When Computers Burn
My niece asked me to fix her computer for her, and I have finally gotten around to doing so. (Sorry for the wait, darling niece!)
So, what happens to heatsink airflow when you spoon ice-cream into it smear it with peanutbutter it becomes completely clogged up with dust?
(Is there a heatsink under there?)"
So the first symptom was that the CPU would climb to 90C and shut itself down to prevent, well, fear, fire, foes, that sort of thing. After cleaning the case, I was able to boot up and stay up, but the power supply was hot enough to fry eggs, so I took that apart, too. The fan was stiff enough that it was difficult to turn the blades, and I thought they must be in contact with something, but no, it apparently didn't have sealed bearings (whaddya want for $5?) and the dust was so engrained into them that I didn't even try fixing it, I just put another one in.
So now the computer boots and stays booted, but the CD drive is only intermittently recognized. No amount of tinkering with BIOS and cabling gets it to come up regularly, and I don't have a spare at the moment so I disable it in BIOS for faster boot times. Could dust in the inner workings or extreme heat cause such behaviour? I'm not sure, but for now the machine will just have to go CD-less. Sigh...
Next weekend I'll give her a Stiff Note of Protest, a can of compressed air, and the poor little beastie.
So, what happens to heatsink airflow when you spoon ice-cream into it smear it with peanutbutter it becomes completely clogged up with dust?
(Is there a heatsink under there?)"
So the first symptom was that the CPU would climb to 90C and shut itself down to prevent, well, fear, fire, foes, that sort of thing. After cleaning the case, I was able to boot up and stay up, but the power supply was hot enough to fry eggs, so I took that apart, too. The fan was stiff enough that it was difficult to turn the blades, and I thought they must be in contact with something, but no, it apparently didn't have sealed bearings (whaddya want for $5?) and the dust was so engrained into them that I didn't even try fixing it, I just put another one in.
So now the computer boots and stays booted, but the CD drive is only intermittently recognized. No amount of tinkering with BIOS and cabling gets it to come up regularly, and I don't have a spare at the moment so I disable it in BIOS for faster boot times. Could dust in the inner workings or extreme heat cause such behaviour? I'm not sure, but for now the machine will just have to go CD-less. Sigh...
Next weekend I'll give her a Stiff Note of Protest, a can of compressed air, and the poor little beastie.