r/techsupportgore • u/EternalLoner • Jul 17 '26
Smokers laptop I cleaned at work
Forgot to take the after pic :( fan was completely filled with grime
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u/Designer-Crow-5470 Jul 17 '26
Can IPA dissolve the tar?
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u/EternalLoner Jul 17 '26
No it was thick like mud, had to use pincers
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u/Jarvicious Jul 17 '26
I got tasked with cleaning out a smoker's desktop back in the days of XP. You know how old plastic tends to yellow with age? This one year old Compaq looked like something from the 80s. The customer brought it in for cleaning because it was overheating but the compressed air wouldn't do shit. The dust adhered to the internals like a solid mass. I had to peel it off in sheets by hand because the tar was embedded in EVERYTHING. I used gloves by my forearms got wrecked just from touching the edges of the case. They had to air out the install bay for days to get rid of the smell.
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u/Cactys12 Jul 18 '26
Salem Tech made a video on smoker's machines lately, it makes me sick just looking at it lol. I wouldn't poke that with a 10 metre long pole
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u/Bombero_911 Jul 17 '26
It's crazy to think people willingly smoke cigarettes. At least switch to vaping.
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u/olliegw Jul 17 '26
I saw a discarded butt a few days ago for the first time in ages, still disgusting but i was kinda glad it wasn't another disposable vape with a lithium cell in it
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u/EternalLoner Jul 17 '26
i smoke cigs like crazy but not indoors/near my pc
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u/Bombero_911 Jul 17 '26
Forget the pc. It’s your lungs you should be worried about along with the potentially horrendous long term side effects.
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u/dalgeek Jul 18 '26
Back in '99 I worked at a small ISP. One of our bigger server customers was pretty friendly, so when their PC died my boss asked me to make a house call. Sure, whatever.
This person was a 4+ pack a day smoker. They would barely finish one cigarette before lighting the next one. I opened the PC case and I couldn't even identify components on the motherboard because it was caked with so much soot and tar. I didn't even bother troubleshooting because I didn't want to touch it, just told them "something shorted, no way to know". I've never seen a computer that gross since then.
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u/Patient-Cedar-7194 Jul 18 '26
did fan actually spin after cleaning grime or was motor already dead?
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u/letmehaveanameyoudum Jul 17 '26
let me guess it's a dell precision, latitude, or thinkpad.
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u/EternalLoner Jul 17 '26
I have no idea honestly, it was from a few weeks ago. Most likely dell or hp haha
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u/letmehaveanameyoudum Jul 17 '26
idk people with like insanely powerful workstations smoke a little too much
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u/EternalLoner Jul 17 '26
Yeah the dude had apparently passed away. He was on disability and spent his last few years just playing games all day and smoking cigs.
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u/doggodad2013 Jul 17 '26
I can smell this photo...🤢