Today, I noticed that the inside temps in my desktop were too high. So, I powered it down, opened it up, and found a really, realy disgusting collection of mostly bird dander (due to having a Cockatoo and a couple of conures in my home), along with some dog hairs (due to having a dog), and some just plain dust (due to having two people in my home). No spiders, no roaches, no ants, no cookie crumbs (haven’t done the keyboard yet). Can’t believe how bad the power supply was!
Running nice and cool now.
So, how often do you clean the insides of your system, and what do you find in it?
I clean mine at least once a month. There was a thread about this, but can’t find it now. Just do a google image search for “dirty PC”. It wil make you cringe.
I clean it once every 7 years, whether it needs it or not.
More accurately, I clean it when I have to open it for another reason. I had to open a 7-year old computer earlier this year, because of a failing disk.
There was mostly just dust there. Dust and a few strands of spider web. But then we don’t have pets, so that keeps the hair and feathers to a mimimum.
Hi
I was asked to look at an old DELL D630 a few months back, it had a family of roaches living in the cpu heatsinks… I dismantled it outside and got rid of them…
I have two desktops, even with two cats, a dog and a almost 8 year old I still only look at them twice a year, both are off the ground on stands so don’t get much dander and junk in them. laptops either, but a good blow on the vents is generally enough to clear the dust bunnies.
Some laptops I have to dismantle to clear out the dustwad between the fan and heat pipe fins…sigh, they don’t make it easy on some systems…
I have seen people post images of homemade filters made of dryer sheets, swiffer pads, etc. I started to do this once to make it easier to clean the inside of my PC’s, but decided not to when I thought about how much quicker the dust would build up on the outside and kill the airflow.
I have an ASUS that I haven’t gotten around to cleaning yet, but when I do, it will technically cancel the warranty! It specifically states this in the event that the case is opened. I mentioned to them that computers must be internally cleaned periodically. They apologized for the “inconvenience.”
Thanks for the tip. Now I am aware that I do not want to purchase any ASUS machines.
(And, also will not recommend them to friends or clients.)
That is not the case for Acer (at least, any of the ones I have dealt with, so far).
In fact, the manuals usually give detailed instructions for opening up and doing such things. Of course, with several removable panels on the bottom of the laptop, arranged as they want them arranged, and with restrictions about what you touch and what you do not touch while under warranty, you are confined mostly to what will not void the warranty.
Once or twice a year
It’s never very dirty though
I’m due in there soon - I need a new PSU, as on boot up it’s making some noise. I already ID’d the PSU as the source, it sounds like just the fan, but it settles down after a minute or so.
On the other hand, some customers machines are another story.
On 2014-12-31 05:06, caf4926 wrote:
>
> Once or twice a year
> It’s never very dirty though
> I’m due in there soon - I need a new PSU, as on boot up it’s making
> some noise. I already ID’d the PSU as the source, it sounds like just
> the fan, but it settles down after a minute or so.
A drop of oil in the fan spindle? axis? makes wonders. Me don’t believe
in oil-less eternal sleeves. They only work for the warranty period…
Otherwise, just replace the fan.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)
When I vac the house I usually take use the brush attachment and try to get the dust collecting on the intake and exhaust vents of the dekstop computer. I haven’t actually opened it up recently, though, to find out how bad it is but I know it should be getting worse now that one cat has taken to sitting on the table next to the CPU! Of course this is the long(est) hair one and the biggest culprit of cat hair and stuff.
Having 5 cats, however, doesn’t mean this one is the only culprit!
On 2015-01-13 16:26, dragonbite wrote:
>
> When I vac the house I usually take use the brush attachment and try to
> get the dust collecting on the intake and exhaust vents of the dekstop
> computer. I haven’t actually opened it up recently, though, to find out
> how bad it is but I know it should be getting worse now that one cat has
> taken to sitting on the table next to the CPU! Of course this is the
> long(est) hair one and the biggest culprit of cat hair and stuff.
>
> Having 5 cats, however, doesn’t mean this one is the only culprit!
LOL.
I have seen hairless cats, on tv, once.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)
