Catastrophic water cooler failure

[peppy197 165]

I was puzzled as to why my puter would kick in, then stop. So I restarted it, and again. Still it would just stop on its own, then after 5 or 7 trials it would not even start up the fans:   

 

 

   ***   The scream of silence   ***

 

 

As the phrase implies. It died.

Then I took out the 500$ videocard and examined it. To my surprise there was a ton of liquid comming out of it. But where the heck would it get water? I am 30 feet from the bathroom !  And coffee is of the darkest black in my room. There was also some liquid traces on the MB. Odd thing eh?

 

After a few minutes of chin thumbing, I thought:  WATER COOLER !!!!!!

 

Dambed.

 

I did  a thorough cleansing and drying. Replaced the CPU heatsink with the stock. Not a sound from the fans. Should at least do that without a videocard.

 

Bathed by immersion the MB and Videocards in isopropyl alcohol 99% pure (500 mL). Let dry a day after using the hair drying to dry them.

Still not a sound.

Just a little green light to say the PSU was on standby. Tried a spare PSU...same results.

 

Conclusion: a least MB dead. Maybe Video; probably not the CPU as it was above the waterfall. The MB PCIe slots were the worst off. Water stays in there forever due to its comb structure.

 

Went to the local shop but being in a small town there were only Gigabyte MBs and no ASUS which I had. So I had to change motherboards. Got a Z77 chipset to circumvent the videocard for install incase it was also dead.

 

Installed MB only, new artic paste on CPU, and voila the fans were singing to their delight !!  

 

Now to get everything back to normal ?

By starting windows7 in safe mode, it was able to insert viable drivers. And it loaded up no problem. Needed telephone activation. OK (dont forget to say "one" to the question of how many computers!). SO I got that activated and then replaced the driveres as needed to up-to-date from net.

 

Videocard:   thanks to its bath, it was now free of that whitish layer of residue. And works fine,

I think it was the PCIe slots that outdid the MB, while with the videocard the water just rolled on past and/or through it without  permanent retention and soaking ...

 

Wew!!!!!!!!

 

Saved the 500$ videocard . Registry intact and OK

 

Now to go out and get a new water cooler. :Praying:  :Big Grin:

[FSMuseum 39]

What a story! Glad to here its coming along okay though!

[z06z33 763]

what kind of water cooler did you have? I check mine for leaks before every start up kind of a pre flight ya know haha

[HighTowers 1,434]

Sorry to hear that. I take it it was an open loop cooler?

I have a closed loop sealed hoping to ever avoid that story.

 

 

 

 

[peppy197 165]

what kind of water cooler did you have? I check mine for leaks before every start up kind of a pre flight ya know haha

 

twas an ECO Cool-It

 

no model number

 

I suspect the reason for the failure was that I set the CPU fan to max through the BIOS which meant is was always running the pump at full, and the raiator fan too, at full speeds thus lowering avg temps by a whopping 4 degrees....overclockers beware and be forwarned!.

Sorry to hear that. I take it it was an open loop cooler?

I have a closed loop sealed hoping to ever avoid that story.

 

 

A kit...closed looped. Cheap, 60$

[Noel 4,483]

Good Lord--give me a blithering aviation-grade water cooler or give me a decent air cooler!  Thank you for helping me feel good about the D-14 I'm about to purchase!  

[peppy197 165]

Good Lord--give me a blithering aviation-grade water cooler or give me a decent air cooler!  Thank you for helping me feel good about the D-14 I'm about to purchase!  

 

Thanks for the lead

 

The only worry I have with mail ordering air coolers is: will it fit?

[Noel 4,483]

 

 

The only worry I have with mail ordering air coolers is: will it fit?

 

Indeed!  Taking recommendations on that question right now:  which case?  I found 2400Mhz ram that will work w/ the D-14, but not sure about the case yet ;o)

[peppy197 165]

Indeed!  Taking recommendations on that question right now:  which case?  I found 2400Mhz ram that will work w/ the D-14, but not sure about the case yet ;o)

 

I guess the best approach is only order if you can get specific dimensions from the specifications sheet from the manufacturer, or if it obvious...

[peppy197 165]

Another tip when installing a new MB:

 

Install the mouse/keyboard USB into a legacy 2.0 slot NOT a 3.0

 

This made me eat all my fingernails until it clued in

[martin-w 3,234]

 

 

 

 

I suspect the reason for the failure was that I set the CPU fan to max through the BIOS which meant is was always running the pump at full, and the raiator fan too, at full speeds thus lowering avg temps by a whopping 4 degrees....overclockers beware and be forwarned!.

 

 

 

You know what, I seriously doubt it was because you ran it at full. The pump should be designed to run at it's max speed for extended periods. If it's not, then it's a badly designed product. Decent products are tested to withstand usage beyond the average requirement.

 

I would say just a random failure.

[peppy197 165]

I too think the product was inferior (the ECO Cool-It is no longer sold anywheres).

 

And now that I know how to recover from a catastrophic failure of the water cooler...

 

I am right this very moment unpacking a lovely Thermalake Water 2.0 Performer Liquid Cooler

 

Very optimistic about it too it looks much better.

 

SO DO NOT AVOID WATER COOLERS just because they can fail  !! You'll be able to recover somehow

 

 

My new Baby

[ltnicolas 5]

Glad to see your PC works despite the flooding. Best wishes on your next cooler!

Nicolás

[DannyH73 16]

I had the exact same cooler, and the exact same situation.

 

Luckily was 3 days away from the 3 year warranty expiring, and since built by a major custom PC builder, had the destroyed motherboard and video card replaced.

 

Wasn't until after that I started reading the number of horror stories. Seems this one of the first closed loop coolers, and they all seem to "pop" after an extended time - mine wasn't even working that hard - fans typically around 40% cooling an i7-980x oc to 4.0GHz.

 

I think there's a warning here for anyone with one of these coolers - replace it before it causes all manners of headaches.

 

Danny

 

[martin-w 3,234]

You know what, the more and more I hear about these all in one water coolers leaking, the more convinced I am that sticking to air cooling is the way to go for me.

 

If heat pipe coolers are the preferred cooling method for the many satellite's that orbit our planet, that have to cope with VERY extreme temperature issues... then heat pipe air coolers are fine for me.

 

I know leaks are said to be quiet rare, but I do think that if the manufacturer's addressed the issue further, and designed in features that improved the coolers in this respect, they would sell many more units.

 

As it stands, if I installed one of these water cooling solutions, I would always have it in the back of my mind, will it leak, will it leak?.

 

I think I would be more confident about a full-blown custom built water cooling set up. At least then I would have control mover the compression fittings myself, as I made the joints in the first place.