• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

I cried a little bit inside....

S

SolidBladez

Supreme [H]ardness
2FA
Joined
Jan 4, 2008
Messages
6,325
I visited my cousins' house tonight since they were having some issues with their older computer (BSOD when Windows loaded). So I went to investigate and long story short could not figure out what was causing it. So I told them I would have to wipe their HDD and start anew.

When I took their computer home with me, I thought that I should probably clean out all of the dust inside. Before opening it up, I knew it was going to be messy since this family rarely cleans up after themselves:

  • Dirty keyboards - some stuff I don't even want to know what is on it (white stains)
  • LCD monitor that has lots of dead pixels from them literally pressing their fingers into the LCD.
  • Dust accumulated all over their desk and floor. I take it they haven't used a vacuum in a long.. long time.

You get the picture.

Okay, so I was opening up the case and ran my air compressed can through everything. Luckily I was doing this outside since dust filled the air. It looked like a freakin' dust storm. I remember before I left their house that in the BIOS it was reporting their Pentium 4 at 69°C.. AT IDLE. :eek:

So I made sure I got all of them dust bunnies out. Finally after 30 minutes of cleaning I brought the computer back inside where I proceeded to get everything clean slated.

That is where I found that underneath the CPU fan, a little of dust I didn't quite get. So I took off the fan and what do you know.. (see below)


p1020637s.jpg


And this is how big of a clot it was:

p1020639s.jpg


Just imagine about 3mm of this stuff EVERYWHERE!

---------------
Moral of the story,

Please do everyone a favor and clean out your computer from time to time. Not every 3 years.
 
Kinda makes your stomach churn. I have learned over the years to take my family and friends machines outside and I use my shop vac on vacuum and then blow to get the bulk out. It is often frightening to consider what a fire hazard some of those machines were. I wish I had a way to collect all the dust that I blow out of the machines into a bag for delivery back to them

And Keyboards....

Never touch the stuff. I just don't want to know...
 
And you agreed to work on their computer?

If they can't learn to clean it themselves, they shouldn't be touching a computer.

Yes, that may be a bit harsh.. but people need to learn to do things for themselves.
 
cyclone3d said:
And you agreed to work on their computer?

If they can't learn to clean it themselves, they shouldn't be touching a computer.

Yes, that may be a bit harsh.. but people need to learn to do things for themselves.
Click to expand...
have you opened up your tv lately to clean it up? Your X-box? Your laptop? expecting a typical consumer to do something like this is not a reasonable assumption.
 
I just hate it when people walk up behind me and press their fingers or *shudder* fingernails on my LCD screen. ESPECIALLY my laptop. But to the point of dead pixels, that's just something else altogether crazy.

Don't touch those keyboards.
 
Well I got everything up and running. I would have been done 6 hours sooner if it weren't for how slow their computers were and the fact that all I could hear was them bickering and saying miscellaneous stuff that doesn't make any sense.

Computer #1
Pentium 4 @ 2.4GHz
1GB (2x512MB) DDR
60GB IDE HDD
160 IDE HDD
Nvidia 6200

Computer #2 <-- This laptop should have been fast except for all the crap that was lodged in the vents and the fact that 10 keys and a few USB ports don't work.
Intel T7200 Core 2 Duo
1GB DDR2
120GB HDD
ATI x1400

These two guys are worse than your typical customer support where you don't get anywhere. If I had a gun, I would use it on them. :eek:
 
# Dirty keyboards - some stuff I don't even want to know what is on it (white stains)
Click to expand...
Milk

Also, you should see my mom's $500 Dell. :p Your scenario compared to this baby? Hah, fat chance. Plus this computer was only worth $100 of the $500 for what could be achieved via custom building.

EDIT: Sorry, I can't resist the urge to post these pics. :D

Mom's computer looks like this on the inside:
b7dpgo.jpg


Pics from Googling:
04-02-08_1349.jpg

04-02-08_1356.jpg

computer-dust-4.jpg

3750243698_321b62d64d.jpg

dusty-computer-1.jpg

up-VHKI3QS6FFI3LKNC.jpg

20.jpg

dirty_desktop_computer_thumb.jpg

smkcpufan.jpg

25.jpg
 
Last edited:
That looks like my mothers computer. She has 3 cats and it gets filthy quik.
 
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I can't look at those pictures, anymore. It's just terrifying.
 
jiminator said:
have you opened up your tv lately to clean it up? Your X-box? Your laptop? expecting a typical consumer to do something like this is not a reasonable assumption.
Click to expand...

Popping the side of a case off of a computer and blowing it out with a can of air is SUPER simple....

And yes, I do clean out other electronics if I suspect they have dust buildup in them.

TVs take a whole lot longet to build up any amount of dust in them.

I have opened up 30+ year old TVs and they really never have that much dust in them... maybe equal to 3 months of dust inside a computer that is in a dusty environment.

As for consoles with built in fans.. yeah, if they get dusty I will at least hold the fan still while it is powered off and then blow air through it with my compressor.

Most laptops you can just blow air back through the fan while it is on even... it will usually loosen up the dust and the fan will blow it out unless it is clumped really badly.

I don't care who you are.. unless you have inadequate movement of your limbs/extremeties, there is no excuse for letting dirt buildup in a computer like that.
 
Cerulean said:
Milk

Also, you should see my mom's $500 Dell. :p Your scenario compared to this baby? Hah, fat chance. Plus this computer was only worth $100 of the $500 for what could be achieved via custom building.

EDIT: Sorry, I can't resist the urge to post these pics. :D

Mom's computer looks like this on the inside:
b7dpgo.jpg
Click to expand...

Smokes? :D
 
Was it stored in a sandbox?
Click to expand...
Nope.

Smokes?
Click to expand...
Nope.

We live in a relatively clean mobile home in the boonies, and we haven't let the cats inside for a looooooooooooong time. Kind of goes to show how badly Dell's sucks-- or maybe how good they are in terms of being penetrable by air. :p

EDIT: Also note that is not my picture -- but it's 100% accurate in that the hardware is exactly the same, layout of everything including cabling and cards, and the picture even looks exactly as it does in real life -- exact same stuff, different Dell PC.

Roughly every 3-4 months I take the computers outside to the air compressor and give them a good blow (I do take their chassis' apart).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top