Clean out the dust!!!

[CaffeineMe]

I had noticed my temps creeping up over the last few weeks, nothing major, but a few degrees higher than normal. I opened my case and blew out the dust and found my temps dropped 4-5 deg. C. Long story short, keep the dust out, especially off your HS/fan.

Common sense, but just a friendly reminder from the Caffeine Man! :D

[csimon]

yes I find myself cleaning the intake filters a little more often now. :fold:

[Clutch]

But you know, that is one tip that a lot of people leave out. Heat and dust are your worst enemies when it comes to your components. Especially in your heatsink fan. A good way to cut back on the build up, is to blow out your computer at least once a month sometimes to keep everything nice and clean.

[WuGgaRoO]

when i was il colleger (all CRAPPY carpeting) i had to vaccum the comp

[DanG]

I'll bring my digi cam to work one day and take some pics of the nastiness that graces our shop from time to time. Like the time I found half a cookie inside one....

[Tobin]

Thanks for the reminder... I know a few people who need it.

Example: At work a few weeks ago, I retrieved a computer that wasn't working. When I opened the case, I literally couldn't see the motherboard because of the dust. No wonder it didn't work! Three of us attacked it with compressed air cans outside.

So, yes, that was another work story from Tobin :rolleyes:

[Omega65]

Yeah, I had to take a vacumn to my SLK800/machine a couple of weeks ago. Dust bunnies do multiply....

[Spinner]

YES! Dust is a friend of heat and is also a friend of static. So every single computer owner should have no excuse for not having a can of compressed air at the ready. My main rig needs cleaning about once every 2 months. I can tell because my CPU temps start to nudge it's way past the line of acceptability.

One word of advice though, always clean your computer when it's off, even if it's with compressed air. It might seem obvious, but believe me, to some it isn't. ;)

Cheers

[SimGuy]

Back in high school when I used to co-op as a computer hardware technician, I took apart this old IBM Pentium 75 machine that a teacher had brought to me, complaining it wouldn't work right.

What do I find, sitting right on the motherboard???... the ENCRUSTED remnants of a bologna sandwich, fused to a ZipLock bag.

Talk about gross.

[mondi]

its amazing that this thread would pop up again just as I restarted my computer, my temps had been creeping up as well, and id started to notice a slight buzzing sound ... naturally i got worried and shut down, checked everything and found that most of the surface of my HS was covered in dust, the fan was only blowing on the top edges of the fins :( .... cleaned it up and restarted ... temp dropped from around 45 -46 under load to a nice cool 37 right now with f@h cooking away :)

amazing.

oh, and the buzzing's gone :)

[mmonnin]

Yeah every once in awhile I have to clean out my system. Dust collected on the AX7, now SLK800, and the bottom of my case.

[profdlp]

I've had comps where you could peel off a layer of dust from the front intake grill that looked like a piece of felt.

Did you know that dust is mostly composed of flakes of dead skin? Did you want to know that? Apparently we human beings shed the stuff in massive invisible clouds.


Prof

[MarkTAW]

Yeah, dust is nasty.

I have long hair & 3 cats... Dust in my house looks like small fuzzy animals - the long hair from my head attracts the short hairs from the cats. Thanks for the reminder... I don't remember the last time I cleaned out my comp.

[Geeky1]

Prof, should I tell them about what lives on our skin? :D

[profdlp]

Geeky1 said
Prof, should I tell them about what lives on our skin? :D

Oh my! What have I started...


Prof:p

[Necropolis]

Tobin said
Thanks for the reminder... I know a few people who need it.

Example: At work a few weeks ago, I retrieved a computer that wasn't working. When I opened the case, I literally couldn't see the motherboard because of the dust. No wonder it didn't work! Three of us attacked it with compressed air cans outside.

So, yes, that was another work story from Tobin :rolleyes:

I have a similar story, but with a different ending. When I worked in a college, there was an old P75 that was used for the special learning people. It was only used for basic word processing, just sat on the floor and was left on 24/7. We where in the process of re-laying all the cable in the room and thought we would have a look inside the case.

So we took the machine back to our room and opened it up to find that the entire machine was covered in a thick layer of dust and hair (I used to have a picture we took with the digital camera, lost it now :() So we attacked it with the compressed air cans. When we finished it was all shiny and clean inside, plugged it back in and guess what, DEAD. Wouldnt work no matter what we did. In the end we had to replace the machine with a nice new one :banghead: .

To this day, we still think the dust was keeping it alive ;D

[danball1976]

I've never really had any problems with dust all that much even with a computer being on the floor.

[profdlp]

A nice picture of what lives in your computer:

http://www.rednova.com/news/stories/2/2003/07/17/story001.html

Make sure and view the enlarged version.


Prof

[Spinner]

profdlp said
A nice picture of what lives in your computer:

http://www.rednova.com/news/stories/2/2003/07/17/story001.html

Make sure and view the enlarged version.


Prof

Yeah, they also live in your bed. Not a nice thought, to say the least.

Thanks for that one Prof'... NOT!;)

[profdlp]

Spinner said
Yeah, they also live in your bed. Not a nice thought, to say the least.

Thanks for that one Prof'... NOT!;)

I've slept with worse...


Prof:vimp:

[Spinner]

profdlp said
Spinner said
Yeah, they also live in your bed. Not a nice thought, to say the least.

Thanks for that one Prof'... NOT!;)

I've slept with worse...


Prof:vimp:

:nudge: :zombie: :hair:

I cleaned my case out yesterday, I went through two cans of compressed air. There was a lot of dust, I really need to take the whole computer apart, because I imagine there is a few spots I couldn't reach. Nevertheless, my computer is running a lot cooler now, but strangly a little bit louder also. I think the dust was slowing the fans down a little. :p

Just think of how many of those dust mite things I breathed in while cleaning out my case. Yuk!:werr:

[panzerkw]

For the first time in many months, my CPU temp crept past 40C. Opened up the case, took off the fan...and behold, a nice, matty layer of dust covering most of the top of the heatsink. Pried that junk off and now things are back to normal (~34C). Uck.

[Straight_Man]

Um, breathing dust mites is lessened by blowing out case outside so the dust blows out downwind. Elsewise, dustmasks are handy..... :)

Ageek (who is massively allergic to dust).