this is just gross..

[MonteLDS]

I know that people who don't really know much about computers never open their case. but this has only been in their house for a year. this is gross.

[aviationwiz]

Yeah, that is just plain disgusting. I opened up my case this morning (Xaser V) to put in my Premium, and I looked at the fan filter, and it was just gross, gave that thing a nice wiff of canned air to clean it out.

I'm coughing just looking at that thing.

[dolphinius_rex]

I've seen worse.... still, it's never a pleasent sight!

[KuoH]

Yup, try opening the case of a business workstation that has been under a desk and in constant use for over 5 years. Sometimes, you find more than just dust bunnies in there!

KuoH

I've seen worse.... still, it's never a pleasent sight!

[ClayBuster]

That looks like one of the cleaner one that I've worked on.

[BuddhaTB]

Doesn't look too bad. I've seen much worse.

[dhc014]

A friend of mine recently asked me why his computer might be restarting while ripping DVD's or playing games. I suspected an overheating problem, and sure enough, there was about an inch of dust caked into his heatsink allowing no air to get to the inner part of the sink at all. His temps were up to 80C, I think

Fan filters are great.

[LoneWolf]

I've seen far worse in the years I worked at a mom-n-pop computer shop. A quarter-inch of sawdust lining a computer case only begins to cover it. The worst thing a computer can experience is a chain-smoker; those microscopic particles of tar are sticky, and dust clumps to them, creating globs of sticky dark-brown dust. One-time, a guy brought in a machine for his grandson, and we found out there must be more than just cigarette-smoking going on in that house; the case was FILLED with this tacky crap, and when I opened it, I got a headache just inhaling the stale fumes.
Dead mice or spiders were an occasional happening, and once, a rather large live spider.

[pranav81]

Well,here in India all the systems are basically in rooms without AC's.So they are almost always kept in open conditions.They get a lot dirtier than this and I have seen many AMD systems fry up due to cheap fan heatsink.Spiders and fine layers of dust are most common here.


::Pranav::

[jase]

Yup, try opening the case of a business workstation that has been under a desk and in constant use for over 5 years. Sometimes, you find more than just dust bunnies in there!

KuoH

I've seen worse.... still, it's never a pleasent sight!

Yup, or a fileserver I once had to fix at GTRM (a railway maintenance company). It was right next to a rail line at a busy mainline train station, and had been there close to ten years, and was run by a guy who I'm sure chainsmoked cigars. The dust inside was half an inch thick, yet somehow it managed to work without crashing. I was only there to add a CDROM drive (which of course didn't work due to being incompatible, as I had warned them).

Needless to say I sent the company my dry-cleaning bill!

[TheWizard]

I probably don't open my case as much as I should, but I try to vacuum the openings as often as I can. Nothing like some good suction!

[XXXXX]

I learned (the hard way) long ago to get some of that thin (1/16th inch or 3-4 mm) air conditioner washable plastic filter, and tape it over the fan intakes. Easy to do, easy to replace, cheap as dirt to use. Others use panty hose. You just have to make sure you check it every so often so it doesn't block your intake air flow.

Using several case temp probes is also an excellent idea. Like this Digidoc type monitor.

[CDRecorder]

Wow, that's pretty bad. I can hardly believe that machine was only in use for a year; it takes machines 2 or 3 years to get that dirty where I live. Of course, I clean my machines quite frequently, so they never look like that.

[Ian]

Have you guys ever seen chalk dust in a computer? That stuff is impossible to get out.

[dodecahedron]

chalk dust ... uuugh!

in one of the places where i teach they're still using chalk blackboards.

i'd like to find the persons responsible for not switching to white Expo-marker boards, and take them out to be shot!

[CDRecorder]

Chalk dust does sound nasty; how did that get inside a computer?

[dodecahedron]

a computer which is located inside a classroom that has a chalk blackboard ?

[CDRecorder]

Well, yes, I just didn't think that so much chalk dust would get into the air that it would become noticable.

[KuoH]

Obviously you've never had the privilege, or punishment as the case may be, of being the classroom chalk eraser cleaner.

KuoH

Well, yes, I just didn't think that so much chalk dust would get into the air that it would become noticable.

[Alejandra]

Have you guys ever seen chalk dust in a computer? That stuff is impossible to get out.

Could you take a picture of that?

Only white dust I presume.

[Ian]

Yes, but its sticky white dust. The stuff won't even come off the outside of the case half the time, so black computers look gray.

For those wondering, where I work we have some computers installed near the front of classrooms. They are in closed cabinets and some how chalk dust still seems to make its way in.

Expo markers? I wish. Its hard enough to get the old fart profs to upgrade their computers from DOS to XP, let alone switch from chalk to expo markers.