Spilled Coffee on my Graphics Card - Need help please!

[Mobix]

Hey,

I accidentally spilled some coffee on my my desk today. Most of the liquid stayed on the desk but some of it found its way down my pc case and dropped directly onto my graphics card. The screen went blank and I turned the computer off immidiately. I grabbed a paper towel and tried to dry my case and the graphics card as well as I could. Then, I tried turning my pc on again but half of the screen was covered in artifacts. I decided to disconnect the graphics card and clean it with some surgical spirit. Now it is drying, ill leave it like that for 24h.

I bought the card in July, it's 1280MB EVGA GTX 570 HD DS, 40nm, 38. It is covered by an EVGA warranty but i am not sure if they will allow it. As you can see from the picture one of the stickers has coffee stains.

http://imgur.com/JCw7T,4thzt,4icOr,pOrZ0


What should I do?

 

[DOM]

have you tried 90% isopropyl alcohol ?

 

[Kreij]

Clean everything that might be a problem with something like contact cleaner or something that leaves no residue.
It should dry in a few minutes and then you can start doing some tests.
If the GC did fry, RMA it. Worst case they say no.

 

[de.das.dude]

take off the heatsink, put it in the dishwasher, dry it for a day (in a drawer with silica gel if you them lying around), try. you shouldnt have tried turning it on without consulting us. its probably been damaged already.


if you dont have diswasher use an old toothbrush and some soap. and a spray bottle.

i use this ^ to clean my stuff every now and then.

 

[BUCK NASTY]

take off the heatsink, put it in the dishwasher, dry it for a day (in a drawer with silica gel if you them lying around), try. you shouldnt have tried turning it on without consulting us. its probably been damaged already.


if you dont have diswasher use an old toothbrush and some soap. and a spray bottle.

i use this ^ to clean my stuff every now and then.

WTF, Put the PCB or the cooler in the Dishwasher? Neither should not come in contact with a liquid(this is why he is in this position). Um, the card was on when the coffee hit it, so the damage is done, if any. Turning it on after a brief cleaning will not do any additional harm other than exists already.:shadedshu

 

[newtekie1]

Cleaning PCBs in the dishwasher is nothing new. I've done it on components that have had coffee or soda spilled on them. When liquids like coffee or soda dry they leave a residue that can still be conductive, so putting it in the dishwasher works really well at getting that residue off. I've saved plenty of components this way. Just don't use soap and turn off the heated drying and any sanitizing options and it is a safe method for cleaning components.

 

[Fourstaff]

WTF, Put the PCB or the cooler in the Dishwasher? Neither should not come in contact with a liquid(this is why he is in this position). Um, the card was on when the coffee hit it, so the damage is done, if any. Turning it on after a brief cleaning will not do any additional harm other than exists already.:shadedshu

Assuming minimal damage, sticking it into dishwasher is not going to bring it any worse.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Liquid will not hurt it..........if there is no power. However there was power and its fried. DO NOT CLEAN IT AND HOOK IT BACK UP. It could short out other parts if it hasnt already. If it didnt turn off I would have said you MIGHT be ok. But thats not what happen.

 

[UbErN00b]

Liquid will not hurt it..........if there is no power. However there was power and its fried. DO NOT CLEAN IT AND HOOK IT BACK UP. It could short out other parts if it hasnt already.

That's what I'm guessing too as it caused the PC to shut off after it happened, still give it a clean and see if it works, if not you might try and RMA though you "really" shouldn't as it was user error and getting any kind of liquid on electrical items voids the warranty. I have fried a 2500k by user error (pumped +0.5v into it by mistake ) and RMA'd it though that's just me.

 

[Mobix]

Liquid will not hurt it..........if there is no power. However there was power and its fried. DO NOT CLEAN IT AND HOOK IT BACK UP. It could short out other parts if it hasnt already. If it didnt turn off I would have said you MIGHT be ok. But thats not what happen.

