Re: Mobo with fan controls

[A Mennucc <mennucc1@debian.org>]

Arnt Karlsen wrote:

>  On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 16:18:23 -0600, Hugo Vanwoerkom
>  <hvw59601@care2.com> wrote in message <bvh9jf$p3f$1@sea.gmane.org>:
>
>
> > Paul Morgan wrote:
> >
> >> On Fri, 30 Jan 2004 20:42:22 -0800, Day Brown wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>> One other reminder that PCs were designed for the corporate
> >>
> >> environment.>People at home open the windows. And after being a
> >> home a few years, the>fans have clogged the heat sinks with
> >> dust, and the system fries.
> >
> >
> > I am about to get the machine cleaned.
>
>
>  ..before re-assembly, rip open vacuum cleaner bags and use the
>  filter sheets to cover all case openings?
>
>  ..another option is _wash_ the incoming air, draw it thru a bucket
>  of soap water, good old fashion oil bath air filter style. If you
>  can live with the smell, use oil. ;-)
Another simpler solutions: periodically clean the heatsinks and fans.

HOWTO: you unmount  the heatsink/fan object from the CPU (or other
chip) , and deassemble it, put the heatsink (not the fan) under the
water tap; the fan, you blow onto it , and also spray some silicon
grease (clock quality) in the fan motor. After that you reasonably
wipe the heatsink, chech that there is enough thermal paste on the
CPU, and reassemble and remount it and CHECK TWICE THAT THE POWER CORD
OF THE FAN IS ATTACHED (I suggest that you turn the system on before
you close the case, and visually check that all the fans are turning,
otherwise, quickly unplug it); moreover you check in the BIOS that the
CPU is at a reasonable temperature.

WHEN: before summer.

The whole operation seems long but actually takes ~10 minutes. With my
PCs, this operation is much simpler than building complicated
filtering machinery; but I am aware that some new heatsinks are not
that easy to disassemble; in one case, I managed to wash the heatsink
with the fan on.
Moreover the filtering system is not solving the problem in any way:
you need to clean it as well periodically (I know because our Digital
workstations had them, and after a year they where really dirty). So I
prefer to clean the original thing.

a.