# Computer got some beer inside the chassis.



## ratirt (May 20, 2019)

Hi guys. 
My colleague had an accident with his computer and beer. Some of the beer spilled and got into the computer. 
The computer was on and it did beeps and some of &*#&^%#(%^) sounds froze and then he pulled the plug. 
It's been drying for 2 days but from what he told me you can see the traces of liquid on the graphics card, motherboard and ram. 
What do you guys think? Is there any chance it will still work? 
Honestly I said that there are basically no chances but maybe I'm wrong or it depends on the spill and components that got wet?


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## R-T-B (May 20, 2019)

Mhmm.  An accident.  This is why I don't drink.  I know my family history and know something like this will happen, or I'll just end up trying to mate with the computer.  How do you think I was born a frogman?

Sorry, just find this kinda amusing.  I'd clean the component residue with some alcohol (isopropyl, not beer) + microfiber cloth and hope for the best.  Good luck.


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## Deleted member 24505 (May 20, 2019)

There is always a slim chance. strange as it may sound, he can wash the beer off the gpu and motherboard with de-ionised water and rinse the boards in de-ionised water ,and leave them to dry, then try it.


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## R-T-B (May 20, 2019)

...  that might work.  It also might wreck things more.  How "drunk" is the computer though?  (How much beer?)


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## Vayra86 (May 20, 2019)

There is a good chance you can still pull the CPU and it'll be working fine.


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## ratirt (May 20, 2019)

R-T-B said:


> ...  that might work.  It also might wreck things more.  How "drunk" is the computer though?  (How much beer?)





Vayra86 said:


> There is a good chance you can still pull the CPU and it'll be working fine.


Well. From what he told me it was just a small amount. He spilled this on the table and it dripped to the chassis since it has an opening to install the fans. it splashed across the components I assume and from what he told me it did. After the spill the computer went %^&$^%(&^(*& sound and he pulled the plug. I think the mosfets on the board had a bit as well. The cpu is probably ok but if mosfets got wet a lot the current might have killed the CPU as well.

I think that isopropyl might help clean things up although I'm not sure about de-ionized water.


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## witkazy (May 20, 2019)

Yeah, i beepd coupla times after beer myself but usually i'm fine next day 
But seriously , take it apart and examine carefully before You toss it , clean what You can and cross Your fingers if no dice may be some components can salvaged at leest


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## silentbogo (May 20, 2019)

ratirt said:


> What do you guys think? Is there any chance it will still work?


Beer is bad. Any fermented/acidic or salted liquid spilled on powered electronics == almost immediate corrosion (even if you had no sparks and fireworks initially). 
I'd start with thorough cleaning and inspection of GPU. If there are no visible corroded components - try re-assembling and re-installing the card.
You may get lucky if it was just a little bit of liquid and it did not damage any critical components.
Last time I had a zenbook drowned in beer in my workshop - it was a sad-sad picture. The entire board was corroded so badly, it looked like it spent a few months on the bottom of the ocean (though the device made its way from the owner to my lab next morning after the accident).


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## Vayra86 (May 20, 2019)

ratirt said:


> Well. From what he told me it was just a small amount. He spilled this on the table and it dripped to the chassis since it has an opening to install the fans. it splashed across the components I assume and from what he told me it did. After the spill the computer went %^&$^%(&^(*& sound and he pulled the plug. I think the mosfets on the board had a bit as well. The cpu is probably ok but if mosfets got wet a lot the current might have killed the CPU as well.
> 
> I think that isopropyl might help clean things up although I'm not sure about de-ionized water.



All good but my point was

_do pull the CPU._ Not tomorrow... today


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## ratirt (May 20, 2019)

Thanks for the info. I will tell him but I think it won't work anyway. Although I will not tell him that. Just gonna say there's still a chance 


Vayra86 said:


> All good but my point was
> 
> _do pull the CPU._ Not tomorrow... today


I will tell him to take all of it apart and give it a good cleaning. We will see what's going to happen.


