Cleaning the Guts
Golden Leg
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've been really thankful for how well my first home-built computer turned out. Almost three years old and still runs without a hitch.
However, I've only cracked open the case twice to clean it, and that was just a mild vacuuming of stray dust. As most of you can imagine. All of the fans are caked with fine, furry particles, and there's a decent layer of grey-brown on everything else inside, too.
What do you all use and do to thoroughly clean your computers?
However, I've only cracked open the case twice to clean it, and that was just a mild vacuuming of stray dust. As most of you can imagine. All of the fans are caked with fine, furry particles, and there's a decent layer of grey-brown on everything else inside, too.
What do you all use and do to thoroughly clean your computers?
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Grab a can o' air (or compressed air generator if you have access to one), remove all the panels (and if you really want to get down and dirty, drives and cables and fans), take it outside, and then start blowing like crazy.. Use a shop vac with a nozzle reducer to suck out anything that gets really stuck, or use both the blower and vacuum at the same time to really get that dust out of heat sink fins. Wipe down the fans after blowing/vacuuming them with a damp cloth or cleaning wipes. Take it all back inside and put it all back together again.
Contrary to the above poster, I would say not to put a vacuum cleaner in there. No "Swiffers" or whatever other dust collecting device you might have. These things generate static electricity, which is not your friend.
Keep a dustbuster nearby to suck up the mess, though, because they will be a lot on the carpet/flooring.
Sometimes I have the most horrible dreams. Or maybe they are real. Do dead men dream?
Similiarly, don't let fans freewheel, hold them in place (gently) either with your finger or a small stick. Allowing the fans to spin by air pressure can actually get them turning faster than they were designed for. The bearings can heat up, and cause the surrounding plastic to heat up and melt, permanently damaging the fan. Larger fans are less prone to this, but the smaller video card, CPU, and chipset fans can be damaged if you over-rev them.
Yeah, so let's just skip the air compressor entirely, eh?
Canned air should be fine. Personally I used go a few steps further and take my fans out of the case and clean up the fins with a wipe, and occasionally pull the sticker off and put a drop of lubricant on the axle.
I don't get that into it anymore, but I do pull out the fans and go at them with a good stiff-bristled brush from time to time.
Never use a vacuum cleaner's blowing air, that nice warm air is incredibly charged with electrostatic energy.
But getting an air compressor properly configured carries a heavy initial investment.
Both solutions put a lot of dust in the air so either do it outside or in a well ventilated area.
I generally take my big summer fan, point it right at the case at full speed, and use a static-free cloth. Wiping with the cloth loosens the dust up, fan blows it away.
I remember when it was 3 cans for $7 at Sam's club, then from one day to the next, they removed the 3 packs and only sold individual packages, for the same price.
And do it outside, or whatever room you are in will be covered in dust.
When my computer is off, I hear squealing coming from the power supply that increases in pitch as time goes on, then levels out. When I turn my computer on, the pitch either ceases or lowers to the extent that I can't differentiate from the rest of the bleeps and bloops my computer makes. This just started happening a couple of days ago.
I've got an Antec 500W Smart Power power supply. I've had one for the past three years. Had to get it replaced once because of bad capacitors.
I'd rather drop 100 clams on some vidya gaems rather than a new power supply, but I'd prefer not to risk the well being of the other 1,200 dollars worth of parts in this rig.
which seems to suggest that Antec have had some problems with the Smart Power line.
Squealing in power supplies is sometimes caused by transformer whine (aka coil whine), a result of slightly loose wiring in the transformer. The sound is usually some harmonic of 60Hz (50Hz in the UK/Europe). Supposedly can be exacerbated by dirty power. Personally, I get a quiet high-pitched whine from the transformer in my LCD even when the screen is off. So a really quiet squeal isn't unheard of, though if yours is loud it might be indicative of a larger problem.
Don't know about other sources of whining in a PSU, but there probably are some.
As a disclaimer, I know very little about PSUs, so you'll want someone else's advice on what to actually do about your problem - coil whine will at least give you something to google :P.
This unless the vacuum is built for not generating static. Those are usually specialty vacuums though and usually pricey.
As far as PSU's? How loaded do you have it? Someone else has a voltage calculator and that might help actually. I don't remeber that link ( I wish I saved it now)
Can you hear it while the case is closed and while sitting in your chair, or do you have to get up pretty close to the PSU to hear it? Most of my power supplies (both cheapo ones and quality ones) have produced at least some squeal while powering down. It usually doesn't last too long and it's never been a problem or been loud enough for me to hear unless I get right up close to them.
It's just the capacitors whining (discharging) and doesn't hurt anything. Unless it's super loud, which might indicate the capacitor is about to fail.
If your mobo has a power LED on it (indicating power is connected) you can turn off your PC and you can hear the whine and watch the LED and the whine will stop and the LED will go out at the same time because it discharged the capacitor.
Antec's Warranty system rocks. You should be able to send it back to them. Send support an e-mail describing the problem and they will get back to you.
Yeah, then I would contact Antec about it.