• halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Often this is because of those little shit pin connectors for the power button getting pulled loose. How has a better, standardized option not been made for those yet?

  • subignition@fedia.io
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    7 days ago

    Remember to hold your fans in place and prevent them from being spun by compressed air. If they spin fast enough they can generate enough current to cause damage.

    • TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip
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      6 days ago

      This is very good advice, I like to spin mine with the compressor going “VROOM VROOM” but I guess it would make sense that they will back feed some voltage to the pins that way.

      Never had a problem tho

      • lagoon8622@sh.itjust.works
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        6 days ago

        It will only happen if the fan has permanent magnets. Still, just stop the blades. No reason to put wear on the bearings

    • shneancy@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      and if at any point you had to disconnect your fans for cleaning do not forget to connect them back in. the fans are not optional components. modern PCs and laptops will straight up refuse to turn on if they can’t detect the fans

        • shneancy@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          could you elaborate? i don’t think current technology with more computational power than a phone can survive without fans

          • Darren@sopuli.xyz
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            5 days ago

            I have an M2 Macbook Air, which ironically has nothing to move the air about.

            It gets a bit warm if I play any reasonably demanding games on it, but it’s never thrown up any overheating warnings.

              • Darren@sopuli.xyz
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                5 days ago

                Apple have a long history of making computers that rely on passive cooling. The Power Mac G4 Cube is the prettiest example, though to be fair it was not a good computer, with many people retro fitting fans into them later.

                But they’ve got much better at it since then!

  • cobysev@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    I spent 20 years as an IT admin. We used cans of compressed air to clean dust out of computers. Light, gentle sprays, preferably cleaned outside so the dust doesn’t just fill the room.

    If you hold down the spray button for a few seconds, the can turns ice cold really fast, so be sparing with it. Also, don’t tip it upside-down while spraying or it’ll spray liquid that can damage computer components.

    In all the years blowing dust out of computers, the only time I actually damaged a computer was when I tried to use a vacuum hose blowing air in reverse. It was too rough and broke some motherboard components.

      • Grostleton@lemm.ee
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        6 days ago

        Those things are amazing though, I’ve had one for over a decade now and it’s the best 100 dollars I ever spent.

    • phar@lemmy.ml
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      5 days ago

      I work in a shop with compressed air for air guns and I use it on the insides of computers all the time to clean out the dust and haven’t ever broken anything.

      • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 days ago

        If you’re using air compressors, you should consider adding a moisture filter on your air gun. When the air gets compressed, it gets hot. And hot air can hold more moisture. Then when you spray it, that air cools back down and the moisture re-condenses as it leaves the system. You can very easily fuck up electronics because you blew a bunch of water mist into the connections at 60 PSI.

        It’s also why (unless you’re using a compressor specifically designed for it) you should be opening the dump valve and draining it entirely after you’re done using it. Don’t just let it sit with compressed air in the tank for weeks at a time. All of that humidity will slowly condense as the air in the tank cools, and you’ll end up with liquid water inside of your tank. And that’s how rust happens. If you never empty your compressor, you’re not only spraying rusty water everywhere; You’re working with a time bomb. It may explode in a year, or five years, or fifty… But that rust will slowly eat away at the internals, and weaken components that are designed to hold a LOT of pressure.

        Source: I live in a humid area and occasionally use air compressors to clean electronics.

        • phar@lemmy.ml
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          5 days ago

          We used the compressed air all day everyday for air guns for vehicle lifts, it is constantly running and constantly being used. It also automatically drains. It’s quite an expensive setup for a large dealership.

        • Agent641@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          I fix broken computers and rebuild them from scrap parts, that’s all to much hard work, this is Thunderdome bro

  • Allero
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    7 days ago

    My fear every time

    Never actually happened, but still

  • cows_are_underrated@feddit.org
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    7 days ago

    Check if maybe any dust got into the connectors. Prone to thus is the PCIE connector on the motherboard, when removing the GPU. Just blow into it to make sure its dust free. Happened to me more than once.