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## Deleted member 24505 (May 20, 2019)

https://www.embeddedarm.com/blog/deionized-water-the-gold-standard-for-electronics-cleaning/


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## Ferrum Master (May 20, 2019)

ratirt said:


> I think that isopropyl might help clean things up although I'm not sure about de-ionized water.



No. Isopropil will not help. Fairy and water is your best chance. Then oven it at 80C for an hour.


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## ratirt (May 20, 2019)

tigger said:


> https://www.embeddedarm.com/blog/deionized-water-the-gold-standard-for-electronics-cleaning/


That actually helps. Thanks


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## R-T-B (May 20, 2019)

Ferrum Master said:


> No. Isopropil will not help. Fairy and water is your best chance. Then oven it at 80C for an hour.



May I ask which fairy?  Not sure I understood that bit.

I have used isopropyl 90% or whatever to clean up thermal paste but that's admitedly different than beer.


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## Ferrum Master (May 20, 2019)

R-T-B said:


> May I ask which fairy?  Not sure I understood that bit.
> 
> I have used isopropyl 90% or whatever to clean up thermal paste but that's admitedly different than beer.



Can you wash a glass of beer with just running water? I guess no... fairy dissolves the additional additives and the corrosive after products(salt) better. Yes there are official additives for using ultrasonic bath, distilled water. But motherboards are are very large and no room for that. I wanted to ask what kind of beer it was in the first place. Yeast amount. If it was craft, then it can have almost anything including fat.

Fairy, water, toothbrush... foamy washing... blow it it out using compressed air. Wash again... rinse and repeat. Then bake to get out the moisture. It works with a hairdryer or just leave it under a direct sun for a few hours.

IC's officially need to be baked 3h before usage after being stored without being sealed actually. But the practice shows, it rarely causes problems, maybe because the air is dry here. In humid places like dreaded Malaysia it is a huge problem. Why do you think many batteries bulge that were made there? Bingo, because of the humidity. Electronics is a capricious thing.


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## R-T-B (May 20, 2019)

Ok, this is just showing my lack of beer expertise.  Carry on.


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## Ferrum Master (May 20, 2019)

R-T-B said:


> Ok, this is just showing my lack of beer expertise.  Carry on.



Well, there are non alcohol containing beers also, some of them ain't that bad, if you are the driver.

I really like some US beers, like Hopping Frog too... With Evil Twin and Lervig those two breweries deliver some good stouts.


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## Deleted member 24505 (May 20, 2019)

ratirt said:


> That actually helps. Thanks



Washing electronic components with deionized water is fine. Just be sure to dry them thoroughly.


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## Chomiq (May 20, 2019)

I know it's ok to rinse components with IPA, but not THAT sort of IPA.


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## John Naylor (May 20, 2019)

ratirt said:


> Hi guys.
> My colleague had an accident with his computer and beer. Some of the beer spilled and got into the computer.
> The computer was on and it did beeps and some of &*#&^%#(%^) sounds froze and then he pulled the plug.
> It's been drying for 2 days but from what he told me you can see the traces of liquid on the graphics card, motherboard and ram.
> ...



No paper towels in the house ?

When this occurs, should immediately cut power,  remove all componentry and wipe down with a non shredding type paper towel or cloth giving a last wipe with 90+% isoprphly alcohol wetted cloth / towel.  It is also important to place components in a dry environment.    And air conditioned space is good ... if all else fails, don't laugh,  a refrigerator.   When smartphones came on the scene, my son was late to a party because he had to pick up his 1st one, upon getting there, he was imeditaely pushed in the pool .. with the phone.   He took it out of pocket and it was not functional.  It had that red dot warranty submersion detector, removed the  battery, SIM and SD card .... the detector was deep red, put it in fridge overnight and phone was fine.   That event somehow led to everyone among their friends bringing their phones over when similar events happened... gotta be more than a dozen instances and all phones survived.  More than once this was after submersion in rice was tried.  Have also done this with potable GPS, walkie talkies and other components .... a  few video cards and once all the componenty in an ITX Build that had been atatcked by hot coffee which covered the MoBo as was installed horizontally.

