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Funny, our company has at least 1500 PCs and I don't recall any annual preventive maintenance plan to clean them.
that keyboard is teeming with bacteria.....disgusting...never seen one like that except in public libraries
Typical here in New Mexico. We don't have any dust here. (NOT!) I've had many many examples of the above. Usually they don't fail till the rainy season when all that nice dust gets damp and becomes conductive. :))
Have you ever seen one dusty like these and then add to it... the user smoking while at the computer? I have and I will never work on one where I can see the yellow/brown stains on the outside and it smells like a years worth of old dead cigarettes. I do not have a dip tank to clean all the boards.
Does anyone one know which PC companies will not honor the warranty because it was in a smoking environment?
Does anyone one know which PC companies will not honor the warranty because it was in a smoking environment?
I think I has an HP server that was worse, at least the front panel - amazing how they continue to run, except you can start to hear the cpu fan spinning against a thick coat of dust.
Forget the mini vacuum and the air cans. Nothing goes into my shop without first hitting the insides with my 140 psi electric compressor. I remove the sides and the front panels and BLOW. It's the only way to clean out power supplies and hard to get at dirt. Carefull around the fans. Don't over rev. Hold the fan blades stationary. I have broken a few. I do this in an open garage (even in the winter - I use a small folding table). On site, on a really dirty PC, I use a small powerful vac (on blow) in an outside area near a rear door. I agree, the worst are smokers, with pets, PC sitting on the floor. I do occationally use duster can (especially laptops), but I have seen the extreme cold gas actually cause a hairline fracture on a motherboard and render it inoperable.
Last year I purchased two used PCs from the public library. Inside one of them I found : a piece of a crayon, a child's ring, two CDs (stuck in a gap in the case under the CD drive) and a 1/4 cup of dust.
The pc's I get to see are POS's in the retail sector. Dust is the least of our problems. From time to time we have found meat, pop-corn, burgers, cheese, sugar, cockroaches and many more wonderful surprises.
One of them has older checkstands with nowhere to put the POS terminal except under the feed belt. They catch flour, sugar, soda pop, water, milk, and anything else that can be spilled and fall onto them.
I've had to chisel stuff off before I can open them.
I've had to chisel stuff off before I can open them.
Every time a technician services a POS they change the floppy drive before even checking if it works since its guaranteed that it will never work because of the dust buildup.
I've had a few machines come from under desks in offices with carpets that have required a scraping before they can be opened. Servers in storage cupboards seem to be the worst for contamination simply because they keep working up until the point where fans fail and things start going flaky.
Computers in the North West of Western Australia have a much shorter life span simply because of the red Iron Oxide dust that permeates everywhere. Even in air conditioned offices this dust seems to find a way in. Add moisture due to high humidity and you have a real recipe for "Old Sparky" ie they let the magic smoke out.
Computers in the North West of Western Australia have a much shorter life span simply because of the red Iron Oxide dust that permeates everywhere. Even in air conditioned offices this dust seems to find a way in. Add moisture due to high humidity and you have a real recipe for "Old Sparky" ie they let the magic smoke out.
full of dust but jammed pack with redback spiders.
I remember a case that I opened only to have a 12 foot Python slide out. I threw everyone out of the workshop and just waited for the Snake Man to arrive to remove the bloody thing. Now what I want to know is how something so big got into a Computer case through very small openings.
Or another one where I found living rats inside the thing. Not sure how they got in either.
But the best place was one that built roads. They are still going and used a program that has never been rewritten for anything newer than NT4 it had laser sights on the earthmoving equipment and Laser Levels all around the site so that earth could be removed to within a couple of Centimeters of the design. Saved a lot of money in backfilling and Diesel Fuel so they used it as much as possible. Of course the Local Donga's that they used where "Dust Proof" they leaked everywhere and killed computers faster than anyone would believe possible. They quoted for a Server Life of no more than 6 months and dumped anything over 6 months old because they expected it to die at a most inopportune time where it was going to cost them lots of money.
Zalman came out with a Fanless Case and I tried one out for them in one site office. That thing is still going and while it was about 15 times the cost of a conventional case the servers are still in use now 5 years latter.
The poor things get a coating of dust on the outside which turns into Concrete when it rains so it's impossible to move the servers they literally get glued to the shelf that they are sitting on but they just keep working and never suck anything inside.
Col
Or another one where I found living rats inside the thing. Not sure how they got in either.
