think. 

[Husky]

As @p51mustang23 above said, how did you clean your PC?

 

I would run a stress test for about 15 to 20 minutes just to make sure that everything is working correctly under stress. If the machine does not have issues running that, then I would think it's safe to say that everything is alright, and that it must've just been a loose cable or something.

[Eclipse247]

10 minutes ago, p51mustang23 said:

What method did you use for cleaning?

I used a vacuum on a very low pressure just to collect the dust

[Master Disaster]

13 minutes ago, Eclipse247 said:

I used a vacuum on a very low pressure just to collect the dust

Always blow, never suck.

 

While its pretty unlikely it is possible for a plastic hoover pipe to build a big enough static charge to cause damage to your PC.

[Husky]

Just now, Eclipse247 said:

I used a vacuum on a very low pressure just to collect the dust

Oh no, that's not a very safe way to clean electronic equipment as a vacuum can create a lot of static electricity as dry air and dust flows very quickly over components and through the rough surface of the plastic vacuum pipe. It is highly recommended that you do not use a vacuum to clean any electronic equipment in the future, and instead use compressed air from a duster can (help upright to prevent liquid from spraying out).

 

I wouldn't panic though, your PC seems to be working, and if it survives a short stress test then it will be fine. Just don't use a vacuum ever again. I've broken one PC in the past by using one.

[Eclipse247]

2 minutes ago, Husky said:

Oh no, that's not a very safe way to clean electronic equipment as a vacuum can create a lot of static electricity as dry air and dust flows very quickly over components and through the rough surface of the plastic vacuum pipe. It is highly recommended that you do not use a vacuum to clean any electronic equipment in the future, and instead use compressed air from a duster can (help upright to prevent liquid from spraying out).

 

I wouldn't panic though, your PC seems to be working, and if it survives a short stress test then it will be fine. Just don't use a vacuum ever again. I've broken one PC in the past by using one.

Thanks for the advice ill note that from now on at least i know this now before anything else happens

[NineEyeRon]

Could be worse and do what I did. I take full responsibility and learnt stuff at the same time. 
 

I had a late 2009 i7 920 based gaming PC, thing of beauty. Cooled by an original Asetek LCLC.

 

In early 2018 I performed routine cleaning but inadvertently must have knocked the liquid cooler somehow and caused a leak, I did not know it at the time.

 

After cleaning I kept hearing pops and crackles from the PC, conceded I opened it up to see nothing wrong. Back during use as heard the same noises and decided to open it while running, there I saw a slow leak from the joint at the radiator, well it was slow as pretty much everything else was wet! I quickly powered off my PC and left it to dry. 
 

That PC never powered on again sadly, I managed to recover the GPU, RAM and drives but the MoBo and CPU never functioned again. 
 

I recycled it soon after, hoping it’s spirit lives on long after it’s rare metals are put to a better use.

 

tl;dr Replace your liquid cooling solutions before they break, maybe 7 years is a good life but 9 is too many if it was used a lot and not left alone all it’s working life.

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Troubleshooting