A quite interesting case we had today, something we start seeing often. Gaming desktop PC for a Repair with a leaked CPU water cooling.
Water cooling on CPU’s is not a new technology. With lowered cost of these cooling methods, however, we start coming across lower quality pumps. Additionally if installed improperly, these pumps get their pressure point on the wrong spot and damage isolation rubbers. As a result CPU water coolers leak near the pump.
Leak on the CPU water cooling can be dangerous. This is mainly due to the corrosive nature of the coolant within. If left unnoticed or untreated can corrode and damage electronic components locate beneath.
Gaming desktop PC Repair with a leaked water cooling Repair Process
Such example is this Gaming Desktop PC which came for a leaked CPU water cooler repair. It was turning on and shutting down immediately
Steps in resolving this fault is to take the PC apart and investigate faults as we go.
The leaked water cooler went straight on top of the Graphic card. Gravity! It corroded components and caused a short circuit. Hence the system is turning on for a sec and shutting down.
Please note: This is not educational material. It is rather a showcase of the services we offer.
Therefore, it should be used as general guidance on what to expect of such repairs.
In case you have a similar device and need the repair, always rely on professionals. These are sensitive electronic devices, and small mistakes may cause irreversible electronic damage. Which may require whole part replacement for 2 or 3 times the cost.
We need to clean this mess and ensure that any corroded components in the affected areas are replaced. Thus to ensure the longevity of our repairs.
After a thorough cleaning and replacement of a couple of corroded capacitors, we can move on to the motherboard. Which also had a leaked coolant spot, especially on the PCI-e connector area. This model being with only one PCIe, we had no choice but to ensure it is repaired correctly, as no other one was available to be used.
Cleaning the motherboard seems not much work, but these pins are tiny and can get damaged very easily. Hence we had to clean it under a microscope to ensure we reach every little corner with our dental picking tool.
How we can make the build better and more reliable?
Rather than fitting a similar water coolant, the customer opt-in for a standard cooler. These budget coolers do the same job for cooling such a power and heat effective Intel CPU. Plus the user is not really a hardcore gamer nor a overclock enthusiast. No need to introduce additional failure points to his PC.
Another failure point we foresee was a graphic card. Rather than wasting money on fancy RGB lights and ineffective water coolers. We recommended concentrating on the common failure points of these gaming builds – “hanging graphic cards”
As seen in the photo above, the right end of the graphic card is hanging due to the weight of the heatsink. This adds a strain to the PCB board and may create a cold joint on the GPU chip due to the flex when it heats up under pressure.
Such simple support will ensure the graphic card will not be strained under the weight of its own heatsink. Hence will reduce the possibility of a flexed PCB board as well as a cold joint on these GPU chips.
Successfull PC Repair with a leaked water cooling
As we have mentioned before, while we repair devices we also consider the sustainability and longevity of their design. There is a lot of planned obsolescence going on in the design of today’s consumer electronics. One way of fighting with the mountain of waste we keep generating is by prolonging the lifespan of devices. Such optimisation and preventative repairs are not offered as options by the manufacturer or the PC builder. It is up to us to be adequately informed and implement these at repair or maintenance steps of the life of the computer!
Do you need this Repair in Adelaide?
If your Computer or Laptop is causing trouble and need Laptop Repair Service in Adelaide, give us a call, and we will advise on the best scenario to get your device repaired.
Interstate? Why not Send IT for a Repair. Repairs take under three weeks, including forward and backward postage. Contact us to get an idea of cost and turnarounds.
We at IT-Solve, specialise in Laptop and electronics repairs. We will do our best to repair your Computer quickly without involving high costs and long waiting times in repair shops. Our average repair takes under a week!
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Repaired, not Replaced!
We are committed to reducing e-waste in Australia. How we do it is by educating our customers on the repairability and longevity of their devices, as well as providing affordable Laptop Repairs here in Adelaide.
Although our best intentions and hard work, this is not an easy task. Customers must accept that cost of high-quality electronic repairs, is between a third and half of the price of a new device. However, with the current trend of planned obsolescence in electronic design, we see more and more Laptops having shorter lifespans. To tackle that, while we do our repairs we target common planned obsolescence engineering design mistakes to ensure we extend the life expectancy of the Laptops we repair. Check some of our Laptop Repair Cases to get an idea of the process.
That said, if we buy a new one or write it off via insurance, it does not guarantee that the new one will not meet the same fate as the older one pretty soon.
As matter of fact, quite often we see accidents reoccurring within less than 2-year gaps. If we can save 1000$ or even 500$ today by repairing our faulty Laptop is great. That’s an extra half Laptop cost ready to be spent on another one when the time comes or our need for performance increases.
When that time comes is up to us to buy a new one or keep pushing the one we have, but delaying it by a year or three is always a good starting point and saves another abandoned Laptop from polluting our one and only Planet.