But the best place was one that built roads. They are still going and used a program that has never been rewritten for anything newer than NT4 it had laser sights on the earthmoving equipment and Laser Levels all around the site so that earth could be removed to within a couple of Centimeters of the design. Saved a lot of money in backfilling and Diesel Fuel so they used it as much as possible. Of course the Local Donga's that they used where "Dust Proof" they leaked everywhere and killed computers faster than anyone would believe possible. They quoted for a Server Life of no more than 6 months and dumped anything over 6 months old because they expected it to die at a most inopportune time where it was going to cost them lots of money.
Zalman came out with a Fanless Case and I tried one out for them in one site office. That thing is still going and while it was about 15 times the cost of a conventional case the servers are still in use now 5 years latter.
The poor things get a coating of dust on the outside which turns into Concrete when it rains so it's impossible to move the servers they literally get glued to the shelf that they are sitting on but they just keep working and never suck anything inside.
Col
Wait until you have to service PC's which come from the North West, they have an added element red dust, which clogs everything and creates its own pathways, which crash the computer.
Been there, done that.
Been there, done that.
I build my computers. I always put the main fan to SUCK in air instead of expelling air from the cabinet. And then I put a filter on this inlet. Works a lot better than having the computer to suck in air and dust from all other places.
I would like to see computer cases made that makes it easier to clean them. Those fancy front in particular should be easy to remove and access the front fans and vents.
Worse I saw was inside of a unit used by a chain smoker....thick brown sticky coating over everything. Never got more than 2 years out of any of his computers.
Yeah, basically the idea is to suck in MORE clean air than other vents suck out, thus creating slight positive pressure inside the case.
Back in 8086 days I use to service PCs that were used for collecting data from grain analysis machines called Dickey-John. After about two months use many of the computers' internals were covered in a layer of grain dust and on more than one occasion a cremated mouse that had managed somehow to get inside the cases.
to suck so much dust from outside when circulating air inside the case to cool disks. Take the cover of the old CD drive, drill 2 holes near the back edge for holding the fan on one side and fasten assembly to the free 5inch slot. The fan blows slantwise down to the disks in the 31/2 slot. Two screws to hold the fan are enough. Circulating air is cooled partly through the case walls, partly refreshed by the fan in the power supply.
I work in a printing plant. Most of our machines are run by servers that are basically PC's in a hard, multiventilated industrial casing. They have multiple inlet filters nevertheless we clean them every 2-3 months. You wouldn't believe the paper lint we take out of them. Same goes for the office computers.
While those are pretty bad (especially the first picture), ive actually had worse.
I went to a persons house because their desktop PC had stopped working. I knew it was going to be bad when I could see something very much like the first picture without opening the case.
To cut a long story short, it had dust, dog hair, and what looked like talc. the house was humid, so the moisture had allowed all of that to congeal and get hard as the PC was pulling the air through the case. It was like cement. opening the case, that "cement" was on any area that had an opening, no matter how small. Every fan had it in there to the point none of the fans worked. In some places it was (and im not joking) between 1 inch and 1.5 inches deep. The PC stopped not from over heating, but ants had made a nest in the Power supply, and some lucky ant slept in the wrong place. That was the desktop PC. The keyboard was another matter. it had so much disgusting human stuff (finger nails & boogers for a start) and also bit of food, that most of the keys stuck a little (the user said she was used to it and didnt mind it, figure that out) I touched a few keys and my finger tip would stick to the keys! I pulled my own keyboard out of my bag.
Funny thing, she wasnt embarrassed a bit about how disgusting it was. it took me several hours to clean it up before i could even replace the PSU.
She paid me in cash, and yes, the money was really filthy, covered in who knows what.
I went to a persons house because their desktop PC had stopped working. I knew it was going to be bad when I could see something very much like the first picture without opening the case.
To cut a long story short, it had dust, dog hair, and what looked like talc. the house was humid, so the moisture had allowed all of that to congeal and get hard as the PC was pulling the air through the case. It was like cement. opening the case, that "cement" was on any area that had an opening, no matter how small. Every fan had it in there to the point none of the fans worked. In some places it was (and im not joking) between 1 inch and 1.5 inches deep. The PC stopped not from over heating, but ants had made a nest in the Power supply, and some lucky ant slept in the wrong place. That was the desktop PC. The keyboard was another matter. it had so much disgusting human stuff (finger nails & boogers for a start) and also bit of food, that most of the keys stuck a little (the user said she was used to it and didnt mind it, figure that out) I touched a few keys and my finger tip would stick to the keys! I pulled my own keyboard out of my bag.