But you need to take this precaution.   An AC removes humidity from the air which is why they "drip" ... so does a refrigerator.  So a refrigerator will suck the humidity from the air inside too.  However, when you take it out, any humidity in the air will condense on the cold surfaces.  So along with the device, I stick in a large freezer bag with a balled up paper towel inside to keep it open.  After 12-16 hours... open the fridge, put the item(s)  inside the bag(s), seal it ... take out of fridge and lay it somewhere to come back up to room temperature naturally ... no hair dryers whetever to acceelarte the process as you want to avod rapid temp changes.  The sealed bag will keep any moist air from getting to it while it warms up.

DO NOT take it a step further and put it in  a freezer  I have seen this justified with the crazy logic that ice is nonconductive ... ice expands and it could break things and your screen (Liquid Crystal Displa) is likely not able to survive extreme low temps.   I have not as yet seen any electronic component whereby 35F - 40F lies outside it's exposure range.  If it did those in temperate climates couldn't do mail order in winter.


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## Bill_Bright (May 20, 2019)

I would open the side panel and blast a desk fan in there for another 24 hours. 

Liquid causing a short is certainly a concern, but so is rapid contraction from a cold liquid hitting a hot component. With the low voltages found inside a computer, in many cases, once the short is removed, the problem goes away. This is why mounting a motherboard on top of extra stand-offs _usually_ causes no permanent damage. So fingers crossed there.

But rapid contraction of matter can shatter some components - especially those consisting of ceramic materials. Those materials can take extreme heat and extreme cold, but not rapid transitions from one to the other.  So hopefully that did not happen.

As for cleaning, I recommend using short squirts with some quality electrical contact cleaner. For stubborn spots, use a acid brush to help the cleaner.

It might be a good idea to pull the drives and, if sure they didn't get wet, attach them to or install as secondary drives in another computer and copy off any user data he does not want to lose. 

Once all looks clean and dry, with fingers and toes crossed, connect power and see if it boots.


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## funkymonky (May 20, 2019)

ratirt said:


> Hi guys.
> My colleague had an accident with his computer and beer. Some of the beer spilled and got into the computer.
> The computer was on and it did beeps and some of &*#&^%#(%^) sounds froze and then he pulled the plug.
> It's been drying for 2 days but from what he told me you can see the traces of liquid on the graphics card, motherboard and ram.
> ...


You should've licked it clean, before you unplugged it! God, how stupid are people these days.

How did it get inside, if the case was closed? Spilling something directly on your PC would be really hard for me. Most have their PCs on the ground, in their desk, or on top of it. Many of us have sworn to never drink liquid around our PCs, like I have to keep it that safe. I don't let any liquid near my desk/pc.


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## infrared (May 20, 2019)

A mate of mine poured a full bottle of beer into an old dell pc years back when we were drunk, I remember it vividly as he was calling it the party computer!  Anyway, I yanked the power cord, pulled out the hard drive, dvd drive and power supply which were all dry luckily, also removed the cpu and ram.. Then I literally put it in the bath tub and washed it lol. I gave it 48 hrs in the hot water tank cupboard to dry, reassembled it and it worked fine until it got too outdated to be useful anymore.

Deionized water is a good idea for sure, even just to rinse off the tap water, but as long as you clean the crap off the parts and make sure its completely dry there's a reasonable chance it'll be fine. Definitely try to save it though, you've got nothing to lose 

Edit - I've also dried parts in the oven at 80c if I'm in a rush, hair drier can work too.. Just err on the safe side because it can take a while for all the water to evaporate from under chips.


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## juiseman (May 20, 2019)

Give it a bath in 90% Alcohol , old toothbrush then scrub. That
won't fix it; but it will get the beer off. 
Use compressed air to dry it; check for any residue; repeat process.

The damage (if any) has already been done.
let dry and try it out . If it doesn't work; try the cpu and other components
in another board; salvage what you can....

That's what I would do anyways....


