Computer Cleaning Time

I like (the other) Craig's approach better.  Just buy a new kick-butt machine.

craigb


I like (the other) Craig's approach better.  Just buy a new kick-butt machine.

My old box needs cleaning. I'm having trouble discerning which is the magic dust and which is just static fuzz.

You shouldn't take the heat sink/fan off nor remove the CPU. Not much is gonna get in there anyway and unless you are properly removing and replacing the thermal paste you are gonna degrade the sink/fans ability to cool the processor. Also those components tend to be the more finicky parts to dink around with which can lead to stuff like screwdrivers gouging into to things that won't like it as you said. 

Just blast the fan with compressed air and that'll take care of that. Sure remove cards and whatnot but even then the contacts are in place so not much is going to get in there. You can get those little computer micro vacs to get most of that crap out and then loosen up the rest with compressed air (then vacuum that crud out). If you start doing it every few months you shouldn't even need to pull anything apart. Also if it's getting that dusty consider an air cleaner in your computer room and some dust blocking mesh for your case vents. 

But yeah... thermal paste dude. Once you pull the sink of you gotta completely remove and replace it. 

Ah yes. My Noctua does as well (two fans on the sides actually) but probably still best to leave the CPU in place especially with pin style (which after reading his specs is not an issue but still might expose the contacts to damage or other stuff like finger poop).

IDK... I read that as him taking the whole thing apart. I'm a little spaced at the moment so I might be conjuring up non issues in my freaky deaky noodle.

LOL Just caught the vac thing,

Yeh I have a nice connection and attachments for my monster shop vac.  That and a nice soft brush did it good.

Yes I tore it all the way down.  Nothing like reseating all the cards to get a good connection established again as well IMO

Beepster


hmm... but what about the thermal paste stuff? Just don't want to see your CPU overheat. Cheers.

Yeah, I was wondering about that one too...

digi2ns

I would use air to help but my past experience (On postal equipment has taught me NOT to do it). Ive seen it trash hard drives and other drives and not much ya can do when that baby powder sized dust get in it.

HDD's are sealed pretty darn good. If you're able to get dust inside of one, it's time for it to be replaced anyway.

CD burners and things like that you have to be careful with ... kind of. I mean, you can get a Blu-Ray burner/player for $70 bux now days.

As for reseating everything on a regular basis ... now that's something that's come back to haunt me.

I always plug the power supply in and wear a grounding strap ... that way the nice little 30KVDC static discharge has somewhere to go other than dissipating on my motherboard and HDD's.

Bub

Old55

The last time I cleaned mine, I found Jimmy Hoffa.  I'm overdue, now.  I wonder if I'll discover Amelia Earhardt this time.

The last time I blew mine out (my computer that is), the dust filled the air in my garage and it smelled like the pine scented candles we had lit at Christmas from several months before. Amazing how they suck stuff in (my computer that is).

So true.  

Old55


The last time I cleaned mine, I found Jimmy Hoffa.  I'm overdue, now.  I wonder if I'll discover Amelia Earhardt this time.  

It would be more financially rewarding if you found D.B. Cooper...
 
(Just sayin'!)

HAHA   Nice Sharke

Does make for a good feeling kinda like starting fresh again not to mention the anticipation of getting to play with a new toy  

Cleaning the dust bunnies out..... that is important. 


I just went to a site on a service call..... new server.... (installed in August 2012) and the air intakes were just about closed off with dust.... the exhaust vents were the same and had dust webs waving in the breeze..... 

If you're using those little spray cans of compressed air, it's also important to be careful of the moisture they can sometimes spit out. I always make sure to keep the can fully upright (less moisture escapes) and I always leave the computer alone for at least a couple of hours before switching back on. 

What I can't prevent, however, are the baffling problems which always occur when I unplug everything from my tower and then put it all back together. Last night when I did it, the wireless mouse wouldn't work until I'd moved the receiver dongle around a few USB ports. Then, the wireless keyboard's caps button was reversed so that caps on was really caps off. Plus a left mouse button click was registering as a middle mouse button click. To top it all off, my M-Audio interface was not being recognized by Sonar. Got it all working again via the usual combination of random groping about in the dark interspersed with lots of cursing and "why me's"

Kenneth


For my last build I got a positive air pressure case, it's made so it only blows out and the intake where it pulls air in from has 4 large filters.

I've opened it a few times just to check, after a year now I hadn't had to clean it, almost no dust inside, just gotta remember to clean the filters once in a while.

Ive considered taking a road case and making it a filtered box as well.  In my last line of work, all computers and servers were encased and filtered.  Sure kept things nice and neat not to mention the ease of transporting everything at once when taking it out on the road to record with.

I work on friends computers from time to time. I was working on it and it just wouldn't turn on. Nothing. Open it up, see TONS of dust bunnies and clean it out. Vacuum and air. Turned it on and all was well. People underestimate the cleaning, but more power to ya! :D

sharke


Now THIS, my friends, is a dusty computer. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diCvsKmDsng

A tad bit of humidity and that would have been trash, IF it isnt already


Thats why all ours were encased and filtered.  USPS is nothing but a dust factory that isnt maintained.  Of course its been a number of years since I retired so it might have gotten better-JUST NOT MY PROBLEM NOW