It didn't turn off, just the screen went blank while the pc was still running

 

[phanbuey]

you should be fine... dry it off and try it again... this stuff is pretty resilient

 

[Jetster]

After you get it working you need to tell your story here:

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160004

 

[micropage7]

i guess there some left, from the strain there could residue stay between component
if you wanna try using warm water to flush them away

 

[Bo$$]

I'm thinking ut's dead, Try RMA if they reject it then wash it or whatever, first thing it to get a new card

 

[MxPhenom 216]

WTF, Put the PCB or the cooler in the Dishwasher? Neither should not come in contact with a liquid(this is why he is in this position). Um, the card was on when the coffee hit it, so the damage is done, if any. Turning it on after a brief cleaning will not do any additional harm other than exists already.:shadedshu

I beg to differ.

Skip to like 1:20

ud 9 wash - YouTube

 

[natr0n]

Think your card is dead nothing can survive that kind of short.

your card is

 

[Lazzer408]

Ug.... NO DISHWASHER!! NO NO NO!! Tap water has chlorine, fluoride, and other minerals in it that make for a great electrolyte if you want to oxidize something. Not to mention soap residues.

First remove the fan and clean off the thermal compound.

Get two cake pans. Fill both with distilled water. Put both on two stovetop burners with the gfx card in one and nothing in the other but water. Cook them both on high for a few minutes (until it's steamy) then remove the card and put it in the clean water for a rinse.

Dry with a hair drier on high for 15 min.

These are GREAT for cleaning boards.

 

[cdawall]

Ug.... NO DISHWASHER!! NO NO NO!!

First remove the fan and clean off the thermal compound.

Get two cake pans. Fill both with distilled water. Put both on the stovetop burners with the gfx card in one and nothing in the other but water. Cook them both on the stovetop burners for a few minutes (until it's steamy) then remove the card and put it in the clean water for a rinse.

Dry with a hair drier on high for 15 min.

No soap in the dishwasher works fine a lot of people including myself have done it. Same thing as the people who have baked cards. For situations such as this it might be needed. That being said I would clean it with isopropyl alcohol and RMA it first.

 

[Lazzer408]

Sugars do not dissolve in alcohol. Polar (sucrose) molecules do not bond to non-polar (alcohol) molecules. Water is a polar molecule so sugars dissolve easily in water. One lump or two?

 

[cdawall]

Sugars do not dissolve in alcohol. Polar (sucrose) molecules do not bond to non-polar (alcohol) molecules.

That has nothing to do with the card appearing clean for an RMA. I don't care if it is actually clean clean just has to look that way.

 

[Lazzer408]

So long as the RMA department doesn't notice if it's sticky.

 

[cdawall]

So long as the RMA department doesn't notice if it's sticky.

Zotac didn't even notice their card had tinged blue on the sticker and PCB from a tube splitting in my watercooling.

 

[NeoCrisis]

First off DO NOT put the video card in the dish washer or submerge the entire card in any kind of liquid. If the warranty sticker on the back of the video card gets damage and is not legible it WILL void your warranty.

Get some isopropyl alcohol on a cotton cloth and clean off the sticky residue from the area.
Take some clear unblurry pictures of the card and have them ready to be emailed.
Contact EVGA support, if you are in North America they have 24hr tech support and would be able to help you setup and RMA.

Liquid damage isn't usually covered by warranty but if the damage isn't severe you'll be covered. Unfortunately you wont know for sure until their RMA dpt inspects it.

 

[Jetster]

They make electronic cleanser for washing PBCs

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...ld-keywords=electronics+cleaner&tag=tec06d-20

 

[newtekie1]

Ug.... NO DISHWASHER!! NO NO NO!! Tap water has chlorine, fluoride, and other minerals in it that make for a great electrolyte if you want to oxidize something. Not to mention soap residues.

The extremely small amount of chlorine and the extremely short exposure time won't lead to any oxidation.

I've run plenty of PCBs through the dishwasher, mostly motherboards though, only one graphics card, and they all come out just fine. And there isn't any soap residue, the whole point of the dishwasher is to be very effective at removing all residue. Your dishes don't come out covered in soap residue, do they? If they do, you need a new dishwasher(or use less soap).

And yes, obviously this will likely destroy any stickers on the card, so the warranty will be totally gone. But with the warranty sticker already covered in coffee according to the original post the warranty is gone already. EVGA isn't going to warranty the card with the sticker totally brown like that.