Water leakage on my system!

Chai · 28th Jan 2004, 11:02 AM

By now, most of you should know I'm a big fan of water cooling.

During yesterday night at 2am, when I watched 'Windtalkers' on secondary PC, I heard some weird water splashing sound. At first I thought it was from the movie! It sounded more and more suspicious. Then I looked at my PC! OMG!

I was in total shock! My water cooler has basically dried out, water was everywhere! HDD, PSU, and my precious R9500!!!

Fortunately the top of the HDD and PSU were splashed with water, and it didn't leak into the internals. I quickly dried them with tissue. When I look at the R9500, I was shaking my head. The whole back of the card was filled with water! I did wipe with tissue, and using another slice, and the card was still wet! Imagine the amount of water!

After drying the surface, I quickly tested the card, and it didn't work unsurprisingly. I didn't gave up hope, because this isn't the first time water leaked while the PC was running. I didn't use hairdryer because it was in middle of the night. Not too nice to wake the whole family up.

At first no beep from motherboard. So motherboard was affected too. Then about 15mins later, the motherboard started giving 'no video' error beep. So I know R9500 was the culprit.

So I removed the card from the motherboard and dry it properly with tissue. No visible water traces on the PCB. But the water could trapped in the components, especially under the BGA RAMs, and those tiny components.

After drying, I gave another try, same thing, 'no video' error beep. But I kept trying by reseting the PC. Keep getting the same error. But I noticed something, the card was becoming warm to touch, so I knew the card wasn't dead yet. I could feel the water coming out from those components, especially around the back of the core and the RAMs. I wiped them with tissue. Hoping that it will work again. But after 40mins, the card still refused to work. I still haven't give up, but my morale was extremely low, knowing that a moddable R9500 is virtually impossible to replace.

At this moment, I was messaging Donovan on ICQ using the secondary PC, telling him what happened. He was actually laughing! Well, he's an experienced water cooling guy. Giving me hope by saying, 'the card is in coma state, and it will work again'.

Water leakage has happened to me numerous times, and nothing was damaged before. All the components like CPU, motherboard, graphics card worked fine after drying. So I knew that at least 75% of chances that it will work again. Even then, I was still worried, because R9500 is not cheap, and I can't afford to replace it, and wouldn't want to downgrade to R9600!

Since I was watching Windtalkers half way, I actually continued watching, while leaving the card outside the system to dry. After watching the rather sad movie (war movies seldom have happy ending

)I gave the R9500 another try, finally the monitor switched on, motherboard giving the normal beep! I prayed and thanked god!!!

It was around 4am. I was rather tired, so I quickly refill the water, and make sure it won't leak again. So I started up my PC, run all the usual programs in the background, and quickly jumped to bed and slept in peace.

Phew! What a horrible experience. Conclusion, water is not electronic's best friend, but they are not the worst enemy!

Like I said earlier, this isn't the first time water leaked on my system, and I've never damaged anything! Everything worked fine after the 'coma' state! So I will still continue using water cooling despite all these horrible experiences. Note that all water leakage was due to user error, not components failure.

So water cooling is very safe, if you follow instructions properly.

Sorry, no pictures because I was panicking!

Trinity · 28th Jan 2004, 11:45 AM

Yikes!!!!!!

Well at least your story has a good ending...

Yikes!!!!

Chai · 28th Jan 2004, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trinity

Yikes!!!!!!

Well at least your story has a good ending...

Yikes!!!!

Yeah, fortunately it wasn't like Windtalkers!

siddiq · 28th Jan 2004, 03:33 PM

omg. so lucky u chai. if not ur card will be history.

Max_87 · 28th Jan 2004, 04:35 PM

Chai, how did it happen?

zy · 28th Jan 2004, 06:51 PM

wow... :O .. whats the problem of the leak ? .. hehe

Chai · 28th Jan 2004, 07:33 PM

Oh, I forgot to tell why it leaked!

I was filling up water using a mineral water bottle with 2 tubes into the bottle. Because the tube was rather stiff, the bottle will not stand straight. So the bottle was tilted a little sideways with very little water in it so even if the bottle lay down sideways, the water will not spill.

