1/06/06 How to evict those dust bunnies living in your PC

After reading the article on "computer cleaning" and airflow, I have a question re: computer skins or panels.
I currently run 2 systems with the side panels off.
Is there any harm here?
Thanks,

Dom B.
Phila. PA

You make it to complicated. Such long drawn out comments can be simply put, "open the case and blow out the dust with compressed air or an air compressor with an air nozzle attachment".

I have a friend who was recently complaining that her PC would only run a short time and shut down, or reboot. When I looked in her PC, it had the normal amount of filth from not being cleaned in a while. But then I looked at the CPU cooler. The fins under the fan were totally clogged, and not just with ordinary dust that you could blow out. It was grimy goop from smoke that you couldn't even brush away. I had to completely remove and disassemble the CPU cooler/fan and wash the heat sink with warm soapy water and a scrub brush, and carefully clean each little blade on the fan. I had never seen anything that clogged.

But remember if you do this to not only reapply thermal compound on the CPU, but to first completely clean off all the old compound from both surfaces. Apply a tiny dab (no bigger than a paper match head) to the CPU and spread it around with a *new* safety razor blade, removing any excess; the kind that has only one edge. I say new, because you want to be sure the blade does not have any nicks in it, or you either won't be able to spread it evenly, or you may scratch the CPU. The reason for using a razor is two fold. You need the layer to be very thin, and that is the only way. And you need it to be very even, and that is the only way. Don't use your fingers, and avoid even touching the areas to avoid any possible skin oil contamination.

By the way, cleaning the CPU cooler solved the problem of the computer shutting down. Bottom line, if you SMOKE, you must clean your PC at least two or three times more often to keep a PC functioning properly. This is why computer data centers did not allow smoking in the machine room even before it became fashionable for whole buildings to be smoke-free.

Milo

Without pulling any punches, do not open your PC if you have asthma or allergies. Our unfiltered fans work day after day pulling in all the junk from the air and build up incredibly large amounts of dust in our cases. I ran a PC support unit that maintained some 12,000 PCs for many years. We had so many techs become ill that we were forced to install woodworking downdraft tables at the work areas to protect our staff from that dust.

We are long overdue a Sharper Image making one of their silent air cleaners to sit in front of our PC air intakes.

bill

In your post you mention you have had your computer for years? Years without opening the case to clean things up will most likely result in your finding grunge actually caked on everything in there.

I don?t like the ?BLOW? it out method. I want that junk out of there. I understand there will be general reluctance, if not outright shock, to cleaning computers the way I do. But every six months or so, I pull all cover plates, including the front, attach the little round brush to the vacuum cleaner hose and get after it. I even stick it right down on the motherboard. When I am finished, everything is all ?clean? again. Honestly, I do not expect anyone that is already reluctant to even remove the covers to perform such a through cleaning the way I do; heck I wouldn?t even do this to someone else?s computer myself. All I can offer is that I have been cleaning computers this way for twenty years without a problem. Even so, I may be on borrowed time. I look at this way. I hate slow failures. I would rather just get it over with, know what happened, and replace the darn thing. A dirty computer will most definitely eventually fail due to simple neglect? operating too hot over an extended period.

Maybe this one thing will redeem this post for having at least some value for the masses.

How do I know when to clean? I use Intel?s Active Monitor, available free and downloadable from Intel?s site.
http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/active.htm
It is an alerting utility for use exclusively on Intel Desktop Boards. The Intel Active Monitor works with specialized sensors on your Intel Desktop Board to constantly monitor the system's temperatures, power supply voltages, and fan speeds. If temperatures become extremely hot or a system fan or power supply fails, the user is immediately notified. I set the temperature alerting limits at the very edge of their high end, so I am notified when things first begin to get into the ?little too warm range.? This gives me a few days to get around to cleaning. Of course, this only works for Intel motherboards.

One more thing. I mention this, again because of your mention of ?it has been years.? The actual processor inside your computer uses Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound between the actual processor and the heat sink to dissipate heat. Without this compound, heat sinks can not work at maximum efficiency. Over time, even the best thermal compounds will break down to the point that they no longer dissipate as much heat as they should. In other words, the very heart of your computer, if it has been years, is most likely just hanging in there at temperatures well above what they should be. Interesting to note here is there is no way to monitor the temperature of the processor itself. By the time the Active Monitor detects an over-heating processor, the processor has reached temperatures that have shortened its life, if not ended it.

So? ever so often (I do it annually, although this is a bit of overkill, I?m sure), you need to remove the heat sink sitting on top of the processor, clean all the old compound off the top of the processor and the heat sink, and replace it with new. I hope it goes without saying that this should be done very carefully. But come on guys, ?carefully? does not mean that you can not be a careful person and pull this off. It is important enough to the longevity of the processor benefit outweighs the risk. Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound can be purchased at any computer store. A small tube of good quality compound should run you around ten bucks.

Here are some through instructions for how to perform the whole task correctly:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm

BTW, I never use a grounding strap. I don?t trust them. What I do is keep a firm hold, with one hand, on the chassis the entire time; a more direct connection to ensuring that I am most definitely grounded to the machine.

