Dirty Computers

[John Holotko]

I've  been noticing the recent shouts out on computers littered with dust mice, porn, and all kinds of "dirt", both literal and figuratively..

Serously though, in the data center where we keep vast arrays of servers and some legay  equipment dust and dirt is not so much a problem as the environment in which the equipment operates  is kept at a relatively constant temperature and the  environment is kept relatively smoke, dust and dirt free thus the equipment stays relatively clean internally. We do routing maintenance and cleaning but thus far I have never seen a machine in the data center at work loaded with dust or dirt.

The home front is a completely different story. Homes are generally not temperature controlled and although we may have excellent house keeping and cleaning the average home air is not routinely filtered and dust is generally far more prevalent in the home than in the data center.  As the computer runs fans continually suck in air and the dust collects and builds up inside often blocking air flow in and around the processor and other hot running components. Couple that with rooms that might get very hot  during the summer along with possible cigarette smoke and cooking smoke, grease  etc.

I have opened up some of my computers at home after a years running time   and found them packed internally with dust.  The damned things are like vacume cleaners, dust gets sucked inside and it stays in there. I look inside the computer and I say, "Jeeze, now I know where all the dust went !!".

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I don't have that problem. You must be doing something wrong.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Have to agree John. Opened the computer used down in ham shack the other day to add a new interface card and was amazed at the amount of fuzz, dog hair, and other dust clinging to all parts of the machine. The shack is in the basement. The air vents on the power supply were almost completely covered. There is a fan sucking air out in the power supply, there is a fan adjacent to the processor blowing air over it, and my video card also has a fan sitting over several of the chips. 
I had this machine opened and cleaned about 8 months ago and was amazed at how much collected in that period of time. The fan blades of all the fans were covered with grime and fuzz. Even my computer on my desk in the home office now gets opened every 6 months and gets the vacuum cleaner treatment.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Ah those silly fans. That's the problem. Carry on and good luck with the dirt.

[Carl WA1KPD]

Actually I was hoping this referred to switching power supplies. I bought a brand new Dell in February and the thing messes up 75 meters. I have isolated it to the computer itself, and it does not seem to be radiating out any of the leads. Or, at least they are not making it worse.

The only way to make it go away is to remove the big three wire chord that goes into the wall outlet. Then there is no noise but the system seems to slow way down……

Anybody have thoughts on how to clean this sucker up?

[KA1ZGC]

Actually I was hoping this referred to switching power supplies. I bought a brand new Dell in February and the thing messes up 75 meters. I have isolated it to the computer itself, and it does not seem to be radiating out any of the leads. Or, at least they are not making it worse.

The only way to make it go away is to remove the big three wire chord that goes into the wall outlet. Then there is no noise but the system seems to slow way down……

Anybody have thoughts on how to clean this sucker up?

Carl,

Does the noise continue when the power cord is plugged in but the unit is powered down? You may be getting EMI backfeeding your house wiring from the power supply. Some supplies tend to be dirty like that. It's acceptible in data centers but not anywhere near any AM detector. The usual assortment of patchwork for switching supplies is about all you can do in that case.

--Thom
Keep Away One Zero Ground Computer

[Glenn NY4NC]

Steve pulled the fans out of his computer and is using them in his D&A Raider. 

Ah those silly fans. That's the problem. Carry on and good luck with the dirt.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Actually I was hoping this referred to switching power supplies. I bought a brand new Dell in February and the thing messes up 75 meters. I have isolated it to the computer itself, and it does not seem to be radiating out any of the leads. Or, at least they are not making it worse.

The only way to make it go away is to remove the big three wire chord that goes into the wall outlet. Then there is no noise but the system seems to slow way down……

Anybody have thoughts on how to clean this sucker up?

You might want to read through some of this info including the "Computer Interference" tab. There's also lots of additional resources at the bottom of the page.
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/rfigen.html

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

teve pulled the fans out of his computer and is using them in his D&A Raider. 

Quote from: Steve - WB3HUZ on Today at 00:33:02
Ah those silly fans. That's the problem. Carry on and good luck with the dirt.

Yea, I can get more Bird watts that way. And it's a Texas Star. I hope to get a Dave Made soon. Then you mud ducks better watch it!

[Carl WA1KPD]

Tnx all
It is definately part of the CPU. It was not there before and when I shut it off it goes away

[WU2D]

Carl,

I have 4 computers to maintain at home between the kids machines and my two machines, this one and the one in the shack.

I did an experiments to see how to handle the dust situtaion. Here is what I found.

By the way, we actually had a fire in a machine at work and the fire department had to come; all because of dust.

If you do nothing and simply let the fan in the power supply work which blows out, every hole in the chassis will act as an air intake and dust will collect inside.

If you add another fan blowing out like a case fan, the situation gets even worse.

If however, you take the opposite approach and put a more powerful fan blowing IN through a filter which can be easly removed and cleaned - you effectively pressurize the cabinet, forcing all of those little holes to be exits for air - clean air. No dust gets sucked in.

All you have to do is clean the filter now and then.

Mike WU2D
 

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Or just use a computer that doesn't need a fan, and you can skip all the gyrations.

[John Holotko]

Or just use a computer that doesn't need a fan, and you can skip all the gyrations.

Here yas go.

http://www.stealthcomputer.com/pressrelease_fanlesscomputer2005.htm

[W1RKW]

There aren't to many consumer grade PC's with built-in air filters.  The only brand I've seen with an air filter are Micron PC's.  Alot of industrial type computers have built-in air filters.  We use air filters on the computer systems on the Virginia Class sub.  Reduces the amount of times the sailors have to go into the cabinets and potentially cause other problems.  One could always retro fit the intake of the PC with a filter. A little duct tape to hold it on and you're good to go.

Question on a different computer subject: Internet Browser File Cache Size:  Is it better to a have a large file cache or a small file cache size?

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Question on a different computer subject: Internet Browser File Cache Size:  Is it better to a have a large file cache or a small file cache size?

I keep my browser cache size at Zero KB; History is kept at Zero days. Why load down your hard drive with files you may or may not go back to. I'm all for keeping clutter to a minimum. With today's fast machines, cable modems, etc., I see no reason to keep a large cache size or history data.

[Glenn NY4NC]

 

teve pulled the fans out of his computer and is using them in his D&A Raider. 

Quote from: Steve - WB3HUZ on Today at 00:33:02
Ah those silly fans. That's the problem. Carry on and good luck with the dirt.

Yea, I can get more Bird watts that way. And it's a Texas Star. I hope to get a Dave Made soon. Then you mud ducks better watch it!

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Quote from: Steve - WB3HUZ on Yesterday at 22:58:15
Or just use a computer that doesn't need a fan, and you can skip all the gyrations.

Here yas go.

http://www.stealthcomputer.com/pressrelease_fanlesscomputer2005.htm

Here ya go, convection cooled.

[Blaine N1GTU]

speaking of dirty computers, i was examining the contents of my hardrive and noticed it was filthy in there. loaded with DLL's and exe's.
I am pretty sure this was due to a dirty program called Windows™.
I tried to blow it out with an air gun but that just caused a blue screen.
Luckily this virus hasnt spread to my mac yet.

 

[John Holotko]

speaking of dirty computers, i was examining the contents of my hardrive and noticed it was filthy in there. loaded with DLL's and exe's.
I am pretty sure this was due to a dirty program called Windows™.
I tried to blow it out with an air gun but that just caused a blue screen.
Luckily this virus hasnt spread to my mac yet.

 

Simple solution

FORMAT C:

When it's finished erasing Windows install Linux but watch our for those .a's and .so's and watch out for  ELF's and Daemons.