computer repairs. are too expensive

[Ian Raleigh]

My laptop started to shut down because the fan wasn't working as it should be, purchased a can of CO2 and blew it clean!
You should have seen the dust what came out the vents and you could actually hear the fan go faster as I blew the crap out of it.

I blow out the dust every six months now! I bet many laptops never get blasted with air, simple and cost just a fiver.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Agree with that advice, one of our dogs has airborne hair and this laptop gets an amount of it every couple of months, so I whip the back off and blow through the heat spreaders with my compressor. If I don't do it it overheats eventually and throttles constantly.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

Re:

Thought I'd give an update :

I've opened up the laptop and the fan is missing several blades. The chassis is also broken right where the screen hinge mounts to it.
Basically it'll be a new fan and a full chassis swap. Both parts are ordered.

Now comes the hard part : I can't get it to boot on its own HDD. Regular boot, safe mode with and without networking, they all end up with a BSOD. If I insert one of my spare 2.5" HDDs, it boots just fine, so it's either a driver or a HDD issue.
If I put the laptop's HDD in my main PC's hotswap, the recovery partition shows up just fine but the main partition doesn't seem to load. In fact it crashes my explorer.exe .

Any suggestions while I reboot into Linux to try and at least recover the data?

EDIT : Well, this could explain a thing or two :
Failed to read NTFS $Bitmap: Input/output error. NTFS is either inconsistent, or there is a hardware fault, or it's a SoftRAID/FakeRAID hardware.
It's certainly not a RAID issue and only affects the main partition. Let's hope that it's only an NTFS issue.

 

[highlandsflyer]

I would copy the drive using something like Norton Ghost and work on the image to recover it.

 

[dyna-ti]

My system is clogged with gunk again, well the graphics card anyway.
Fans are now at 100% and the temp is 104c and thats on bf2. A very modern game would last 1/2 a min before shutting down at maxed out temp.

Problem is its sat with the fan pointing down near the bottom of the case so theres no room to clean it, unless you call 3" room :? Problem 2 is its such a big card the case was built around it and the only way to remove it from the motherboard is to unscrew everything.
I have to turn it upside down and pick the gunk out from between the fans,then try to hover up that gunk using a vacuum and home made nozzle.


I really need a new system. New everything At least its not as expensive as it used to be. RAM is really cheap and even the bigger gpu's are cheaper. The one in cost £150 but the same or better now is £40 cheaper.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

Re:

Get a bigger case, Dyna-ti. Especially when gaming, you don't want to have everything cramped in a small case.
I built my PC in a Cooler Master HAF X, and that case dwarfs my GTX770 (which isn't a small card either). Loads of airflow, loads of room to work on it and easy cable managment. Sure, it's an enormous case and a marmite styling, but it does what it's supposed to do.

Also, if dust is such a problem you may want to invest in a small handheld compressor. I bought a Nuair Miny on sale a couple of years ago. It only gets used to clean out PCs and has more than proven its worth already.

Just make sure you block the fans before you unleash compressed air onto them. You don't want them to spool up, become a generator and send current to the PCB.

Lacking a compressor, you can manually clean out the cooling fins using a very small paintbrush and then get someone to operate a big bicycle floor pump while you squeeze the tip that normally goes onto the tyre's valve. You can create similar effects to a compressor that way, especially if you have a good helper. So tell Mrs Dyna-ti to earn her stay.

One more thing worth noticing is that you should always have positive air pressure in your case. Make sure more air is being sucked into the case than the fans push out, otherwise you'll create a low-pressure zone inside the case and that attracts more dust, which then drops to the bottom.
I had my case fans all 100 RPM above their minimum, and had to clean my case every month. Dropping 2 of the exhaust fans to their minimum solved that. Now I clean mine every 6 months because the power supply's top becomes a bit dusty.
If you don't have decent control over your fan rpms, try turning one of the exhaust fans around so it becomes an intake. No worries, most cases have sufficient holes in the back to use as passive exhaust even if you use all fans as intake.

 

[dyna-ti]

Ive been after a compressor for years but cant justify it completely as id need something 100lt-200lt just for tools and spraying. The 50lt doesnt really have the capacity(im a cabinetmaker) looked at them but again its bigger i need or not at all as it too mach to chop and change
That said having blow air is something i wouldnt mind having ,just for cleaning so ill take another look at the small ones
Know anything about airbrush compressors ? , those seem pretty cheap.


I managed to scrap out some of the gunk from between the fan blades using an old spoke(Yet another use )
Mid game the gpu temp is about 85c but the fans are only at 71% Mid game id expect the card o be running that hot and the fact the fans arent at full power any longer means its worked pretty well

The unit sits under a desk and i took the sides off as it does improve cooling, this is something ive always done (Ever seen a server running in an enclosed box ? Me neither) I understand dust can be a problem but its not really as ive been using them since they came out, never bought a complete one ive always built or had built and i hammer buggery out them for years on the high end games with all the settings maxed out.
With everything overclocked it is getting a real workout so i know from being able to do this continually for years that dust is not the problem many think it is. Its only a problem when it gets mixed with ciggie smoke and the tar/ash/dust makes the gunk.

 

[Neil]

(Ever seen a server running in an enclosed box ? Me neither)

Wasn't sure what you meant by this?

Servers, big, or small, most certainly do run encased, and have varying schemes to cool them, depending on whether they're blade / card type, rack-mounted, or simply standalone. Rack mounted and blade type enclosures often use fan trays.

And proper server environments tend to be temperature (and humidity) controlled, as well as adequate cooling for the type of server enclosure / case being used.

A few years back, I read a throwaway comment that over the lifetime of a server, it costs as much (if not more) to cool it, as its capital purchase price.

 

[mattr]

A few years back, I read a throwaway comment that over the lifetime of a server, it costs as much (if not more) to cool it, as its capital purchase price.

Not far from the truth actually. I helped with some modelling for an install a few years ago and the cabling, chillers and ducting for the cooling stark were immense, and pulling a fair old amount of power. Almost 24/7.

Probably why a lot of Internet server farms are moving either offshore (lots of lovely cold seawater) or up north (lots of lovely cold air).
Think google are building one in the far north of sweden/Norway at the minute? Selling the heat to the locals!

 

[highlandsflyer]

Re:

In the dungeons of the city of London there are literally football field sized halls of servers all run in a super chilled environment. The banks need their systems super reliable. All fully enclosed of course.