George H of Missouri failed to mention that a normal household vacuum cleaner has a hole near the nozzle end that is to be opened (turn the collar around) so that air is sucked in thereby lessening the 'force' of the suction at the nozzle.

A person can purchase the attachment for a household vacuum reduces the air pull and has assorted small brushes and nozzles for cleaning in such small places. This includes sewing machines.

George also fails to point out that by blowing compressed air inside the computer causes dust to fly around inside the case and the air around it. Therefor it is necessary to have a method of suction at hand to collect the dust. Just like going to the dentist.

The fan screens, and fan blades collect dust and you can use them as an indication of the amount of dust that is collecting in the computer.

The combination of compressed air and surounding dust is killing all kind of bearings, seals or moving parts. There are not to many in a computer, but better be carefull. Instead of compressing the dust with a sharp blow in one area or just blow it up and wait for it to re-settle, better take a vaccuum cleaner and get rid of it.
Compressed air for keyboards, yes. For inside any machine including computer, at least questionable.

I service computers and just wanted to pass along this info. I have had customers bring in dead computers, that had the processor fan and ventilation fins clogged with dust, causing their demise. I use compressed air on these parts every time I open any dusty computer, to prevent this in the future.

VERY IMPORTANT WORDS OF ADVICE!!! If you have alot of dust in your computer, that might have actually become decent size balls of dust--- DO NOT vacuum or touch anything metallic to the case! I had someone working on my computer in my home (he was a sophomore in college for computer hardware so I thought he knew what he was doing), he laid the case on its side for another reason, but, seeing the dust, thought he'd clean the dustballs out - by using my VACUUM. BIG MISTAKE!!
The metal tip of the vacuum hose hit the housing and the dust balls caught on fire and melted my motherboard and hard drive.

So, if you don't know what you are doing, follow Joaquin's advice - and take your computer to a shop for cleaning. It's alot cheaper than replacing parts or the entire unit which I had to do.

What will vacuuming around the drive bays cause? I've been vacuuming inside my computer for years now.

Up until just last year, I also had never cracked open my computer case.

I had a series of extensive and expense "repairs" that did not fix it so I took the Comp TIA class at my local community college.

Now I take care of my own computer. I have upgraded the hard drive, put in a DVD player, upgraded the operating system, etc. (for a lot less than it would have cost otherwise) and to speak specifically to the original question, clean it out with my little computer vac and a cotton swab with no fear.

Having a clue about what is going on inside the box has been absolutely worth its weight in gold to me.

About every 4 months I disconect the computer from everything and take the side off then fire up my Wet Dry
Vac and blow the living heck out of the computer ( Oh yes
take it outside ) As a TON of dust is about to come out of the computer and would go all over the inside of your
front room or where ever your at . . I blow the CPU fan and heat sink out and the Power supply out from both ends and the case in general out . . GOBS of dust comes out of it and I keep mu apartment clean . .

My daughter's friend had her computer over at Xmas to install SP2 because she had dial-up.
I couldn't believe the dust inside. In the 370 heatsink you couldn't see the fins, the front inlet was plugged almost solid, the PS had dust bunnies everywhere.
I used a foot pump for bicycle tires and a fitting for pumping up air mattresses with a tapered point.
It may not be as good as compressed air but it left a whole lot cleaner than when it arrived.

I just have one small item to add. While dust on the motherboard won't generally create much havoc, there is another risk besides overheating. Dust can be conductive, and can short out your computer. I, being a repairman, have repaired computers which had precisely this happen. Now granted, in most areas this most likely is not a common event, but here in Wyoming with the dry climate and dirt roads, dust is a far greater problem.
With that said, here are a few pointers:
Most dust in a computer is going to gather in two places: the CPU Heatsink, and the Power supply (the aluminum box in the upper rearmost corner of your tower; about 5" cubed). The CPU Heatsink is easy enough to clean, but the power supply is a little trickier. Using the canned air, blow into the vents on the side of the power supply, and into the back (where the fan is). Do not use a vacuum. There is circuitry inside of the PS just liek on your mtherboard, but this circuitry is far larger and more heavy-duty, and not nearly as prone to damage from canned air.
The second point is to dust your motherboard. The best way to do this is to remove the spray nozzle from your canned air, and hold it about 8" away from the board while spraying. While it is always possible to damage your board doing virtually anything, this is about the safest way to clean it.
The last thing I should mention is that when canned air is expressed, it chills the air very rapidly. Because of that, any condensation in teh air will instantly freeze and remain frozen for a short while. This frost (sometimes not even visible) could damage your computer if it were still there when the system is powered back up. Never turn the system back on or plug it back un until you've let it sit for at least5 minutes after you've finished with the Canned Air.

I hope my 2 cents have been helpful to somone
Drew

I use the exhaust on my Shop-Vac. I only use a small shop-vac and the only purpose I purchase it was to clean out my computer because I could not find any air product that did not have moister coming out of it.

What I do, is stand far from the case while it?s open (out in the back yard not inside the home to much dust) turn on the shopvac and start walking closer to the open computer case. While I get closer I see everything flying away form the case all the dust. I never get close enough to cause harm. A little movement of the wires is ok but eases back a little if you see anything starting to mover faster its just common sense to move back. And everything should be blown out in five minutes and then you done.