Harrison
22nd January 2007, 17:18
Do you clean the inside of your computers? And if so how often? and what do you use?
I like to make sure my PCs are dust free and generally dust the outside of the case once a week and use a hoover on the fan mounting points to remove any dust build up that always occurs. And every couple of months I like to take the side of the case and hoover out any dust that has collected in the case and on the fans themselves.
People online go on about using compressed air to shift the dust inside a case, but I've always just used the fine nozzle on the hoover.
So does everyone else keep their computers dust free? or are you like most and never open the case so it is full of big clods of dust building up on the floor of the case, around all the fans and heatsinks and clogged up in all of the intakes and case ventilation holes?
I suddenly thought about this because a friend rang me today and asked if I had time to look at their family computer. They had been using it last Friday night and suddenly the computer display shut down and the monitor went into standby. They tried rebooting and after a few minutes the same happened again.
They dropped the PC off this afternoon and I quickly tested it by hooking it up and booting it. Everything seemed to running fine, then after a few minutes of leaving it running I noticed the back of the case was getting very hot. I opened up the case and instantly saw the problem. There was so much dust inside the case it had clogged up the fan on the graphics card and stopped it spinning. I freed it up but it keeps making a noise every so often like the fan is on its way out, probably after a long period of the motor trying to run with the blades stuck.
So the moral of that story is, keep the area your PC is in dust free, clean and dust the outside of the case regularly, and when possible give the inside a quick hoover out too. It will extend the life of the components inside the PC for much longer.
I like to make sure my PCs are dust free and generally dust the outside of the case once a week and use a hoover on the fan mounting points to remove any dust build up that always occurs. And every couple of months I like to take the side of the case and hoover out any dust that has collected in the case and on the fans themselves.
People online go on about using compressed air to shift the dust inside a case, but I've always just used the fine nozzle on the hoover.
So does everyone else keep their computers dust free? or are you like most and never open the case so it is full of big clods of dust building up on the floor of the case, around all the fans and heatsinks and clogged up in all of the intakes and case ventilation holes?
I suddenly thought about this because a friend rang me today and asked if I had time to look at their family computer. They had been using it last Friday night and suddenly the computer display shut down and the monitor went into standby. They tried rebooting and after a few minutes the same happened again.
They dropped the PC off this afternoon and I quickly tested it by hooking it up and booting it. Everything seemed to running fine, then after a few minutes of leaving it running I noticed the back of the case was getting very hot. I opened up the case and instantly saw the problem. There was so much dust inside the case it had clogged up the fan on the graphics card and stopped it spinning. I freed it up but it keeps making a noise every so often like the fan is on its way out, probably after a long period of the motor trying to run with the blades stuck.
So the moral of that story is, keep the area your PC is in dust free, clean and dust the outside of the case regularly, and when possible give the inside a quick hoover out too. It will extend the life of the components inside the PC for much longer.