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## hat (May 20, 2019)

funkymonky said:


> You should've licked it clean, before you unplugged it! God, how stupid are people these days.
> 
> How did it get inside, if the case was closed? Spilling something directly on your PC would be really hard for me. Most have their PCs on the ground, in their desk, or on top of it. Many of us have sworn to never drink liquid around our PCs, like I have to keep it that safe. I don't let any liquid near my desk/pc.


I set my drinks on top of my PC case... but I also don't use open cups. However, even if something did totally spill, it would be pretty hard to get it _in_ the computer.


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## funkymonky (May 20, 2019)

hat said:


> I set my drinks on top of my PC case... but I also don't use open cups. However, even if something did totally spill, it would be pretty hard to get it _in_ the computer.


That's disgusting, I can imagine the hundreds of ring marks left by the drinks. I don't care about what my case looks like, but it better not be dirty.


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## Bill_Bright (May 20, 2019)

> even if something did totally spill, it would be pretty hard to get it _in_ the computer.


Of course that very much depends on the case. Many cases have vents on the top for fans or radiators.


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## hat (May 20, 2019)

Fair point. My case has no such vents at the top... didn't think of that.


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## ratirt (May 21, 2019)

hat said:


> Fair point. My case has no such vents at the top... didn't think of that.


His does  That's how the beer got the PC tipsy 

Today he is going to try it out. Different Graphics card. From what he told me his Vega56 is probably gonna stay "hangover" forever


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## Mussels (May 21, 2019)

bunnings (hardware store, famous for its sausages in bread here in aus) around here sells push-pump bottles of isopropyl alcohol that have turned out great for saving liquid spilled hardware, since it dries out fast and the 'spray' action gently cleans shit off


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## Jetster (May 21, 2019)

Just let it sit for 2 weeks


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## Ferrum Master (May 21, 2019)

hat said:


> I set my drinks on top of my PC case... but I also don't use open cups. However, even if something did totally spill, it would be pretty hard to get it _in_ the computer.



I am using huge glass on my table, well I even drink tea from it... the best is, that if you accidentally move it it will not trip and spill everything out. That glass can hold 0.7l actually.



Spoiler: 18+ unintentional advert.


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## witkazy (May 21, 2019)

Idea for the future cos history likes to repeat itself



works for beer too


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## Vario (May 21, 2019)

The machine should be carefully dissassembled and allowed time to dry out. Using isopropyl alcohol preferably 91% or higher, clean all of the remnants off the circuitry with a very soft tooth brush. I had a friend do this twice, both times killed his motherboard but the rest of the parts were fine and I rebuilt it for him.  He kept hooking his drink with the mouse cord and upending it into the top vent on his HAF912.  After I rebuilt his machine the second time, I ended up sealing the vent off with a piece of scrap plywood and a gasket.  First time was soda second time was water.


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## MrPerforations (May 21, 2019)

I did the same thing to my power switch on my cosmos with some cider, I just swapped the power to the reset button and left the power switch disconnected.
I must rip it to pieces and try to clean it soon.
I have a can of 20 year old acrylic protective lacquer that a friend gave me, its used to coat the pcb's and prevent just this kind of thing.
I dragged it out as the LN2 guy's don't seem to know about it, which is odd.
i would think it would be a must for the alcoholic and caffeine addicted computers as it should help them shrug off last nights binge.


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## Bill_Bright (May 21, 2019)

*Isopropyl alcohol is a solvent!*  It is great for dissolving many resins. And I note most PCBs are sprayed with resins to prevent moisture from getting into the substrates and to help prevent oxidation/corrosion. Also note some plastics are affected by isopropyl alcohol too. This is why I suggested and recommend using electrical contact cleaner. It is designed to displace moisture and clean electrical contacts and circuit boards. It is also safe on plastics.

I use ~91-93% isopropyl alcohol on many things - especially when cleaning old TIM off CPUs and heatsinks. But I make sure to avoid getting it on the motherboard. In fact, I do not recommend its use on circuit boards - at least not without testing it first in a small spot on the board that has no circuit runs or components.


