Water Chilling Disaster

[kingsack]

This weekend I had a problem with a water chilling project.
The system is the one in my SIG an I was replacing my dual radiators with this uber water chiller http://www.ftssystems.com/multicoolbath.htm
and I was going to eliminate my res as well since the chiller has a 1.5 gal res and I was installing my Eheim 1250 inside the chiller res.

Everything started out OK. I plumbed my loop, filled the chiller with the uber Prestone windshield washer fluid good to -40 and ran it for 24 hours with no leaks with power turned off on my rig. I didn't have the chiller going at the time since I wasn't insulated against condensation yet (possibly a fatal error!).

Next I removed my mother board and covered all the chips, slots, connectors, jumpers and the CPU socket pin holes with masking tape.
I then proceeded to spray down the board front and back with KonForm SR conformal coating (following the directions on the can - 3 light coatings on each side rotating the board 90° each time) and watited for the coating to dry. I removed all of the tape and filled the CPU socket pin holes and the void in the center with dielectric grease.

Next I reinstalled my motherboard. I covered all of the tubing with pipe insulation and sealed the ends with RTV silicone. I filled the CPU socket pin holes with dielectric grease as well as the void in the center. At this point I decided to power it up and test it before covering the socket area with foram which would make it difficult to see anything. I turned on the chiller and pump and the the PC. I wasn't getting any power to the MB and it took me a while to figure out that the ATX power jumper was off by on pin. Once this was solved I was able to power up and noticed a slight leak from the CPU block. The PC itself started momentarily and then shut down. It appeared that most of the washer fluid had landed on my video card.

I shut everything off an went to work with a hairdryer. I fixed the leak by coating the tubing with dielectric grease where it entered the cpu block and did this on all the other swiftech quick connect fitting thinking that the rubber seal might be shrinking or getting brittle with the cold temp. No more leaks after that. Unfortunately it will now power up (power led lights up on the MB and the NIC) and the fans and everything start up but I can't hear it post and ther is no video. The voice reporter doesn't make any sound. It does so hear noise from my floppy so it may be seeking.

At this point I had my brother bring over his rig which I built for him.
A7N8X-E Deluxe, 3200+ Barton, etc.. and we swapped in my video card, CPU and RAM with all operating normally. We did try his video card (a 9800XT and an old nVidia GeF 4 MX400 PCI I had laing around and still no video).

I have also tryed resetting CMOS and switching the FSB jumper to 100.
Unfortunately I gave away my system with a TBird 1.2 so I don't have an old 100 MHz FSB chip to use.

Any suggestions? Or should I just assume that my MB is toast? I don't think an RMA is an option, ethics aside, since I have coated the board and have replaced the NB cooling and have epoxied on SB cooling! This is very bad timming since I have just gone through a series of financial setbacks. If I don't have to replace my MB I would really prefer not to!
Also my wife is giving me endless grief. You know the tale .. Why did you have to go that extra mile? Your system was super fast already and worked without any problems ... blah blah blah ...

I have read the stickies on BIOS death which do bear some similarities to my symptoms but I'm not really sure that's whats going on here. Once again, any suggestion that you might have would be greatly appreciated.

[D3Railur]

I don't know dude, you hosed down a powered on system with windshield wiper fluid. I'm gonna say it's prolly toast.

*edit* That water chiller looks a tad suspect there buddy. You sure you're not pullin a leg here?

[kingsack]

Originally posted by D3Railur
I don't know dude, you hosed down a powered on system with windshield wiper fluid. I'm gonna say it's prolly toast.

*edit* That water chiller looks a tad suspect there buddy. You sure you're not pullin a leg here?

I'm not sure what you mean by that? I actually was able to get 2 of those for free from work. They didn't have sufficient capacity for the increased demands we were placing on them (Pour Point and CCS Testing of lubricating oils if that is meaningful to you).
I would post PICs but with main rig down that's a bit difficult. Once I replace the MB I will try to remember to do so. In the mean time I think I will order a DFI Lan Party NF2 Ultra B since people are reporting outrageously high FSB OCs with that board and I have Rev 1.1 Corsair with BH5s which should be up to the challenge. Thanks for your most helpful post and for questioning my credibility. :rolleyes:

PS - that chiller is actually designed to be used with anhydrous methanol not water.

[D3Railur]

The reason I say suspect is because it looks like a farily expensive piece of equipment on the one hand, and on the other hand you were making it sound as if you didn't have enought to afford a new mobo - like $70. But if you are being legit about it, I apologize. Maybe you could sell one of those chillers on ebay and get a whole new build???

