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Desktop box soaked in soda. Seems dead. Anything I'm forgetting?

Categories Forums > Hardware > Computer Hardware
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:iconfleb:
~fleb Dec 30, 2007, 2:57:13 PM
Well, I pulled a nice one last week. Watching a DVD, sipping a Wendy's paper cup of Sierra Mist, when the top dislodged, the cup crumpled, and pop went everywhere, including into the exhaust tube to the CPU fan in the case of my desktop machine. The CPU fan/heat alarm started going off, so I quickly reached back and killed the power, but it was dead from there on out.

First I tried just restarting it-- I got no video and a slow, steady beep. The manual says that signifies a RAM problem, although it looks as if none of the splash hit the RAM. After that, I didn't even get a beep. The fans all came on, and peripherals were getting power (network port light was lit, hard disks were spinning up). I then tried pulling cards and IDE devices and hitting the power, hoping to get anything at all, until I got to the point that the only thing left was a cheap old video card I brought in as a test unit (the video card was right under the exhaust pipe, so it caught most of the splash).

I hit the proc with compressed air, and tried to blow out as much as I could, but I'm still getting nothing-- no video, no error beeps. At this point, I'm considering the thing a loss, and planning to get a new proc, mobo, and RAM (as testing each, finding the defective piece, and tracking down another just isn't worth it), and reusing the drives, case, and power supply (The whole computer was a home-build, so it's standard parts. The power supply still seems to be working fine, and the case is a hunk of metal that can't really "go bad".)

I've heard that the sugar and acidity in soda can be the kiss of death for a lot of electronic components, and although I was surprised how quickly and quietly it fried (no magic smoke), it doesn't appear to be coming back. I'm just wondering if there's anything else I should test before I write it off. I've disconnected everything off the mobo except power and processor (even RAM and video card) and am getting nothing-- no video or beep codes.

--
Art is dead, but FLEB just keeps on going. :dance:

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:iconfleb:
~fleb Dec 30, 2007, 2:57:13 PM
Well, I pulled a nice one last week. Watching a DVD, sipping a Wendy's paper cup of Sierra Mist, when the top dislodged, the cup crumpled, and pop went everywhere, including into the exhaust tube to the CPU fan in the case of my desktop machine. The CPU fan/heat alarm started going off, so I quickly reached back and killed the power, but it was dead from there on out.

First I tried just restarting it-- I got no video and a slow, steady beep. The manual says that signifies a RAM problem, although it looks as if none of the splash hit the RAM. After that, I didn't even get a beep. The fans all came on, and peripherals were getting power (network port light was lit, hard disks were spinning up). I then tried pulling cards and IDE devices and hitting the power, hoping to get anything at all, until I got to the point that the only thing left was a cheap old video card I brought in as a test unit (the video card was right under the exhaust pipe, so it caught most of the splash).

I hit the proc with compressed air, and tried to blow out as much as I could, but I'm still getting nothing-- no video, no error beeps. At this point, I'm considering the thing a loss, and planning to get a new proc, mobo, and RAM (as testing each, finding the defective piece, and tracking down another just isn't worth it), and reusing the drives, case, and power supply (The whole computer was a home-build, so it's standard parts. The power supply still seems to be working fine, and the case is a hunk of metal that can't really "go bad".)

I've heard that the sugar and acidity in soda can be the kiss of death for a lot of electronic components, and although I was surprised how quickly and quietly it fried (no magic smoke), it doesn't appear to be coming back. I'm just wondering if there's anything else I should test before I write it off. I've disconnected everything off the mobo except power and processor (even RAM and video card) and am getting nothing-- no video or beep codes.

--
Art is dead, but FLEB just keeps on going. :dance:
:iconnitemare14:
~Nitemare14 Dec 30, 2007, 3:38:52 PM
Hm, what's the processor? I'm betting thats your only problem; the fan probably quit, and the processor got too hot and killed itself. I seem to remember something about Intel processors, starting with the Pentium 4's, how they would prevent themselves from overheating even without a heatsink, but I've never looked to see if that's real or not.. and I don't really feel like trying it out on any of my P4's in case it's not real...

Well anyway, just replace the processor first because that might be your problem. I've spilled lots of things on lots of things and haven't lost a single thing because of it; my G15 keyboard has drank so much Mountain Dew I'm surprised it hasn't gotten the diabeetus yet.

