3 Diag. LED. Result from a massive Water Leak.

[Stubbie]

Well, you guys are my last hope. I've tried everything that I've read around this forum. This include: a 5 hours CMOS clearing (took out the battery, changed the jumpers and all that), switching my graphics card from the upper slot to the upper slot, and made sure I connected all 5 power connection. But still, I can't get pass 3 diag LED and my monitor isn't getting any signals. I guess I'll tell my tragic story now:

I've been using my computer for about 3 months before I decided to upgrade to water-cooling. After finishing my 24 hours leak-test, I hooked everything back up and let it rip. I used my newly water-cooled computer for about 3 days before I accidentally yanked one of the tubes and caused massive leak from my cpu water block. The monitor goes dead; I immediately shut down the PSU. After fixing the leak, I turned on my computer again. The monitor then displayed the splash screen, but to my horror the cpu water block was once again leaking and I had to shut down my psu again. After another 3 hour fix and 24 hours leak-test I tried turning on my computer once again. But this time, the diag. LED only lid up three red lights. And basically it's stuck this way.

I've taken every apart my computer to find out if any of the parts are fried. After a very thorough inspection, none of the parts appears to be damaged. I've checked the cpu, gpu, and basically every nook and cranny on the motherboard. I've found nothing.

I tried clearing my CMOS but nothing changed. But I discovered that if I put my graphics card on the lower slot, I can boot my computer completely, but still my monitor gets no signals. The only reason I know this is through the diagnostic lights. But when I switched my graphic card to the upper slot again, the diagnostic LED lit up three LED.

Sorry about the unusually long length of my thread, but I'm really desperate and flat broke. I very much hope that my problem can somehow be resolved without me spending couple hundreds of dollars. Thanks for ya'll taking time and reading my post. Best of wishes.

P.S. I don't if this is important of not, but I never saw nor smelled smoke through out this entire incident.

[PoppyMcShotgun]

Ahhh, the 'ol "water over all of my components" nightmare...

 

Yeah bro, that sucks. I've been there. We'll, water on my components anyway. My idiotic friend was "helping" me by moving some cables around, and "accidentally" yanked on a cable that was wrapped around some tubing, resulting in the tube coming out of the reservoir! Water was everywhere, and the whole room was a mess. I would have kicked his butt but he was bigger than me. MUCH bigger than me.

 

Anyway, I let everything dry for 24 hours (not a second less), and then proceeded to "clean" everything. I guess I had a small leak as well, because I found green build-up along the contacts of my video card! I deep cleaned everything with paper towel, cloth, and anything I could, then waited another 24 hours to let everything dry again.

 

After that I booted right up! I don't know if this could help you in your situation, but it certainly can't hurt!

[Stubbie]

Thanks for tip Poppy, but I too also tried to clean/dry every slot and holes on my MB before I tried booting up. I guess things are looking pretty grim for me.

[amnonliu]

I think it is too late for this advice, but the key for saving wet electronics are to make sure the power is off before you have the leak, or as soon as possible after you have the leak, then to let everything dry out for days before trying to turn anything on.

 

I had a hose pop loose on my water cooled machine, and I saved it by dumping it face down on the floor as soon as the water started gurgling out. I then blotted up the water I could, and I let it sit for two days to dry out. After that, everything was OK.

 

Water is fun, but it is such a nightmare if anything needs to be changed. Here are example problems from my project:

 

Coolant goo: Eventually, the coolant fogs up all of the hoses.

 

No coolant goo: Just fill it with distilled water, and you'll get algae growing inside the hoses! Yuck!

 

Pump death: The pump dies about once per year, so the machine needs a complicated heart transplant.

 

Sediment: Pump bits and algae sludge eventually create a sediment that needs to be flushed.

 

Drips: Hose clamps need to be damn tight, or it will drip. I had to double up some clamps.

 

Hose size issues: Big hoses are better, but it makes finding parts a pain.

 

Upgrade woe: Upgrading a waterblocked graphics card is a big issue.

 

Heat: All that overclocking heat still needs to go somewhere. Pour 500 watts of it into a room without air conditioning and you'll be toast.

 

So, for my new project I decided to go with good old air, at least for now.

 

 

As for troubleshooting your present machine, it would really help if you had some extra parts to swap around. Are you sure the monitor still works? It sounds like the graphic card is probably toasted. Can you get another for testing? Can you test the card in another machine?

 

If you are going to build crazy overclocked watercooled monster machines, it is good to have a large supply of extra parts and extra money. If you don't have extra parts, you soon will, because you'll have a good bonepile pretty soon.

 

Good luck, and I'm sorry your project is having problems!!

[Dynomutt]

just a suggestion but it sounds like your Graphics card is dead (did it get wet) cos you said it boots with it in the second slot (does it only POST or does it proceed to load windows but with nothing on the screen?), try another card if you can.

[Stubbie]

Thanks for the suggestions, I appreciated it very much. But unfortunately I do not have a spare PCI-E VGA card at this moument.

Just a very quick question though, is it possible for any parts of the the computer to be fried but displays no physical damage what so ever? I thought that at the very least the some smoke should come out of the capacitor or there will be dark scorch marks found somewhere along the parts. I've fried some older machines before it all displayed these general characterisitcs.

Thank you guys that have taken the time to read my thread.

[rafaeldallago]

Thanks for the suggestions, I appreciated it very much. But unfortunately I do not have a spare PCI-E VGA card at this moument.

Just a very quick question though, is it possible for any parts of the the computer to be fried but displays no physical damage what so ever? I thought that at the very least the some smoke should come out of the capacitor or there will be dark scorch marks found somewhere along the parts. I've fried some older machines before it all displayed these general characterisitcs.

Thank you guys that have taken the time to read my thread.

Man, try using a cheap pci video card. That's enough for what you need...

[Boppo]

Thanks for the suggestions, I appreciated it very much. But unfortunately I do not have a spare PCI-E VGA card at this moument.

Just a very quick question though, is it possible for any parts of the the computer to be fried but displays no physical damage what so ever? I thought that at the very least the some smoke should come out of the capacitor or there will be dark scorch marks found somewhere along the parts. I've fried some older machines before it all displayed these general characterisitcs.

Thank you guys that have taken the time to read my thread.

It is possible for something to fry and not show any signs. I did it to a small Cisco Router when I plugged the wrong power adapter into it. Who would have thought that a company would make two devices with power supplies that have the same size plug, yet one is 18V and the other 48V?

[fenixco]

The possibility of leaks like that is the reason I use automotive style worm gear clamps on my system. You will have to pull really hard to get one off ( maybe destroying whatever part it is hooked to).

 

Did you take some caned air or compresor and blow out all your slots? You could have some water trapped in it causing a short.

 

I had a problem sealing the fitting for suction line on my res. It didn't matter how much teflon tape I used on it. I finally went out into the garage and got some (auto) liquid thread sealer. There is no more leak and I doubt I will ever get that fitting out of it.

[amnonliu]

It is more common for dead components to show no outward signs of damage than it is for them to have clear indications of damage. You can completely fry out a chip with a touch of a finger in the wrong place if you are not grounded, and you'll never be able to see the damage.

[Stubbie]

Well, I guess there is no hope for my computer anymore. I just took the mobo out for a 24 hours drying and blasted every slots with canned air. Still, nothing have changed when I boot everything up. Right now, I just don't know for the life of me if whether my graphics card is fryed as well.

[JAXK]

I have the exact problem, but without any water near my case. I also get three red led's, and no signal. I sent my graphics card back and the new one worked fine, but ended up doing the same thing after about 20 restarts.

 

I'm pretty sure it's the graphics card in your case, Stubbie.