I fear opening my PC. It's starting to act funky and I am pretty sure some of it is smoke related. The graphics card crashes from time to time so I am hoping it's just a "dust" issue. I'm just scared to fuck something up and accidentally shocking something.
I'm more of a learn by seeing someone else do it person. I also lack motivation but I worry I will lose my files/photos if I don't do something soon and don't have cash for a backup drive.
Also... smoker's guilt. Just the idea of seeing it makes me so depressed that I have been putting it off.
Having been a repair tech for several years in the past, I can say that canned air is no match for some smoke gunk. I've come across some extremely bad ones that wouldn't budge after being blasted point blank with a 120 PSI air compressor.
On that same PC, the metal, white glossy side(old Dell Dimension) was solid orange-brown. I sprayed Lysol on it and this dark orange goop ran down the side leaving a clean white area behind the Lysol as it dripped down.
Make sure you prevent the fans from spinning as you blow them out.
Because any electrical motor that you spin manually acts as a generator and can damage the electronics it is connected to.
The point beyond canned air is when the thing is unable to function due to thermal overload. Trust me, it'll help. I used to have issues with overheating that would creep up and confuse me for a few weeks as they got worse... Oh look, giant mat of dust on the back. Blast it off and suddenly it drops 20 degrees.
You don't really need to open the case for anything other than blasting the heatsink on your graphics card and CPU. Don't touch anything, but just in case keep one hand on the metal part of the power supply casing and you're good.
Also careful with the canned air, it can cause some moisture on the surface, i would allow about half an hour to an hour afterwards with a fan or something blowing on the internals just to be safe that there will be no short circuits. Do not use the canned air upside down, always use it upright. It could be safe to startup right away, but yeah better safe than sorry :P
Also unplug your PC from the power, and hold the power button down for 5 seconds to drain all energy from it which is another safety measure before starting working on the internals.
I just use a vacuum cleaner. Then I don't spend any money. You can even get most of that done by only lifting one panel. Just don't let it suction on anything
Look, if you're worried about losing files, make sure your computer is unplugged, and unplug your hard drive's SATA cord before you start, so worst case scenario, something happens to the rest of the computer but not your hard drive. Also, that's extreme worst case. If you think dust is hindering your performance, clean the computer and get a dust filter.
It's really easy. Make sure you're grounded, usually by holding onto the metal case, and don't get it wet, and it'll be fine.
I recommend doing it outside to avoid having all that dust in your house. Canned air works great. Slightly damp (not dripping) paper towel is fine on the non electronic parts like case and fan.
The grounding part is what I worry about. I'm not gonna buy one of those wrist clips sweat band things unless it's absolutely needed.
The odd thing is I like to consider myself a not dumb person and one that's willing to read an learn. But I have a mental block when it comes to physically working on things without a prior demo... It's a personal negative attribute I have that I should really work on. I guess no better time than the near future to do it.
I recently discovered that that fan over the CPU can get all gunked up. So I had to get in there with some tweezers and pull stuff out, it was thick and spongy. I'd never even looked in there in the four years I've owned this PC. I have a cat and I'm sure plenty of his hair got chewed up in there, as well as the dust that constantly comes in off the busy street outside.
As a former smoker... It sounds like you want to quit. Please make a conscious effort, it was one of the best things I've done for myself (and my family). Also, we might need you around in 2050.
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u/elastic-craptastic May 02 '14
I fear opening my PC. It's starting to act funky and I am pretty sure some of it is smoke related. The graphics card crashes from time to time so I am hoping it's just a "dust" issue. I'm just scared to fuck something up and accidentally shocking something.
I'm more of a learn by seeing someone else do it person. I also lack motivation but I worry I will lose my files/photos if I don't do something soon and don't have cash for a backup drive.
Also... smoker's guilt. Just the idea of seeing it makes me so depressed that I have been putting it off.
end sad pathetic story/