[kingsack]

Originally posted by D3Railur
The reason I say suspect is because it looks like a farily expensive piece of equipment on the one hand, and on the other hand you were making it sound as if you didn't have enought to afford a new mobo - like $70. But if you are being legit about it, I apologize. Maybe you could sell one of those chillers on ebay and get a whole new build???

OK, this is the deal:

1) I got 2 of those chillers for FREE from work. Yes they were
expensive when new (about $7K ea as I recall) The ones we
got to replace them were even more expensive (> $20K ea).

2) It's not that I can't afford a new MB, it's just that the wife and I
have spent more money lately than we would have liked due
to stuff breaking (1 new car + 1 used car to replace both of our
cars which broke down just before Christmas + a new clutch for
the used on after only 1 month + 1 56" JVC projection TV and a
34" Sony WEGA Wide Screen we bought just before our cars
broke down! + a new refrigerator to replace the Amana I spent
a fortune on when we bought our house 10 years ago)

3) I have already decided to replace the MB with a DFI Lan Party
NF2 Ultra B ($150 at newegg). $70 boards are not the equal of
my A7N8X-D.

4) I have considered posting a FS/FT Thread since I do have quite
a bit of WC and other gear (1 BIX2 w/2XL1A,Swiftech 80mm rad
MCW5000-PT,MCP-300,Meanwell 320 PSU,Zalman H80A, bayres
Innovatek Tank-O-Matic Large,etc....) But I really don't have
time for running to the post office regularly so I would need to
sell it as a package deal of some kind. Just not worth it to me
for a small $ item. Also, I would sell it on forums not EBay. It
just doesn't seem like things sell unless everything is parted
out and I just don't have time for all of that. Hell, I've had that
chiller for 2 months and just finally found some time to try the
install.

[D3Railur]

Ah man I wasn't asking for a breakdown of your life to defend yourself lol. I wish you luck with your setup when you get your DFI.

[kingsack]

OK, I now have the DFI Lanparty NFII Utltra B on order for newegg and an shiny new MCX159A on order from HeatsinkFactory for some improved NB cooling over the blue orb I have been using. I'll epoxy that to the SB. Gotta use some good chipset cooling here.

[Jabo]

Your chillers are seriously mouth watering h'ware bro! Sorry for your toasted MoBo. I know the pain since I wasted new AsusTi4600....

I can also sympathise with ya on expenses and complaining wife...
No worrise m8, we are with ya, get new MoBo and off ya go with new ocing records :)

P.s. Thought about connecting your coolers in series? one after the other?

[madsam]

i want one of those chillers. he he he .

i was just wondering, what made you determine the problem was your motherboard frying, and not the video card. i thought it was the water leak that caused the problem, and it dripped on the video card.

or, did the motherboard possibly fry when the plug was incorrectly plugged in?

and, if you are on a budget, why get the dfi lanparty, and not the dfi infinity instead. it's like 90 bucks, and doesn't have the extra toys in the box. i believe other than that, they are the same boards.

and a new waterblock? wow, i wish my budget was as tight as yours....lol

anyways, i wish you the best, with the pc, and the wife.... ;) .

let us know what happens, and how you determined it was the motherboard. i had a pc just shut down once, while overclocking to an extreme, and i didn't know if it was the psu, or the motherboard, so...my neighbor said he had a psu for me to test, and he said it works fine. i installed it, and the pc still didn't power up, so, i knew it was the motherboard that fried. it was an at7-max, and at the time, the at7-max2 was just out, so, i spent the 171 bucks, bought my max2, and installed it to find it still didn't work. now what. i asked my neighbor again, if he was absolutely certain that psu was a good one, and then he said, well, the guy that gave it to me said it was... so, i bought a motherboard i didn't need...lol ;) :D

[kingsack]

OK, tested my video card, CPU and RAM all in my bros A7N8X-E rig that I built for him along with my old GeF4 400MX - PCI that I have lying around for emergencies.

I thought about getting the infinity but it is out of stock at newegg.

FYI - the MCX159-A is just and uber air cooler for the NB.

I am pretty sure it's not my PSU. It's pretty much top of the line,
and Antec True Control 550W, but I haven't actually tested it LOL.

My MB does actually power up and If I pull the CPU the POST reporter does spout out with "No CPU Detected". But it doesn't boot and no video...

