Liquid damage PC

[wycombebarney]

So yesterday I was sitting at my desk gaming when I spilt blackcurrant squash all in my computer I managed to turn it off very quickly at the plug. I looked at the damage and It has got on the mother board and into my GPU, is taking my GPU apart something I should be trying to do at home or do I need to call someone?

[Tan3l6]

Ghost Busters!

 

Seriously though, maybe you can make photo of the damage?

[Fasauceome]

12 minutes ago, wycombebarney said:

I managed to turn it off very quickly at the plug.

This was the best thing to do. After carefully cleaning everything you can out of the PC, and letting it dry for about 24 hours (48 if you want to feel extra safe) in a non-damp environment, you can power it on and check for problems with functioning.

 

The good thing is it sounds like you turned the system off before anything bad started to happen, like sound glitching or errors in the PC, so there's a good chance you saved the vital parts of your computer.

12 minutes ago, wycombebarney said:

is taking my GPU apart something I should be trying to do at home or do I need to call someone?

Taking the GPU apart is actually fairly easy. A lot of models only really have 4 screws holding the heat sink to the PCB which makes for easy cleaning. You might even be able to find a guide specifically for how to disassemble your exact graphics card model. Just be aware that you may need to add a tiny bit of thermal paste to the GPU die before reassembling 

Edited June 16, 2024 by Fasauceome

[Ottoman420]

Johnny 5 Disassemble and clean every component then re assemble.

 

If you are comfortable removing gpu heatsink then go for it, if not surface wipe will do.

 

Use compressed air or hairdryer to blow any water/juice out of heatsinks and off the pcbs and wipe each component before leaving it to dry fully.

 

Alcohol wipes or isopropyl alcohol and a microfibre cloth.

 

 

 

[podkall]

if you don't need the PC, you can just let the soaked parts dry, it's summer

 

of course this won't be easy for all parts, for example if the liquid gets inside some more complicated closings like the GPU,

 

the longer you let it dry the better, preferably on a balcony or something with direct sunlight if possible,

 

1 minute ago, Fasauceome said:

The good thing is it sounds like you turned the system off before anything bad started to happen, like sound glitching or errors in the PC, so there's a good chance you saved the vital parts of your computer.

this was the first important thing and that was seemingly a success

[Somerandomtechyboi]

dissasemble the thing

 

for dirty parts you can deep clean by dunking in water just to dissolve away whatever filth there is, just make sure to take out cmos battery and heatsinks on the mobo alongside take off heatsinks on the gpu

 

then leave to dry for a day or two or take out whenever its dry (for me usually takes 12-16 hours)

[aisle9]

12 minutes ago, podkall said:

if you don't need the PC, you can just let the soaked parts dry, it's summer

Black currant juice is fairly acidic. I'd clean it to be sure.

[wycombebarney]

Thanks for the advice, I was worried I had definitely killed it but this gives me some hope. I’ll disassemble everything and clean it with some isopropyl alcohol and maybe take apart the GPU.

[PowerPCFan]

@wycombebarney Someone please correct me if this is bad advice, but you could take out the motherboard (with CPU, ram, SSD, etc removed) and the GPU (heatsink removed) and soak them in water or alcohol, and let dry for 48 hrs (water) or a few hours (alcohol)

[Somerandomtechyboi]

17 minutes ago, PowerPCFan said:

@wycombebarney Someone please correct me if this is bad advice, but you could take out the motherboard (with CPU, ram, SSD, etc removed) and the GPU (heatsink removed) and soak them in water or alcohol, and let dry for 48 hrs (water) or a few hours (alcohol)

thats literally what i suggested and yea for dirty boards that arent working cause dirty works like a charm, its literally one of my go to methods for fixing boards now

 

water will do just fine, alcohol like 99% IPA is something youd spray on the board rather than dunk it cause then youd have a tub of straight up fuel and a spark might make the thing catch on fire which is less than desirable, also the vapour and smell, yes i did actually try this and it didnt do anything over water but it does very well when sprayed onto boards and you cant be arsed to wait a day, usually for more simple stuff like dirty pcie slot or ram slot that isnt working just spray it and leave for an hour or two and now its working again

[HanZie82]

If its really dirty i rinse them off with tap water, then either blow them out or drown them in isopropyl alcohol to remove all the water and water-resideu.

 

Dont let water dry on its own, unless its really really clean it has to much contaminants, and those are the ones that are dangerous for electronics.

 

[Kilrah]

 

[HanZie82]

22 hours ago, PowerPCFan said:

@wycombebarney Someone please correct me if this is bad advice, but you could take out the motherboard (with CPU, ram, SSD, etc removed) and the GPU (heatsink removed) and soak them in water or alcohol, and let dry for 48 hrs (water) or a few hours (alcohol)

You could, but im afraid then the contaminants in the water might erode some stuff of the motherboard.
I prefer to blow it off with some air to make sure that wont happen. Even tho chances are slim.