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## John Naylor (May 21, 2019)

We had an executive secretary to the president who refuded to jump on board when the PC era arrived until they could get her old dication system with the foot pedal working.  When she arrived, (she started half hour later than everybody else) she hit my extension and said she was having trouble.

When I arrived:

Question 1 - How does this foot pedal work, I can't get it to do anything ? .... it was her mouse.

Question 2 - Is this tray supposed to hold my coffee and keep it warm ? ... no, that's where you put CDs

Question 3 -  How do I connect the tape recorder and my headphones ?    You don't, well you could but that's generally only done when you use voice dictation software to automatically transcribe recordings.   The questions stopped.   Transcribing those tapes, getting coffee and mailing out stuff were basically her only responsibilities and I guess the thought of bei g replaced by a program captured here thoughts.

I did get a Question 4 about 2 weeks later.   I had shown her how to fax thru the puter but my phone rang and she said ... "I dunno what's wrong but Im having trouble sending a fax".  It took 2 -3 minutes before she said that the document wasn't in the computer, ... it was paper and "I'm holding it against the screen and pressing enter but nothing happens"


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## Grog6 (May 22, 2019)

I've put electronics in the dishwasher for a lot of years, it works fine. 

One place I worked bought me a dishwasher, after some complaints. 

Alconox is used for the more tough contamination; like acetylene residue, which is very fine graphite/carbon particles.
Don't put Dawn in the dishwasher, no matter how good it sounds.
Foam from a very small amount can fill a room in no time. 

Yank the batteries first, and use an air hose to blow out all the water trapped under the components afterward, while it's still hot; you don't want it to evaporate and leave residue.

I've done this for over 30 years; the only fails were still contaminated. Carbon is tenacious...


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## Bill_Bright (May 22, 2019)

I've used the dishwasher (top rack only, and air dry) for mechanical keyboards too. Worked fine. I generally use no detergent. The heated water seems good enough. If you find you need detergent, I would use as little as possible.


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## kapone32 (May 22, 2019)

I remember when I was refilling my Alphacool EIsbaer after adding a water block for my GPU. Some of the liquid got onto the board (. I turned on the computer and the board instantly shut down. I took out the board and let it sit for a week. After 1 week I plugged a PSU using the 24 pin and the board turned on fine. I still use it today and that was iver a year ago. It would seem that the ESD on modern boards works great.


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## Bill_Bright (May 22, 2019)

kapone32 said:


> It would seem that the ESD on modern boards works great.


Except what you described has absolutely nothing to do with ESD. You did not discharge 10s of 1000s of volts of static electricity from your body through a component mounted on the motherboard. You spilled a liquid that shorted out two or more electrical contacts with a maximum of just 12 volts. Big difference. And actually, odds are it was probably closer to 5V. And it was probably your power supply sensing the short (and resulting excess current) that caused the PSU to shutdown, not your motherboard.


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## kapone32 (May 22, 2019)

Bill_Bright said:


> Except what you described has absolutely nothing to do with ESD. You did not discharge 10s of 1000s of volts of static electricity from your body through a component mounted on the motherboard. You spilled a liquid that shorted out two or more electrical contacts with a maximum of just 12 volts. Big difference. And actually, odds are it was probably closer to 5V. And it was probably your power supply sensing the short (and resulting excess current) that caused the PSU to shutdown, not your motherboard.



Interesting thought you may be right


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## Deleted member 67555 (May 22, 2019)

Take it apart and use something like this.
This particular brand is flammable but that's because it's good for plastic too.
This stuff displaces water as well and evaporates as fast as ether.


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## ratirt (May 23, 2019)

Well I've got good news. Either way, honestly when I saw what the spill was in his chassis it almost made me cry. We have cleaned everything and it works fine. The only problem left is the graphics card. That has taken the most hit. We've put it apart and cleaned it but we will need to replace thermal pads. Those mounted got damn dirty and there's no point in reusing them. The question I got for you guys is what pads we should use? There's so many of them. Any recommendation from your side? If you can share your insight I'd appreciate. The dimensions also if you have a specification that works best. Specially the thickness of them. Those that were originally used weren't so great. I saw cracks for some of them which isn't good and should not happen.