--
How do you feel about frilly toothpicks?
:iconfleb:
~fleb Dec 30, 2007, 3:57:37 PM
It's an AMD Athlon 64, 2GHz single-core. Don't recall the specific model name. I was thinking along the same lines (that it gummed up the fan and smoked the proc), but considering that I'd have to find a processor to match the motherboard, and have to get another mobo to match the new processor if it turned out to be a dead motherboard instead/as well, I figure I ought to just start fresh and upgrade both-- Newegg says I can get a dual-core 2GHz (doubling the power I had) and a mobo for around $150. It does mean new RAM and video, but even RAM's coming down in price, and my video card is all sticky and likely undependable.

The swap-out I'm looking at will run me about $350 (plus tax/ship)... a bit more than I wanted to spend, but I suppose I can hobble by on my old laptop for a couple months and save it up. Then I'll be sporting more RAM, double the proc, and a new video card (I can do DVI, as well, as I finally went to 2 DVI-enabled LCD monitors this past Christmas).

Really, I'm just trying to think if there were any cable-jiggles or simple fixes that I'll slap myself over later.

--
Art is dead, but FLEB just keeps on going. :dance:
:iconnitemare14:
~Nitemare14 Dec 30, 2007, 4:17:27 PM
Well, if I were you then, I'd just go ahead with the new hardware all around. And just clean off the video card, it should be fine. I've had about the same thing happen to a network card and it's still running and I haven't even cleaned it off...

--
How do you feel about frilly toothpicks?
:iconrayvinazn:
`rayvinazn Dec 30, 2007, 7:16:53 PM
A dual-core processor won't double your performance - overall, it'll probably only be around 30% or so faster, although it will be quite a bit faster in certain applications.

That being said, a new machine isn't a bad idea given what happened - it's best not to leave anything to chance, as you don't know what might have bought the farm (if you got liquid on certain parts of your motherboard you could have sent surges of power to places that weren't hit by the liquid directly and screwed them up that way).

$350 seems a bit steep though - what exactly do you do with this computer? If you're not a gamer, this whole thing could probably be done for $50 less. Or you could go the onboard video route, "tough" it out on one monitor for a while, and pick up a graphics card later.

--
Dusted.
:iconfleb:
~fleb Dec 30, 2007, 7:36:48 PM
Where are you pricing these things out? $350 was my total at NewEgg for the processor, motherboard, some new RAM, and a new video card.

--
Art is dead, but FLEB just keeps on going. :dance:
:iconfleb:
~fleb Dec 30, 2007, 7:38:39 PM
And I do find that I tend to stress the processor more than, say, the video-- I do a fair amount of MP3 encoding, Photoshop work, that sort of thing. Although, does CS2 get a boost from dual-processor?

--
Art is dead, but FLEB just keeps on going. :dance:
:iconrayvinazn:
`rayvinazn Dec 30, 2007, 7:46:45 PM
Newegg and ZipZoomFly.

For the ultra-cheap machine I left out the graphics card and picked a motherboard with good onboard video capabilities (DVI onboard, and there are models with HDMI onboard as well), and for the more expensive setup, I selected an ECS AM2+ 770 board so you can fully support a Phenom processor if you ever upgrade, an Athlon 64 X2 4000+ 2.1GHz processor, 2x1GB Value RAM, and an HD2600XT graphics card, which came out to right around $280.

Of course, I have no idea what you want to do with this machine. If you're a gamer, that graphics card could use a little bit of upgrading, and if you're not a gamer at all you could save another $20-$30 on a lower-end card.

--
Dusted.
:iconrayvinazn:
`rayvinazn Dec 30, 2007, 8:02:54 PM
If I recall correctly, Photoshop has supported dual-processors (and therefore dual-core processors) since 5.0, since it was popular in both the professional and the home environment. So a dual-core processor will certainly benefit you there, and with the work you're doing, a faster processor would be nice. So I'd pick up the first processor up the line that has a higher L2 cache - the X2 5200+. Now, AMD has been so kind as to provide us with two (or three) versions of the X2 5200+. The older version is a Windsor-core 2.6GHz chip with 2x1MB of L2 cache. There was a 65w revision which is the standard now, that's probably all you'll be able to find (and this update is the ideal version, as it consumes slightly less power than the original X2 5200+ but retains the 2x1MB L2 cache). The chip you have to be careful not to get is the Brisbane-core X2 5200+, which is clocked slightly higher at 2.7GHz, but only has 2x512KB of L2 cache.

The version of the X2 5200+ I'm talking about is about twice the cost of the X2 4000+ - around $120 or so at most etailers. Even so, with the machine I set up with all the parts being the same, you're still spending a bit less than $350 shipped (albeit not by much).

--
Dusted.
:iconyugenm:
~YugenM Jan 1, 2008, 12:15:57 PM
Clean everything with rubbing alcohol, let it dry, then try again
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