Whilst i am no stranger to the computer, learning stuff with on board computers when they were introduced to our Air craft whilst in the RAF, since may years after this I have always had a PC but I am certainly no Techy. basically like a Driver (or an up front crew member I know how to input but like I guess so many we know how to Drive it or how to fly it but as to a Computer and most machines, I have no idea how or Why it Works, Recently I started a Thread on Dust in the PC, I paid lip service only to the Advice given and Tuesday Morning paid the price. My motherboard warning sirens and notice was something I had never seen before. a little like an Imminent Engine failure Warning on an Aircraft It told me I was fast approaching the danger Temperature and it would now close me down. 80+o I took the Tower to the Dining Room and put it on a White Sheet, My Goodness what a mess. 3 hours later I had it Cleaned up re installed and ready to Go, Wrong! It would not reboot, it had gone into power saving mode and would not Start up. After a while after, having contacting those I needed to and asking help from a very good Friend to help contacting the one person I was actually in the middle of sending a PM to when I crashed I decided to take the tower to town for a check up. the Answer was No cant do anything, Apparently this has happened before ( Which I did not know about) my Wife said to bring it to the Office and the IT department will sort it. I got the Tower back late yesterday Afternoon and the Problem was compacted Dust on the processor and other areas of the motherboard. We are up and running now and it is Brilliant, temperature is now at 40o PHEW! So my friends, it was I that asked for help and I did not heed the Advice given My BAD! Thank You all that answered me and I will Admit I was totally Stupid on this issue. MORAL: Keep your Tower Clean and Dust Free JP
Jack, I used to use the dyson Hoover on mine in the uk on motherboard and processor around twice a yr, not recommended but worked fine. Here there is far more dust and heat so a good Hoover out every couple months won't hurt. Those fans suck in loads of dust!
I blow my laptops out daily with canned air (or air compressor) in Afghanistan. Absolutely ridiculous the amount of dust there. On my last contract I learned an expensive lesson by not doing the preventative maintenance on my laptop.
The only real way of cleaning it out properly is with a pointy hand held blower and a compressor with a water trap fitted, however; in saying that, I knew of a guy who once a month hosed his PC out thoroughly using the garden hose and left it sit overnight before switching it back on. I bet it WOULD blow up, but after around 18 months I gave it up as the damned thing never did blow up, if I ever tried that you could bet your @ss on it that it WOULD blow up and level 3 city blocks in the process! :p One of the first things I intend on doing when I get back is to buy a decent Compressor that can handle things should I need to use Air Tools, Spray Paint something, or, 99% of the time; blowing dust from every imaginable orifice in my Desktop PC. A Hoover will never do the same job that 120 psi up the coitus interruptus will do...