But surprisingly, for no reason, one of the tube (outlet) came off the bottle, spraying the water everywhere since it was the outlet tube!

Ok, so it's not really water leakage, but you get the idea.

Max_87 · 28th Jan 2004, 10:13 PM

you didn't watch it?

Chai · 28th Jan 2004, 10:25 PM

Didn't you read my post? I was watching movie on the secondary PC!

Max_87 · 28th Jan 2004, 10:32 PM

What i'm trying to tell you is - you should watch it next time

28th Jan 2004, 11:02 AM	#1 (permalink)
Chai Administrator Join Date: 6 Oct 2002 Location: Maranello Posts: 26,659 Reputation: 3984 Rep Power: 72	Water leakage on my system! By now, most of you should know I'm a big fan of water cooling. During yesterday night at 2am, when I watched 'Windtalkers' on secondary PC, I heard some weird water splashing sound. At first I thought it was from the movie! It sounded more and more suspicious. Then I looked at my PC! OMG! I was in total shock! My water cooler has basically dried out, water was everywhere! HDD, PSU, and my precious R9500!!! Fortunately the top of the HDD and PSU were splashed with water, and it didn't leak into the internals. I quickly dried them with tissue. When I look at the R9500, I was shaking my head. The whole back of the card was filled with water! I did wipe with tissue, and using another slice, and the card was still wet! Imagine the amount of water! After drying the surface, I quickly tested the card, and it didn't work unsurprisingly. I didn't gave up hope, because this isn't the first time water leaked while the PC was running. I didn't use hairdryer because it was in middle of the night. Not too nice to wake the whole family up. At first no beep from motherboard. So motherboard was affected too. Then about 15mins later, the motherboard started giving 'no video' error beep. So I know R9500 was the culprit. So I removed the card from the motherboard and dry it properly with tissue. No visible water traces on the PCB. But the water could trapped in the components, especially under the BGA RAMs, and those tiny components. After drying, I gave another try, same thing, 'no video' error beep. But I kept trying by reseting the PC. Keep getting the same error. But I noticed something, the card was becoming warm to touch, so I knew the card wasn't dead yet. I could feel the water coming out from those components, especially around the back of the core and the RAMs. I wiped them with tissue. Hoping that it will work again. But after 40mins, the card still refused to work. I still haven't give up, but my morale was extremely low, knowing that a moddable R9500 is virtually impossible to replace. At this moment, I was messaging Donovan on ICQ using the secondary PC, telling him what happened. He was actually laughing! Well, he's an experienced water cooling guy. Giving me hope by saying, 'the card is in coma state, and it will work again'. Water leakage has happened to me numerous times, and nothing was damaged before. All the components like CPU, motherboard, graphics card worked fine after drying. So I knew that at least 75% of chances that it will work again. Even then, I was still worried, because R9500 is not cheap, and I can't afford to replace it, and wouldn't want to downgrade to R9600! Since I was watching Windtalkers half way, I actually continued watching, while leaving the card outside the system to dry. After watching the rather sad movie (war movies seldom have happy ending )I gave the R9500 another try, finally the monitor switched on, motherboard giving the normal beep! I prayed and thanked god!!! It was around 4am. I was rather tired, so I quickly refill the water, and make sure it won't leak again. So I started up my PC, run all the usual programs in the background, and quickly jumped to bed and slept in peace. Phew! What a horrible experience. Conclusion, water is not electronic's best friend, but they are not the worst enemy! Like I said earlier, this isn't the first time water leaked on my system, and I've never damaged anything! Everything worked fine after the 'coma' state! So I will still continue using water cooling despite all these horrible experiences. Note that all water leakage was due to user error, not components failure. So water cooling is very safe, if you follow instructions properly. Sorry, no pictures because I was panicking! __________________ Chai (Contributor & Forum Admin) http://www.techarp.com/

28th Jan 2004, 03:33 PM	#4 (permalink)
siddiq Hold me back! I can't stop posting!!! Join Date: 16 Jun 2003 Location: Kuching, Sarawak , Malaysia Posts: 5,899 Reputation: 460 Rep Power: 15	omg. so lucky u chai. if not ur card will be history. __________________ JOIN ARP WHATPULSE TEAM!

