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Dave Grundy was saying on another thread that his laptop showed signs of failure, so he took some components apart, cleaned the cooling fans etc and it runs much better.
I'm scared to look inside mine. I use to get a computer guru once a year to clean up my system. That's many years ago.
I'm curious what everyone else does in regards to caring for the insides of your computer?
One of my harddrive fans (is that what it's called??) is running really noisy now. To the point of me shutting it down more often than not to avoid the squeal. I know I can open it and find the noise but I have no idea what the noise even means. Any guesses?
My mind wanders. And that's not a good thing, 'cause it's too small to be out there alone. Posts: 3129 | From: Tooele, UT | Registered: Mar 2005
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i blow mine out exery time i reformat. i drop the tray on my plotter and blow it out also. I make sure all fans are working. it gets pretty nasty in there
-------------------- You ever notice how easily accessible people are when they are requiring your services but once they get invoice you can't reach them anymore
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I pop the cover and blow everything out with my air compressor. You get a lot of dust and I have three puddy cats to make matters worse.Ive saved a few mice by taking them apart and pulling hair out and cleaning out the other crud. Nothing to be scared of in there it is easy to plug in a new dvd drive or pop in a pair of memory sticks.Don't forget to blow out your keyboard once in a while.
-------------------- Darcy Baker Darcy's Signs Eureka Springs. AR. Posts: 1169 | From: Eureka Springs, AR | Registered: Nov 2007
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I open 'er up and vacuum 'er out once in a great while. A gilding mop loosens the dust. I hold the mop in my left hand and guide the vacuum cleaner's hose with the other hand. Never done any damage.
My 12 year old keeps the dust out of his computers by opening them up and tinkering with them all the time...dust never get a chance to settle.
-------------------- Frank Smith Frank Smith Signs Albany, NY www.franksmithsigns.com Posts: 807 | From: Albany, NY USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I'm like Darcy, I pop the cover off and blast the heck out of it with my air compressor once a year and the keyboard should be done too.
Your computer probably has a few fans, if you can figure out which one is making all the racket then you can pull it out and replace it. It is an easy job, inexpensive and you'll feel great about doing it yourself.
Like Laura mentions be careful about static electricity. Put your computer on a wooden bench or kitchen counter - stay away from carpet when you futz with it. After it's open touch the power supply once and you are ready to play with your fan.
Best of luck!
-------------------- Brian Diver PDQ Signs Everett, Wa
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Hi Donna, If you pull the side cover off (usually the one on the left as you look from the front) and look inside you'll be able to get a bit of an idea of what's making the noise. If you have fan/s visible at the rear of the computer you might be able to determine if it/they are the culprits. A good front and rear brush-down with a sash cutter type brush can cure a lot of noise problems with these chassis fans. Slightly north of centre of the computer approx is where the heatsink and fan for cooling the CPU live. This is a prime spot for crud to build up. You can clean it off with a careful vacuum and brush. Another common culprit is the fan in the power supply unit (the bit into which the power cord attaches - you can see the fan from the back of the computer next to where the power cord is connected) If it is the PSU fan then you could give it a blow with the compressor to get the worst of the dust off. I wouldn't recommend blowing the innards with a compressor because as Mike says you can blow components clean off the mainboard, or bend/dislodge stuff and foul smaller chipset fans on some mainboards. Not to mention that your average water/oil traps are only good up to a point. If you have a screwdriver with a long shaft and relatively small diameter handle you can use it as a stethoscope by placing the tip on the casing of a fan and putting the handle to your ear, the noisy part will immediately become evident. Placing a screwdriver against any of the solder joints or electronic components on the mainboard will usually kill it outright so don't do that. Feel free to use the stethoscope technique to determine incorrectly adjusted valve clearances after rebuilding the head/s on your car too. HTH, David
-------------------- David Fisher D.A. & P.M. Fisher Services Brisbane Australia da_pmf@yahoo.com Trying out a new tag: "Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth Peter Ustinov Posts: 1450 | From: Brisbane Queensland Australia | Registered: Nov 1998
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cool... lots of things to try! Thanks alot everyone! The buzz continues to grow louder so it's time to go wreak havoc in yet another forbidden area... I'll update!
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Be careful with vacuums ESD (electrostatic discharge) is the #1 cause of board failure. Use particular care around processors and memory chips.
When I worked with Xerox we were trained on ESD and used only vacuums that had a grounding strip that you would clip both to the frame or grounding point on the board, and to earth.(I still have one). The static is caused as dirt and dust moves at high speed along the plastic wand.
It's safer (if messier) to blow dust out of your 'puter or other device, canned compressed air is fine, hi volume air is ok as well, if you're using air pressure high enough to knock soldered components off a board you have other issues to contend with and really shouldn't poke at devices at all. Just find a good area to blow them out in, outdoors is fine.
[ November 14, 2007, 03:59 PM: Message edited by: Mike O'Neill ]
-------------------- Mike O'Neill
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. - Arthur C. Clarke
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To second Mike's comment, a few years ago I fried my computer by using a shop vac on it. Big mental brain cramp, big static shock, big computer problem.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5095 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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With my track record of late with fixing things, I'd be total toast if my computer quit on me. I'm still on windows 98 with old programs. Maybe squeaks aren't so bad after all..
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I hit the PC with a can of compressed air when the seasons change...just a goofy way to remember to do it regularly. The aerosol cans eliminate the risk of static charges and the small nozzle attachment helps get into the tight spots. Worth a few bucks for the convenience.
Go high... I haven't kept my PC on the floor since the first time I open my first computer and found it loaded with cat hairs 10+ years ago. The shop PC sits on top of a corner desk unit about 4 ft from the ground and doesn't get too bad despite all the dust that gets dragged in here from my dirt driveway.
Rapid
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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Mark, the squealing temporarily subsided. It will be back, it does this on occasion. I'm enjoying the hiatus for now...
But I have specked out the harddrive on the floor. It's inside an old harddrive safe I had made when my storefront had a theft a few years back. I need to get it out of that safe and am hesitant to unhook everything out of the back in order to do so. I'll have to code tape where things go back in. This is totally not my field of expertise.
Yes, I'm stalling! Big time. I need to tile my laundry floor this weekend.
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Here's how bad it can get folks. This is not mine, I keep mine spotless. This lady couldn't figure out what the noise was in her computer and why it "didn't run good anymore." Her processor was nearly Post Toasties. She lives on a farm too, which may have a factor.
-------------------- Dave Utter D-utterguy on chat Sign Designs Beardstown, Il. signdesigns@casscomm.com Posts: 777 | From: beardstown, illinois, usa | Registered: Mar 1999
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