Emergency: WC worst case scenario!

Hey guys, this morning there was a huge amount of condensation on my WC lines, but regretfully, i turned on the comp anyway. It didnt post, no beep, nothing. So I turned it off, and examined it to find that there was water in many places on the motherboard. It turns out the seal around the waterblock spouts where the water goes in and out were going bad, and water was leaking all over the place over night. So i cleaned it and dried it as best i could, and let it sit under a heat lamp for about an hour, then tried it again. Nada. My question is, do you think my whole comp is shot? Or just my mobo? Or is it just shorting and i need to let it dry? Any help would be appreciated!

Something is shot probably, but how come you didn't WAIT!?!?! Whats the point of rushing? You should have asked here, some guy had the same problem but recovered his system using some alcohol soaking/drying technique.

what is most likely shot? the mobo? the water didnt get near the RAM, some dripped on the video card, and some probably got in or around the cpu pins.

when i turn it on, all the lights on the front panel light up, and it sounds like the hard drive isnt spinning up.

I'm gonna say either the cpu or mobo.

Possibly both.

is there an LED on the mobo that ligts up? Do you have any spare parts lying around? Meaning - could you install the CPU on a different mobo to see if it works? That's really what will be needed - you need to determine what componants have been fried.

I dont have a spare socket 478, perhaps i could borrow a friend's...

The light on the mobo lights up when i turn the power supply on, and the other one turns on when the comp turns on, so it seems that the mobo is getting power.

bottom line: is there any chance it could still work? i know if you short a board against the case, it gives similar results, but it doesnt usually fry the mobo (at least not in my experience), so if the mobo is wet, it might be shorting out, and maybe it will work after it has time to dry completely. Is this just wishful thinking?

Maybe you could of shorted out the PSU also. What you describe soumds like when one of the rails is out on a PS.

maybe, i'd tear the mb out and carfully inspect it for any burn spots or physical damage. You could also use alcohol on the board to remove any hidden water and let it dry for a day before restarting it. THe alcohol won't damage anything as long as it completly dries.

i took out the video card, and tried booting, this time the the HDD's and roms started up and lights started blinking, but no beep. So ive made progress. Another question, will the comp even beep if theres no display device? if not, then my comp could be fine, i just wouldnt know till i get a new card.

the beeps depend on your mobo magnufacturer, go to the mobo section and look up bios beep codes

I had that happen once. I just let the board dry out for three days and it worked fine after that. It helps to remove the board and unplug all the cards and memory so the moisture in those areas can dry out.

If it got around the pins of the CPU, most likely, it's NOT dry inside the little pin holders. Wait at least a day before trying...

Yes, alchohol would clean up the corrosive mess but oh well...you didn't use clamps?

Stop turning it on! Soak everything that got moist in alcohol overnight. Then let it dry for a couple of days. If the computer was off when it leaked, and you wouldn't have turned it on, your computer probably would have been completely salvagable. I don't know about it now though.

ok. ill stop turning it on. I took out my video card and took off all the ramsinks only to find the vram had water on them. i dried it out and stuck it in, and hit the switch. no beep, but the screen came up with a wierd graphic jumble (think original nintendo), and i turned it off. the HDDs and the roms sounded like they were whirring away. Im going away this weekend, perhaps ill just unplug everything and let it dry out. Oh yeah, i looked at my graphics card and one of the pins was corroded. The agp port's corresponding pin may be shot also. Perhaps ill switch to PCIe.

I know it was stupid to turn the thing on, but i just got back from a 2 month long vacation in cali, and i had'nt been able to do cool things like play online games or surf the web faster than 56k, so when i got home, i refilled the system (i had drained it before i left) and i let it run and chill overnight. I had sorta forgotten that the summers up here (ND) are extremely humid, and when i woke up, there was a little water on the floor of my Case, which was common back in the spring and winter. I had no clue that there was water all over the video card when i turned it on. Oops.
Thanks for all your help everyone. Now all we can do is wait...and pray...

you dont insulate your water lines???

they're insulated...just not all the way...heh heh heh.....

aight, just placed an order for a sapphire 9800np, should be here by monday or tuesday, we'll see then. thanks for all the help guys!

what you could have done and it works in some cases is get 100% isoproponal (rubbing alcohol) and dip ur ENTIRE board, graphics card, w/e in there overnight. Then take it out the next day and it wait a short bit for it to dry and WALLAH, ur mobo, graphics card, w/e it might work!