I've been working on PC's for a decade and have never had one catch fire in front of me, until today
Posted by Shima33@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 18 comments
One of my father's friends knocked fruit juice on it last night and it wouldn't power on - swapped the PSU out for one that would turn on, and immediately about a matchstick-size fireball out the back of the GPU. It's a Zotac GTX 1060 6GB, and it looks like one of those black capacitors on the back of the board is smouldered. Everything else *seems to* work (keep in mind I had it powered on for a few seconds before yanking the cord due to the fireball), it still powers on without the GPU and there's still data on the drives...
Here's my question - how can I make sure that the rest of the system is okay, and that any other GPU I plug into it won't also catch fire? I've given it a visual inspection and it seems like the moisture only landed on the GPU and one of the SSD's, the rest of the system seems dry, and the PSU's already been swapped; any other safeguards to take at this stage, or is it just "get a new GPU and pray really hard"?
1ns3rtn1ckn4m3@reddit
That's why you never power on a PC that had liquid in it without properly inspecting and cleaning every single part.
Shima33@reddit (OP)
It was on a spot that I couldn't see, and it had already dried into a sugary residue. But yes, this is a lesson hard learnt.
VoraciousGorak@reddit
I'd grab some contact cleaner and a lot of 91%+ isopropyl alcohol and basically give any part that the fruit juice might have hit a good bath. Even if it's dried, the corrosion may have only begun if the residual chemicals are still present on the board.
No-Solid9108@reddit
Hopefully they don't power it back up with a 91% isopropyl alcohol still there !
No-Solid9108@reddit
That's called liquid cooling !
znogower@reddit
You'll want to make sure there's no residual moisture in the system first and foremost. Visual inspections of your pcie lanes would be a good start, but I would check every connection point you can find. Make sure nothing looks obviously damaged, burned, or melted. If you have an old GPU to test with, you could try that first before replacing it with a more expensive card. Power surges like that can be pretty dangerous to your system, so in the long run, it's probably better just to get a new mobo to be safe.
That being said, if everything is powering up fine, you might have made off okay this time. Check for signs of damage to the mobo, and psu power cables, then test with an old GPU.
Shima33@reddit (OP)
Yeah, I've shone a flashlight over it and can't spot any moisture anywhere else, the only fire damage is on the GPU itself. I'd much prefer to not get a new mobo if I can help it due to finances - is there any way to work out if that's essential?
I've swapped to a new PSU because the old PSU wouldn't provide any power at all - it's only after the swap in power supplies that this flameout's occured. New cables too, just to rule that out.
znogower@reddit
If the board and cables look undamaged, it's fairly likely the motherboard is working okay. You could also try cleaning with some isopropyl alcohol to make sure there's not any liquid sitting in the pcie slot. That's unlikely since it was plugged in at the time, but better safe than sorry. Past that, you'll have to test with an actual GPU to really know. It's a good sign that the PC still boots up, and you have access to the drive data.
DenseAstronomer3631@reddit
I think cleaning those areas with iso would be a good idea since it was fruit juice and not just water, there could be dried sugar on there
znogower@reddit
I didn't mention sugar, but it's a good point. Sugar can ruin your motherboard very quickly. Thoroughly clean that PC with 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol, if you haven't already.
Duedain@reddit
So you didn't clean up the orange juice and thought it was a good idea just to swap the PSU and plug it back in?!?!?!?!
AdKraemer01@reddit
Fill it with rice. It's the only sensible step.
SoundlessScream@reddit
That gpu might even be savable. Might replace that capacitor and clean it with alchohol to de-juice it
9okm@reddit
I'd be disassembling and leaving all the parts out for a few days before reassembling and testing. You need to make sure it's totally dried out.
Shima33@reddit (OP)
Nope, but a friendly IT shop around the corner from me has given me some other GPU's to test with it, and... IT LIVES!!! Of course I need to check all voltages and keep a reeeeeeeeeally close eye on it, but for now, I've gotten away pretty dang lucky.
znogower@reddit
Nice! I'm glad you were able to get it going again!
builder680@reddit
Is it a Raidmax PSU?
Ok_Contact9732@reddit
Vaya, qué situación más desafortunada.
Por lo que describes, esa GTX 1060 seguramente está muerta. Si hubo una bola de fuego y un capacitor chamuscado, ya no hay mucho que hacer por ella. Lo importante ahora es asegurarse de que el resto del sistema no haya sufrido daños ocultos antes de conectar otra tarjeta gráfica.
Te recomiendo lo siguiente:
Inspección visual completa
Revisa con buena luz (incluso una lupa si puedes) la placa madre, especialmente la zona del slot PCIe, los conectores de energía y cualquier lugar donde pudo haber caído el jugo. Busca señales de quemaduras, corrosión, residuos pegajosos o manchas sospechosas.
Limpieza con alcohol isopropílico
Si hay restos de líquido o residuos secos, limpia cuidadosamente con alcohol isopropílico (idealmente al 99%) y un cepillo suave. Asegúrate de que todo esté completamente seco antes de volver a encender el sistema.
Prueba el sistema sin tarjeta gráfica dedicada
Si el equipo arranca normalmente usando video integrado (o simplemente sin GPU), no hay pitidos raros ni otros problemas, es una buena señal de que lo demás sigue funcionando.
Evita usar una tarjeta cara al principio
Si vas a probar otra GPU, lo ideal es que sea una de bajo consumo o antigua, por si acaso. Así reduces el riesgo de dañar algo costoso si todavía hay un problema en la placa base o en la alimentación.
En resumen: limpia bien, revisa todo y haz una prueba controlada con una GPU sencilla. Si todo va bien, es probable que solo la tarjeta haya sido la víctima del incidente.