Help - Water cooling leak!

Malton49 · 24 Jan 2021 at 12:31

Hi All,

Last night I switched on my PC and the AIO Corsair loop just split and leaked all over my PC. I quickly turned it all off and removed the parts and dried them best I could. Left it overnight to let it all dry then when putting it all back together it now doesn’t turn on completely.

My motherboard is displaying an orange light to signal power to it but whenever I click the on button on my PC, nothing. All the connectors were correct but leads me to believe the motherboard is dead. Any advice on troubleshooting as I’ve ran out of ideas and just thinking of buying a new motherboard.

Any advice or help would be spot on!

Thanks,

Sam

bremen1874 · 24 Jan 2021 at 12:41

I'd be amazed if overnight was long enough to get it completely dry.

Have you contacted Corsair yet?

Jay85 · 24 Jan 2021 at 12:42

When you press the power button, what happens exactly? Nothing at all? No quick flash of lights, fans spin up etc?

Malton49 · 24 Jan 2021 at 12:56

I checked all the components and they looked dry. So when I press the power button, literally nothing happens like no fans spinning, no nothing. I don’t have a cpu cooler on it atm but I at least wanted to see if the fans spun like you said. But, literally when I click the on button, zero. I’ve doubled checked front panel connectors to see if I wired them wrong but after reverting to the manual they were correct.

Malton49 · 24 Jan 2021 at 12:57

Also I’ve contacted Corsair with a ticket, just waiting on a reply.

Zeeflyboy · 24 Jan 2021 at 12:58

does the motherboard have boot diagnostic codes?

Malton49 · 24 Jan 2021 at 13:03

Not that I know of, it’s an Asus Z270H. Running I7-770k and 8GB Corsair dominator ram 3000mhz. With a trusty 290x! Just sort of thinking the motherboard is completely dead.

Jay85 · 24 Jan 2021 at 13:23

My next question was gonna be panel connectors but since you checked those already we can rule that out.

How bad was the leak?

Malton49 · 24 Jan 2021 at 13:44

There was a large puddle of water at the bottom of my pc and the pump just sprayed it out everywhere. What I don’t get though is that the motherboard still recognises power but the noting will turn on so could be a pc connector issue?

adrichardson81 · 24 Jan 2021 at 15:04

Are you sure your psu is working? Any idea what caused the aio to fail?

Mr Mcgoo · 24 Jan 2021 at 15:47

i have never seen an aio fail in any build i have repaired. i have a feeling your system wasn't dry enough and maybe shorted out as you powered it again maybe?

Malton49 · 24 Jan 2021 at 16:51

Just rebuilt using some of my old parts and can confirm the GPU and PSU are all still in perfectly
Working order. It’s just the motherboard is just completely dead, not too sure on the processor as I’m not able to test that yet but I presume that will be okay as it’s fairly sealed.

Think it’s just time for a new motherboard.

Quartz · 24 Jan 2021 at 17:01

Malton49 said:
Left it overnight to let it all dry

Did you clean everything? Use Isopropyl alcohol.

Zeeflyboy · 24 Jan 2021 at 17:02

Did you take the cpu out when you dried it? Liquid would hang around there.

I would take the motherboard out again, take the cpu and ram etc all out and ideally give it all a rinse in some IPA if you have any (not the beer, isopropyl alcohol) and leave it in a warm place for 72hrs to make sure every crevice is fully dried.

An AIO usually uses non conductive liquid (distilled water and maybe some glycol) so if you can get it cleaned with alcohol and fully dried out you might still be ok.

Jay85 · 24 Jan 2021 at 17:02

Malton49 said:
Just rebuilt using some of my old parts and can confirm the GPU and PSU are all still in perfectly
Working order. It’s just the motherboard is just completely dead, not too sure on the processor as I’m not able to test that yet but I presume that will be okay as it’s fairly sealed.

Think it’s just time for a new motherboard.

I would put it in a airing cupboard where your boiler is and leave it in there for another 24 hours and try again. Don't rule it out just yet, if theres a drop of water on one component causing a short it maybe your cause of issue.

Hakanese · 24 Jan 2021 at 17:29

Or you can put it on a bed of uncooked rice in a tray, clingfilm over the top of it. That will pull all the moisture out.

Malton49 · 24 Jan 2021 at 17:52

I’ve wiped it all down again, I’ve put it in the airing cupboard for 48 hours see if that drys it. If that doesn’t solve it then I’ll just buy a new motherboard, it’s maybe £130-£200 but could have been worse.

Mr Mcgoo · 24 Jan 2021 at 19:34

shame if its dead. lets hope it's not. However if it is and the a new mobo gets you up and running again that's a lucky escape. i lost my gtx 1070 and asrock z390 phantom gaming 6 to a custom loop leak that caught fire. Got lucky only gpu and mobo was lost. Could have been worse. Turned out to be a faulty ek 1070 block that had a crack on the inlet port

adrichardson81 · 24 Jan 2021 at 21:50

72 hours seems to be the minimum recommended drying time, so there's still hope.

Malton49 · 25 Jan 2021 at 13:46

It’s been air dryed for about 24 and I’ll give another day in the airing cupboard. I’ll check back tomorrow with you guys with an update.

If no luck will need some advice for a new GPU and Motherboard, currently still running I7-7700k. Any recommendation would be great!!