Dose your computer crash?

[Civrules]

Since we bought our computer after a few years we noticed that it started to crash A LOT. We had no idea why. Then my big brother comes up with this brilliant idea. He decided that we should take it apart literally for some reason. I don't know why but I agreed. Me parents did not know. When we did we discovered that it was FULL of dust so we CAREFULLY cleaned ALL of the dust with a vacuum. After that we set it back up and it was like new!!!! NO game crashes no nothing! If you are not sure of yourself DON'T DO WHAT WE DID!!! After a while (few months) I started to fool around with the editor of civ 3. when I loaded up the scenario it kept crashing. This time I asked my brother to take it apart and see what we can do. Once again we saw A LOT of dust and cleaned it CAREFULLY with a vacuum. We set it back up and loaded the scenario. NO CRASHES. It was like MAGIC. Again if you are not sure what you are doing DON'T DO IT, it will cost you. My version of civ 3 v1.29f seems to be very stable (no bugs) If you have PTW or an un pached version of regular civ 3 I dont know if it will work for you because they tend to have bugs that you cant fix with a vacuum. It did wonders for us!!!!! But this time my parents knew they did not care probably because they were tiered of crashes too.

 

[mabellino]

erm.... you should be really careful about static electricity.... you don't want to wipe your memory or any other vital components..
also vacuuming can disturb dust particles than can cause arcs across circuitry meaning bye bye to your pc... you've been soooooo lucky!
that said if it fixed the crashes good on you!

 

[Oddible]

BTW, most computer parts have a fixed life span - they call it planned obsolescence. If your computer is over 3 years old then crashing may be a result of parts degrading.

On a side note, WHERE IS YOUR COMPUTER LOCATED? Under your bed? What are you guys running over there? A Dust Factory?

 

[Civrules]

We are very aware of static electricity and other things that can go wrong. that is why I say BE VERY CAREFULL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Civrules]

Originally posted by Oddible
BTW, most computer parts have a fixed life span - they call it planned obsolescence. If your computer is over 3 years old then crashing may be a result of parts degrading.

On a side note, WHERE IS YOUR COMPUTER LOCATED? Under your bed? What are you guys running over there? A Dust Factory?

The computer has a fan that pulls in air and dust. It is located near the floor since that is how the desk is designed. It is just like new now. No degrading parts.

 

[Shillen]

Pentium 4's particularly generate a great deal of heat, and they have a mechanism that they will reduce the cpu cycles when a certain threshold heat value is reached. This can be caused by dust because the fan in the heat sink gets filled with it and it's unable to displace the hot air on the CPU. I actually clean out my heat sink about once a month myself. Makes a great deal of difference. But you should be using one of those condensed air spray cans that you can buy in the computer section of most stores. That's what they're designed for. I wouldn't take a vacuum anywhere near the inside of my computer.

 

[YNCS]

If you're going to take your computer apart for cleaning or for any other reason, be very careful. You should ground yourself by touching something metal (lamp, doorknob, metal window casing, etc.) before opening the computer. Instead of just sticking the vacuum noozle on the boards, use a soft brush to clean the boards or, as Shillen suggests, blow the dust out with compressed air.

BTW, planned obsolence is not built into computer parts. Silicon doesn't wear out. However, the hardware is generally obsolete a year or three after it leaves the factory. I have an Apple IIe I bought in 1982 that still runs very well. When I bought it I got a whole meg of RAM for it (everyone asked "what do you need so much memory for?"), which was as much as the OS would read. My software analyst brother recently told me that the Apple IIe was the computer the cavemen used to debug fire.

 

[Chieftess]

This should really be in the computer forum. Moved.

 

[ainwood]

Originally posted by Chieftess
This should really be in the computer forum. Moved.

TeeHee - I was wondering what Chieftess was doing in the computer talk forum.



Compressed air is the best for cleaning, although be careful not to blow the dust further in to the components. Clean around the heat sink especially.


(and if you've got an overclocked CPU, then it might not be dust causing the problems....)

 

[Mikoyan]

My computer never *crashes*, since i use two terrific operating systems (Win2000/SP2 and Linux Mandrake), but programs still crash every now and then.

 

[CornMaster]

Ever since I got XP I haven't crashed....well....except for "experiments" Muhahahhahahhahhhahahahahha

 

[t92300]

is that a trick question

just joking

 

[Civrules]

You guys talk like you think I just stick a hose and let it be. NO I do not. we are very careful and take our time. We spend like more than one hour cleaning it and not just with a vacuum. we also clean it with a brush as some suggested.

 

[Oddible]

I typically only use compressed air as using a brush be a little too physical - though understanding that you are doing this very carefully. My comment about how much dust you are experiencing (your message suggested to me that you've cleaned out this sytem a couple or more times) was just a concern that perhaps you computer is in a location a little too prone to collecting dust - especially if you are noticing performance issues as a result of dust. You might consider getting it off the floor if this room is particularly dusty (I live across from a concrete plant so I know dust), like put it on the desk - shorts or heat issues caused by dust can reduce the life of your equipment.

And on the subject of life - there was a comment earlier that computers manufacturers don't factor in planned obsolescence. Every manufacturer of every type of equipment (computers or q-tips) considers planned obsolescence. The logic that silicon doesn't degrade would be legit if computers were made of silicon, but they are not, they are made of about 300 different types of metals and alloys and plastic and rubber. BTW, there are so many different grades of rubber (caseing around every exposed wire in your box) that you can be sure the manufacturer asked their rubber supplier how long the rubber will last before they made the purchase - and you can be sure that they didn't pay an arm and a leg for the rubber that would resist ozone breakdown for over 100 years. Likely they chose a rubber that would be guaranteed to last only about 10, after which you will notice increasing levels of degredation. Same goes for just about every part in the computer - if all parts were purchased to last 100 years, your computer would be $100,000 and would still be obsolete in a year.

 

[Civrules]

Originally posted by Oddible
I typically only use compressed air as using a brush be a little too physical - though understanding that you are doing this very carefully. My comment about how much dust you are experiencing (your message suggested to me that you've cleaned out this sytem a couple or more times) was just a concern that perhaps you computer is in a location a little too prone to collecting dust - especially if you are noticing performance issues as a result of dust. You might consider getting it off the floor if this room is particularly dusty (I live across from a concrete plant so I know dust), like put it on the desk - shorts or heat issues caused by dust can reduce the life of your equipment.

And on the subject of life - there was a comment earlier that computers manufacturers don't factor in planned obsolescence. Every manufacturer of every type of equipment (computers or q-tips) considers planned obsolescence. The logic that silicon doesn't degrade would be legit if computers were made of silicon, but they are not, they are made of about 300 different types of metals and alloys and plastic and rubber. BTW, there are so many different grades of rubber (caseing around every exposed wire in your box) that you can be sure the manufacturer asked their rubber supplier how long the rubber will last before they made the purchase - and you can be sure that they didn't pay an arm and a leg for the rubber that would resist ozone breakdown for over 100 years. Likely they chose a rubber that would be guaranteed to last only about 10, after which you will notice increasing levels of degredation. Same goes for just about every part in the computer - if all parts were purchased to last 100 years, your computer would be $100,000 and would still be obsolete in a year.

Don’t exadurate (spelling?) with the dust. it is not as dusty as you might think. Notice that the PC has ben there for a few years and has not been cleaned ........ Until we did.