My PC stopped displaying anything after I accidentally spilled beer on top of it while gaming. I unplugged it within a second or two after the screen went black, cleaned it, and left it to dry overnight. Now it will not boot properly and the motherboard's DRAM debug light usually stays on. When I switch off the power supply, the DRAM light goes out and the CPU light briefly flashes. On startup, the CPU light may flash first, then the DRAM light comes on and the system gets stuck.
The system has a Ryzen 9 3000-series CPU, 32 GB of Corsair DDR4 memory across four sticks, a Gigabyte RTX 3070, an MSI MPG B550 Gaming Carbon WiFi motherboard, and a be quiet! S9 700W power supply. I also tried resetting the BIOS, but that did not initially help. The case power button stopped responding as well, so I am unsure whether the motherboard, GPU, CPU, memory, or just the power switch was damaged. I do not have another system available for testing the components. What should I check before buying replacement parts?
3 Answers
Because the spill landed on top of the case, the power button or its wiring may have been affected. Disconnect the case power-switch cable from the motherboard and briefly short the two power-switch pins with a screwdriver to start the PC. If it starts that way, the switch or its cable may be faulty rather than the motherboard.
Beer can short components even if the system appears dry afterward. Make sure the PC is completely disconnected from power, inspect the motherboard and other parts for residue, and clean any affected areas properly before repeatedly powering it on. Avoid replacing expensive parts until you isolate the fault.
The power-switch test appears to have helped in this case. After disconnecting the switch and starting the system by briefly jumping the motherboard pins, reconnecting the switch allowed it to boot again. That points more toward a temporarily shorted or affected power-button connection than a definitely dead CPU or GPU.
That seems to have fixed it. After removing the power-button connector, starting the PC by jumping the pins, and reconnecting the button, the system was able to boot again. I am relieved that the major components may still be fine.