Thanks


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## de.das.dude (May 31, 2019)

tigger said:


> Washing electronic components with deionized water is fine. Just be sure to dry them thoroughly.


i used to wash my gpu with regular tap water. The water was really good at my parents place. Never had any issues. Needed to dry it off for 5 days in a drawer with silica gel.


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## Bill_Bright (May 31, 2019)

Not really a good idea because regular tap water (even if filtered) has minerals and other naturally occurring impurities such as sodium, iron, calcium, and but a bunch of other things - including additives like fluoride and chlorine. These impurities would be left behind as a thin layer of residue which may, over time, react with the materials used in the electronic devices. So it is just best to stick with products that are specifically designed to clean electronics. A can of CRC Electronic Cleaner is less than $10. And because it does not leave any residues, the spray nozzle will not clog up, meaning if you are not a frequent user, a single can will last years and still work fine. Better safe than sorry.


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## ratirt (Jun 21, 2019)

Just to let you know guys. 
Everything works including the Vega card. we've swapped the thermal pads tested the card and all is great. Actually the temps dropped significantly. 
Lucky bastard


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## Eskimonster (Jun 21, 2019)

Awesum  happy to hear.


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## Mussels (Jun 22, 2019)

thanks for coming back to let us know the outcome!


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## jaggerwild (Jun 22, 2019)

ratirt said:


> Hi guys.
> My colleague had an accident with his computer and beer. Some of the beer spilled and got into the computer.
> The computer was on and it did beeps and some of &*#&^%#(%^) sounds froze and then he pulled the plug.
> It's been drying for 2 days but from what he told me you can see the traces of liquid on the graphics card, motherboard and ram.
> ...



 You got nothing to lose, but if it went "beeps and some of &*#&^%#(%^) sounds froze " then prolly need to part it out. As stated keep the parts that didn't get wet like PSU, memory, motherboard, etc.


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## Devil1950 (Jun 30, 2019)

I always use Jar to wash my PC components, with hot water and Jar it removes every bit of residue ever created with Soft painting brush, toothbrush or even for shaving brush.


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## Bill_Bright (Jun 30, 2019)

Devil1950 said:


> I always use Jar to wash my PC components


 By using an upper case "J", in "Jar", that suggests a proper name. So is "Jar" a product name? Or do you mean something like a pickle jar filled with hot soapy water? If you mean a product named "Jar", got a link? Google is of no hope here.

Frankly, as a certified electronics tech, I do not recommend "water" based products to clean circuit boards, including plain or soapy water - especially hot water. The PCB (printed circuit board) itself is made of several laminated layers of copper, substrates and solder masks. In an "ideal" world once fully assembled, the boards are sealed in epoxy resins or polyurethane  to make them water resistant (note I did not say waterproof!). Epoxy resins and polyurethanes also help keep those layers from separating should the PCB be exposed to water or even very high humidity.

But we don't live in an "ideal" world!

PCBs are drilled with 100s of holes for component leads exposing the various PCB layers. Along the board edges, or when boards are repaired, or just during the manufacturing process, the various layers may be exposed. The epoxy resin or polyurethane protective covering may be damaged or incompletely applied during manufacture. And if water seeps in between the layers during cleaning (or Baptism by beer ), further damage (and possible separation, corrosion, etc.) may occur. Remember, water is "the" universal solvent!

Also, many boards include micro-switches and adjustable or "variable" components. These are not water-tight devices. Not to mention there are many exposed contacts in connectors and headers where remaining residues may affect continuity, attract dust, or even promote corrosion. 

So PLEASE! Do yourselves a favor and stick with products designed to clean electronics! As mentioned twice above now, use a quality electrical contact cleaner. For stubborn spots, use an acid brush to help the cleaner. These products contain no water. They evaporate completely and quickly. And they leave no residues behind. Cleaning electronics is what they were made for. 

"Use the right tool for the job".

If CRC QD Electronic Cleaner is not available in your area, look for WD-40 Specialist Electrical Contract Cleaner. It too is great stuff.


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