Computer Repair

[Furcurequs]

It is amazing what some people will throw away. I've pulled 4 working 17" monitors out of the trash recently (okay, they are CRT types, though) and my latest acquisition was a working 3.3 Ghz computer. I need to switch over. This one is only 1 Ghz.

I may need to find some earplugs, though. The cpu fan in the newer one sounds like a vacuum cleaner.

Dwayne

I pulled this quote of mine out of my thread on the RAR Energia stuff.

I did switch over to the 3.3 Ghz computer I found in the trash back then, and I've used it ever since. I guess that's about five years now. I cleaned an old deteriorated air filter out from between the CPU fan and heat sink and sort of got it working.

It's always been very loud, though. Annoyingly loud a lot of the time, but I just endured it to have a computer that would run some of the higher definition videos and stuff.

Well, it has actually been overheating a lot with me lately, with the thing just shutting down at random times. I noticed it usually seemed to happen when it was being taxed due to a simulation running or when web pages in my browser were running java script or when I was playing the occasional more computationally intensive computer game.

Due to the recent hot weather, it's been doing even worse and in the past few days it been shutting down on me so often that I finally decided I better do something about it.

So, last evening I pulled everything apart and cleaned the computer out. The box fan for the CPU was all gunked up and didn't turn easily. It seemed to be filled with a combination of dust and sticky grease from most likely my mishaps with my stir-fries where I've burnt some oil a few times and smoked up the place.

The airflow also seemed to be partially blocked due to lint and maybe remnants of the old air filter - which I finally completely cleaned out. I also noticed that the plastic mount for the CPU heat sink was broken completely in two on one of the four legs that holds it to the board and another one of the legs was cracked. ...and the old thermal paste wasn't looking very good, either. There was thus a very good chance the heat sink wasn't making good contact with the CPU.

I gave the two box fans a very thorough cleaning. I actually just submerged them in some water with laundry detergent and used a large paint brush to clean them, and then rinsed them really well in clean water. This removed the gunk out of the bearings, too, it seems, and both fans turned really easily afterwards.

I then took my Dremel tool and made three metal clips out of some thick nails - grinding away about half of the nails' thickness in sections and leaving little caps on the ends. I then slipped these homemade clips over the broken pieces of the plastic heat sink mount and secured them with some thick layers of epoxy. This was to repair the cylindrical legs which have the screw mounts and springs inside.

I then cleaned and scraped off the old dried thermal paste from the heat sink and CPU and put on some fresh paste I had from years ago when I ordered it for some other projects.

I then reassembled everything, and now the computer is running better (for me) than it has ever run before, and it's also quieter than it's ever been. I gave it a heavy duty workout playing a few hours of "Urban Terror" - which had been causing it to shut off recently every time I played - and it had no problems whatsoever, and though the fan increased in speed a little bit, I could barely hear it.

I should have done this five years ago! Based upon the fan rating and how hard the fan had been running, my power savings due to this repair could now be as much as $10 a year!

...but more importantly, the computer no longer sounds like a vacuum cleaner and it looks like it should be able to handle the most intensive tasks with no problem - and with hardly a peep! Yay!

[Senax]

deleted

[Furcurequs]

Well, I managed to pour about half a glass of sweet tea into my computer keyboard this morning. Afterwards, it didn't seem to be working very well, so I stuck it under the faucet in my kitchen sink and washed it out.

Of course, being all wet inside, it wasn't working too well after that, either. ...lol

So, I took the screws out of the back, pulled the thing apart and dried it out.

The main circuitry for the keys is printed on clear sheets of plastic that have another plastic sheet with holes in it sandwiched between them. I had to spend some time drying out the water between these sandwiched layers, and I then had to place all the little rubber suction cup shaped springy contacts back where they belonged between the keyboard buttons and these sheets of plastic. ...which, of course, is easier now said than was done, for a slight bump of a key and they would go flying everywhere.

Anyway, I finally got it all back together, and if you can read this, it would appear got it working again. The keys feel a bit nicer, too, now that it's been cleaned out inside.

I typically have my keyboard in the floor where I can reach it from my couch - and unfortunately where it can also collect a lot of dirt and dust and stuff - and so it was rather disturbing to see all the junk that washed out of it.

Anyway, I hope I don't have to do this again anytime soon.

...until next time...

[agor95]

You have been lucky.

A rule is tea without sugar dry it out with chuck it out.

Another non-sugar liquid method is to wrap it in toilet roll paper and cover it with rice.

Regards

[Furcurequs]

Unfortunately, I've had to do this several times now. ...since I'm a klutz (okay, and maybe a slob, too).

So, after some experience, I've come to the conclusion that a bit of mild soap and water doesn't really hurt anything as long as everything gets dried out really well before powering things up again.

I do remember reading about the rice trick for when getting hand held devices wet. Fortunately, though, that's not one I've had to try yet. ...lol

In the electronics lab, we use to use solvents that quickly evaporated away for cleaning circuit boards, but I think dish washing detergent and water may be more environmentally friendly. ...as long as we don't try to power things up again too soon, of course.

[agor95]

Your keyboard repair experience is good to know.

I am looking at a 'HP PSC 1205 All 4 in 1' printer at this time.

Purchased another on ebay really cheap.

So I am now opening one up to find out how they operate.

Renewing the cartridges is done now it's the printer know how.

Regards

[Furcurequs]

Forgot to wish you good luck with that. Hope it went well for you.

...and now about my hand held Android device. I didn't drop it into water, but I did drop it onto the floor and cracked the glass of my touch screen digitizer. The display still worked but I couldn't tap in my security code to open up the device because only about half the digitizer on just one side of the crack still worked.

I found some replacement digitizers on ebay and also on some Chinese online shopping sites, but I wasn't sure if what they were selling would fit my device. So, I finally took the thing apart and pulled the digitizer cable loose so that I could get a good look at it and read the part number. Good thing, too, because most of the ones advertised for my device wouldn't have fit it because the connectors were different and in the wrong place on the glass.

Anyway, I finally ordered what appears to be the right part from someone on ebay for a little less than $9 (including shipping) and now have to wait for it to arrive from China! I also finally pulled the glued-on digitizer off the device and just need to clean the face of the display and around its edges with some alcohol before it will be ready for the new one.

The digitizer consisted (it's no longer in one piece) of a pane of glass with a sheet of plastic apparently glued to that and then another sheet of clear cellophane (or some such) stuck with a mild adhesive on top of it. So, there were apparently 3 different layers of stuff - not counting whatever glue - over the glass of the actual display - with the top 2 layers being some sort of plastic. I would have thought the top layer would have been glass, but I guess not.

Anyway, now the wait. The new digitizer is supposed to arrive in about 2 to 3 weeks. A bit later I may try to power up my device without the digitizer just to make sure I haven't broken anything (else).

ETA: I connected the device to my computer with the USB cable and its display powered up and showed that it was charging, so it looks like I'm good to go when the digitizer arrives.