28th Jan 2004, 04:35 PM	#5 (permalink)
Max_87 h@x! Join Date: 11 Aug 2003 Location: Sarawak, Malaysia. Posts: 11,261 Reputation: 2024 Rep Power: 37	Chai, how did it happen? __________________ Max_87 Tech ARP http://www.techarp.com P4 630 / Abit IP35 Pro / G.Skill F2-8000CL5-4GBPQ / Radeon X1800 / Barracuda 7200.9 120GB / 7200.10 320GB x2 / Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS / WD6400AAKS x2 / Dell 2007FP x2 / Silverstone ST56F

28th Jan 2004, 06:51 PM	#6 (permalink)
zy Dead Join Date: 16 Dec 2002 Location: Penang,Malaysia - Buffalo,New York Posts: 12,834 Reputation: 1998 Rep Power: 37	wow... :O .. whats the problem of the leak ? .. hehe __________________ current: P4-3.2\|P4P800-Deluxe\|512x4-DDR\|NV6600 WD2500KS\|WD5000AAKS\|AD-7191A\|1860NX\|Z2300\|MP470 home (malaysia): P4C-2.6@3.1-StockHSF\|AI7\|256x2-BT-D43\|512x2-DT-D43\|A9600XT-VIVO WD1200JB\|2xWD2500KS\|DRU-800A\|DVD-E616P\|LTR-52327S\|152x\|V.S.4121\|iP1500 laptop: M1210\|T7200\|2GBDDR667\|160GB5K160\|GO7400

28th Jan 2004, 07:33 PM	#7 (permalink)
Chai Administrator Join Date: 6 Oct 2002 Location: Maranello Posts: 26,659 Reputation: 3984 Rep Power: 72	Oh, I forgot to tell why it leaked! I was filling up water using a mineral water bottle with 2 tubes into the bottle. Because the tube was rather stiff, the bottle will not stand straight. So the bottle was tilted a little sideways with very little water in it so even if the bottle lay down sideways, the water will not spill. But surprisingly, for no reason, one of the tube (outlet) came off the bottle, spraying the water everywhere since it was the outlet tube! Ok, so it's not really water leakage, but you get the idea. __________________ Chai (Contributor & Forum Admin) http://www.techarp.com/

28th Jan 2004, 11:45 AM	#2 (permalink)
Trinity Little Kiki Join Date: 5 Jan 2003 Location: Ohio,usa Posts: 6,769 Reputation: 5209 Rep Power: 64	Yikes!!!!!! Well at least your story has a good ending... Yikes!!!!

28th Jan 2004, 10:13 PM	#8 (permalink)
Max_87 h@x! Join Date: 11 Aug 2003 Location: Sarawak, Malaysia. Posts: 11,261 Reputation: 2024 Rep Power: 37	you didn't watch it? __________________ Max_87 Tech ARP http://www.techarp.com P4 630 / Abit IP35 Pro / G.Skill F2-8000CL5-4GBPQ / Radeon X1800 / Barracuda 7200.9 120GB / 7200.10 320GB x2 / Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS / WD6400AAKS x2 / Dell 2007FP x2 / Silverstone ST56F

28th Jan 2004, 10:25 PM	#9 (permalink)
Chai Administrator Join Date: 6 Oct 2002 Location: Maranello Posts: 26,659 Reputation: 3984 Rep Power: 72	Didn't you read my post? I was watching movie on the secondary PC! __________________ Chai (Contributor & Forum Admin) http://www.techarp.com/

28th Jan 2004, 10:32 PM	#10 (permalink)
Max_87 h@x! Join Date: 11 Aug 2003 Location: Sarawak, Malaysia. Posts: 11,261 Reputation: 2024 Rep Power: 37	What i'm trying to tell you is - you should watch it next time __________________ Max_87 Tech ARP http://www.techarp.com P4 630 / Abit IP35 Pro / G.Skill F2-8000CL5-4GBPQ / Radeon X1800 / Barracuda 7200.9 120GB / 7200.10 320GB x2 / Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS / WD6400AAKS x2 / Dell 2007FP x2 / Silverstone ST56F