Funny thing, she wasnt embarrassed a bit about how disgusting it was. it took me several hours to clean it up before i could even replace the PSU.
She paid me in cash, and yes, the money was really filthy, covered in who knows what.
I think we can agree that we've all found some pretty disgusting things inside (and outside) various computers. My worst was on a system that shutting down for overheating. When I opened the case and got past all the grime, I found that something was entwined in the processor fan and keeping it from running. As I began to free it from the fan, I realized it was a condom.
I don't know why. I don't want to know why.
A bottle of hand sanitizer later and it still creeps me out to think about it.
But I did charge double for the service.
I don't know why. I don't want to know why.
A bottle of hand sanitizer later and it still creeps me out to think about it.
But I did charge double for the service.
friend call said hi system was acting up .pull the cover and the whole machine was a block of dust bunnys you could not see anything but this gray mass filling the whole thing
Was a computer used by a dog trainer/kennel. I opened up a constantly overheating computer to find a layer of Dog hair and Dust 1 inch thick. It came off in single matted sheet. I have no idea how that machine didn't burn out, but it sure as hell got a lot faster after I removed it.
I had to have a shower after that call, I felt itchy for quite a while!
I had to have a shower after that call, I felt itchy for quite a while!
For the real bad machines I use my leaf blower! Don't laugh. It's amazing! But be careful and make sure you lean the case up against something. You don't want to do it indoors nor near any loose gravel. Also lean it upwards like against a wall or railing that way you don't pick up anything in the air flow that will fly into the case and cause damage. Start with the blower on low and don't hold it close. As you see progress being made and you're sure that the air flow won't pick up anything to harm the PC, move in a little closer. Move the blower around. There's no where for the dust to hide! It cleans out a PC in less than a minute! Hasn't failed me yet and cheaper than canned air! Also I don't have to pay for a compressor.
Opening a computer from a heavy smoker and finding the inside is covered with a sticky yellow film of tar and nicotine. We once opened a case and there was a perfect spiders web spun behind the case with dead bugs in it.
I was thinking the same thing, as I had a heavy smoker bring his computer in one day so I could look at it for him. It was disgusting, yellow, sticky and dust filled.
Having done many service calls as a subcontractor for an computer company that built their own POS for resturants and bars, I dug many a foreign object from units. Cockroaches and dead mice become the most horrifying when they begin to offer you food and drink while you work. I don't think so, thanks. UUGGHH. I'll never eat there, or any number of chains of cantinas. Goodness, don't let the patron see that. I participated in a fire investigation that the cause was centered in a PC roll around cabinet. Turned out a mouse got in and built a nest of tractor fed paper in the power supply of the printer. Caught a box of fanfold paper on fire and his cremated remains were still hanging over the heatsink. This was at a pesticide manufacturer and shows just how good their products are.
For years and years, I've been telling friends, family and customers to clean their computers at least once a year. Thank you for making this article. I've posted it on my Facebook and sent via email it to people I know who aren't on FB.
I've been cleaning computers for years and have seen horrors as bad and even worse than the ones in these pictures. I've even found roach colonies in them before.
I'd add to this article that it is vitally important to wear an anti static wrist strap when they clean computers. Also, if they use any liquid at all, it needs to be the highest % or proof alcohol they can get their hands on so that it evaporates quickly. These precautions are fairly inexpensive but can save your computer. A $20 wrist strap will save your multi hundred dollar computer from static shock.
If they have some one else do it for pay, they should only have someone do it who has CompTIA A+ certs. Would you rather have a shade-tree mechanic or Mr. Goodwrench to take your car's engine apart and clean it?
I've been cleaning computers for years and have seen horrors as bad and even worse than the ones in these pictures. I've even found roach colonies in them before.
I'd add to this article that it is vitally important to wear an anti static wrist strap when they clean computers. Also, if they use any liquid at all, it needs to be the highest % or proof alcohol they can get their hands on so that it evaporates quickly. These precautions are fairly inexpensive but can save your computer. A $20 wrist strap will save your multi hundred dollar computer from static shock.
If they have some one else do it for pay, they should only have someone do it who has CompTIA A+ certs. Would you rather have a shade-tree mechanic or Mr. Goodwrench to take your car's engine apart and clean it?
It's a VW, not a GM
And how old is the A+ cert?. Mine is over ten years old and although I've done the best I can, I haven't had to stay current because it's not relevant to my job. How many other people are in that same boat?
If I wasn't going to do the work myself, I'd look for a good electronics shop rather than take the PC to some tech with an A+, but no understanding of why the PC works the way it does.
And how old is the A+ cert?. Mine is over ten years old and although I've done the best I can, I haven't had to stay current because it's not relevant to my job. How many other people are in that same boat?
If I wasn't going to do the work myself, I'd look for a good electronics shop rather than take the PC to some tech with an A+, but no understanding of why the PC works the way it does.
These are all fairly standard, not by any means the worst. I've seem motherboards covered in over 3/4" of muck. The absolute worst though was one (actually two) from a chinese takeaway
where the grease from frying had entered the computers and the dust was stuck to that!
They asked me to clean it, I tried with some isopropanol but that wouldn't even touch it. I finally gave up, returned the computers to the customers and told them "no charge" get a new one, but not from me!
where the grease from frying had entered the computers and the dust was stuck to that!
They asked me to clean it, I tried with some isopropanol but that wouldn't even touch it. I finally gave up, returned the computers to the customers and told them "no charge" get a new one, but not from me!
Automotive shop with black soot and dust bunny colonies.... Or that dentist office using the same equipment for 11 years and wondered why that tape back stopped working using the original tape....
I supported an industrial environment in the American West several years ago, very dry conditions, very dusty......when we opened cases to make upgrades, the dust literally was compacted so much that it filled all the spaces inside the case, you had to pull it out by the hand fulls.
I've seen some of those wonderful entities inside computers (dust, insects, etc.) while servicing them. And, in the tropic (or in a boat) you get oxide and rust. And that, my friends, means a certain repair of some sort.
Come On,,, We now have liquid cooled pcs, Just Design, ( and Patent ) a box that has filters "replaceable" at the air inflow of the PC,, DUH !
Body shop dust is really sticky and thick.
The old 133mhz computer running in the back room had nearly an inch of dust in it (one of those lay down computers with the monitor on top). Fortunately, the system was fanless and only had a tiny heatsink on the processor. It never got hot.
The dust probably helped keep it warm in the winter, the back room had had its heating lines broken for a couple of years and in the winter it was often -10C in there, colder if the door was closed. +30C in the summer, no air-conditioning.
I don't know what happened to that machine, I think we sold it in a garage sale in 2010 still working perfectly.
You can just imagine the keyboard and mouse..... with everyone touching it with the grease, paint, dust, etc. It was truly disgusting.
The old 133mhz computer running in the back room had nearly an inch of dust in it (one of those lay down computers with the monitor on top). Fortunately, the system was fanless and only had a tiny heatsink on the processor. It never got hot.
The dust probably helped keep it warm in the winter, the back room had had its heating lines broken for a couple of years and in the winter it was often -10C in there, colder if the door was closed. +30C in the summer, no air-conditioning.
I don't know what happened to that machine, I think we sold it in a garage sale in 2010 still working perfectly.
You can just imagine the keyboard and mouse..... with everyone touching it with the grease, paint, dust, etc. It was truly disgusting.
Primary reason why I blow out my desktop's case twice a year, check all the cable, adapter card, and memory module connections and seating, run system clean up weekly, scan for viruses and malware, and backup my working files. This is a prime example of pay me now, or pay for it later.
I did the same thing for the warehouse computers in a dusty environment for a previous employer. Nice company, but extremely cheap when it came to upgrading old systems. Don't really know if they appreciated the preventive maintenance.
I did the same thing for the warehouse computers in a dusty environment for a previous employer. Nice company, but extremely cheap when it came to upgrading old systems. Don't really know if they appreciated the preventive maintenance.
If I ever let my computer get like any of those above, I'd kill myself. I'm glad I married a computer techie. I'm a real nut when it comes to keeping my computer clean. Hubby does the cleaning for me every couple of months whether it needs it or not.
I've seen loads of computers come in to our place to have them "fixed" When hubby opens them up and sees all the **** and gunk we automatically know what 3/4 of the problem is. If people love their computers so much, why don't they take care of them, or at least learn the do's and dont's of their computers. I've never had a problem with my computer, and that's just the way I like it.
I've seen loads of computers come in to our place to have them "fixed" When hubby opens them up and sees all the **** and gunk we automatically know what 3/4 of the problem is. If people love their computers so much, why don't they take care of them, or at least learn the do's and dont's of their computers. I've never had a problem with my computer, and that's just the way I like it.
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