Check your airflow sir?????

[sswilson]

I was having problems with my new vid card and was just about to RMA it when I decided to try one last thing by adding a side fan just in case it was an airflow issue.

Wouldn't you know it.... all of my issues seem to have gone away.

Seems the newer cards are a lot longer than previous ones, & this one was blocking airflow to the lower mobo/bottom of the vid card.

Amazing what a difference a $15 fan can make!

[DerekOldschool]

Another trick if you've had your computer over 6 mos and its acting weird is to CLEAN IT!

Take a small keyboard brush and some compressed air and clean out all the dust and dirt in the fins of your heatsinks, on the fan blades and from exhaust ports and anywhere else that needs it - use a flashlight. If you have smokers in the house, the dust turns to a kind of sludge that compressed air cant fully handle - thats where the brush comes in. It can get between all the fins of a heatsink, too. Be careful, though, you dont want to dislodge any capacitors or other components with the brush

I've "fixed" many of my friends computers in this manner after they were complaining of random crashes and other stability issues. The reason was, of course, due to overheating because of lack of airflow.

[cdn_Madrach]

Originally Posted by DerekOldschool

Another trick if you've had your computer over 6 mos and its acting weird is to CLEAN IT!

Take a small keyboard brush and some compressed air and clean out all the dust and dirt in the fins of your heatsinks, on the fan blades and from exhaust ports and anywhere else that needs it - use a flashlight. If you have smokers in the house, the dust turns to a kind of sludge that compressed air cant fully handle - thats where the brush comes in. It can get between all the fins of a heatsink, too. Be careful, though, you dont want to dislodge any capacitors or other components with the brush

I've "fixed" many of my friends computers in this manner after they were complaining of random crashes and other stability issues. The reason was, of course, due to overheating because of lack of airflow.

Strangely enough as simple a solution as this is, it often gets overlooked.

[sswilson]

Especially for folks with pets.

I had one repair I did (I'm pretty sure it was overheating shut-downs) where the entire mobo had a 1/4" thick cover of cat hair!!!!

I used to build computers for family and friends, and almost every time I'd get called back to fix it a few months later only to find it's found a home on the floor beside their desk.

"Learn to use a vacuum cleaner, or dust your computer!!"

[Supergrover]

Originally Posted by Misoprostol

I used to build computers for family and friends, and almost every time I'd get called back to fix it a few months later only to find it's found a home on the floor beside their desk.

"Learn to use a vacuum cleaner, or dust your computer!!"

Dear god just dont use the vacuum on your computer

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Supergrover

Dear god just dont use the vacuum on your computer

Had a customer who came in and told us his power supply was dead and after he bought a new one I explained to him about cleaning out his case and he was like "Well I just actually cleaned my case out with my air compressor" I was stunned.

[BALISTX]

My case fan was running at 40% at 865rpm and I increased it to 55% using SpeedFan and got it up to 1205rpm and it lowered my temps down about a couple of degrees.

I'm now running at the following:

CPU Temp 42° C
Mainboard Temp 36° C
Hard Disk Temp 32° C

[Supergrover]

Originally Posted by enaberif

Had a customer who came in and told us his power supply was dead and after he bought a new one I explained to him about cleaning out his case and he was like "Well I just actually cleaned my case out with my air compressor" I was stunned.

Well I will use a air compressor to clean fans and heatsinks, non-electronic parts. It gets crap out of the cracksx, um I should say when they are out of my case.