[kingsack]

OK, DFI Lan Party NFII Ultra B installed with a swiftech MCX159-A on the NB and my blue orb moved to the SB. Had to reinstall Windows XP from scratch though :brick: No leaks after 72 hours @ -40°C out of the case. Currently running system at stock until I can reinstall everything and make a backup. Chiller is presently running @ +10°C with my CPU @ +23°C (MBM5-diode). The chiller operates by running the compressors constantly, adjusting the temperature with a heater which is cycling often at this temp so I know it will go much colder. I just need to for a time when I can monitor for condensation closely. When I was running it outside of the case I did have some condensation early and alot of frost buildup later so I know I need to work on insulating it more.

Note: I didn't use conformal coating this time despite the fact that I don't think it was respondible for my problems and, in fact, I think that it was a laack of it that might have doomed my board. I had a blue orb on the NB of my old board and didn't remove it befor applying the conformal coating. This prevented the coating from reaching the vicinity of the NB. When I removed the blue orb the AS3 under it had turned black. I have never seen this before and suspect that my NB may have been shorted. The NB is located between the CPU and the AGP slot on this board.

I can supply PICS now if someone can host them for me.

[Reflex1]

to host pics > go to www.uploadit.org > sign up (free+takes 2sec) and load em up urself.

also, just a question but why did u get $14,000 of equipment for free?

[madsam]

Originally posted by a5h
just a question but why did u get $14,000 of equipment for free?

yeah, that is a sweet deal, huh?:toast:

[kingsack]

Originally posted by a5h
to host pics > go to www.uploadit.org > sign up (free+takes 2sec) and load em up urself.

also, just a question but why did u get $14,000 of equipment for free?

Well, it is used so it's not really worth $14K anymore. Some repairs were necessary as well. The units did not meet our need and were not fully operational so they were replaced. I was able to provide "Free Disposal" for these. :toast:

[madsam]

Originally posted by kingsack
Well, it is used so it's not really worth $14K anymore. Some repairs were necessary as well. The units did not meet our need and were not fully operational so they were replaced. I was able to provide "Free Disposal" for these. :toast:

i am not suspicious of this at all. i worked for a company that had a policy....we were not to stock any more parts or supplies if the stockroom had more than 1 million dollars in stock at inventory time. at this time, we had over 4 million dollars in stock, and much of this was old stock, and some was almost outdated. the solution was to toss over 3 million in stock, into dumpsters. i got a couple motors from there. these motors were about 400 dollars each..and i took 3 of them, and i also took one bigger one which was over 1000 bucks new.

many times items that have a large value to us, might be worthless to a company with their sights set a bit higher.

either way, i say...nice find...... if it bothers you to have these units while i don't have one...i'd gladly let you donate one to me...he he he
ok, well, it was worth a try.... ;) :toast:

[kingsack]

OK, I have a few pictures now.
Obviously a work in progress so bear with mne.

http://home.comcast.net/~kcrose8104/index.html

Sorry the new ones are a bit blurry. I should have turned
off the flash... The pictures go from left to right in chronological order. :banana:

NOTE - PICS are about 700K each so 56Kers beware.

[Jabo]

One of the biggest piccies I've ever seen! LOL
Try www.hpphotos.com - 100MB of free photo hosting space:)

Waiting for your overclocks!

[kingsack]

OK - My first modest overclock with this setup is 225X9. Not pushing it at all yet except for my RAM. Not a whole lotta time this weekend and I want to find my max FSB @1:1 before I start pushing the multiplier. Needed to up my RAM to 2.9v for 225. Still alot better than my A7N8X-D which would only do 200 :rolleyes: (ran it at 199X12).

[kingsack]

Now at 9X230 (I had to up the AGP voltage to 1.7 or I got checkerboarding while going into Windows)

So now:

vCore = 1.800
vDIMM = 2.9
Chipset = 1.7

CPU = Old Unlocked Barton (AQUCA Week 10 2003)
Now at 9 X 230 (Was at 12 X 199 in A7N8X-D)

RAM = Corsair 3200LL TwinX Rev 1.1 (BH5)
Now at 11-3-3-2 @ 230 ( Haven't tried 11-2-2-2 yet)

[kingsack]

Now at 235 X 9, Upped vCore to 1.850 and vDIMM to 3.0
I'm trying to give a step by step log here. I'm testing for Prime and 3DMark stability every step of the way so it's taking a while. :shrug: