[UPDATE 1 POSTED] So my friend has taken in a PC for repair, mother of god

[kpsl808mg]

how diabolic...the 3 prime evils: dust, cathair and nicotine !

[chilicheeseburger]

Can't believe it only comes from smoking.

We've been smoking for years in the office at work and when we threw out some old computers and got new ones last year, I opened each and every one of them up and none of them looked like this. And they were definitely older than this rig.

[kpsl808mg]

Can't believe it only comes from smoking.

We've been smoking for years in the office at work and when we threw out some old computers and got new ones last year, I opened each and every one of them up and none of them looked like this. And they were definitely older than this rig.

simple: grey dust = nonsmoker , yellow (sticky ^^) dust = smoker !

[AdsStan]

I thought it was sawdust

[Hidden Orange]

SSSMMOOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Smokin' not...

 

Dear Linus, that's a nasty PC... I wouldn't clean that even if you paid me.

[Jumper118]

i just thought they were normal noctua fans............ 

[chilicheeseburger]

simple: grey dust = nonsmoker , yellow (sticky ^^) dust = smoker !

That would make sense but is not always the case in my experience. Probably has to do with where the pc is (on top of/under the desk, fan config, the room in general,...)

But tbh the smell would give it away anyway. Here's hoping for some "after pics" once the op or his friend finishes cleaning that mess.

[Deaddz]

Jesus, how did the CPU get like that? Also, Linus killed himself. And I believe he's a smoker too.

[kpsl808mg]

... but is not always the case in my experience...

i wouldn't rule out some 'special occasions' ^^ ...i just thought about average enduser/ consumer level impurification...hehe...maybe someone could post...like industrial grade carnage ^^

[TheArium]

i just thought they were normal noctua fans............ 

 

I see what you did there..    :rolleyes:

 

Also, more photos plzzzzxx!! It would be very interesting to say how the cleaning works out in the end. 

[Askew]

So, the PC is still in bits because we need parts which will be ordered by myself tomorrow, I will update the situation in this post.

 

We stripped the PC and basically attacked it with a vacuum, the fans of the GPUs were so engrained with filth that I had to hold the vacuum pipe close to them and use an electrical screwdriver to pry the filth away one blade at a time, they are now clean, before we replace them in the PC I will have the coolers off and clean the sinks/put new thermal compound.

 

As it was the PC would run but no image on the screen, after fiddling with it for a while/swapping cards in the top/output slot we noticed that the motherboard fan headers had no power, I then gave the ATX connector a little wiggle and lo and behold LEDs lit and power flickered.

 

Removed the ATX connector to discover that connectors had burned up/the plastic housing had melted slightly, there was a loose/improper connection.

 

The PSU was OCZ ZX series gold, there for some reason are capacitors in the actual AXT cable itself by the connector?? I've never seen this before and neither has my friend, the PSU was also clogged with filth, either way it's not operating properly.

 

 

Tomorrow I will order a new PSU for the PC and we will perform test to see if the motherboard has been damaged of it it's ok, I did a visual inspection of all the power circuitry on the board and saw no evident damage but we will soon see.

 

The budget for repair thus far is for a PSU, with potential for a motherboard replacement if we find it necessary.

 

Here are some pictures of the fans/cooler after most of the dust was removed. (courtesy of my friend Jonny, and no he is not the owner of this PC, he has a nice watercooled Bifenix Shinobi build that's sqeaky clean)

 

 

 

 

After the PC is running again, and fully cleaned I will post pictures of the completed repair/clean if people want them.

 

After reading some of these comments @MyInnerFred I would love to see those images, I have not seen anything worse than this and dead rodents? FML you've seen some shit...

 

 

For all the people doubting the reason for the filth, it's not sawdust or anything special, the recipe for this was simply neglect of cleaning duties and smoking cigarettes near the PC, don't do it folks smoking is bad if this is his PC can you imagine how his lungs look.

[AdsStan]

Update, we cleaned this PC, the PSU was an old OCZ ZX series and had capacitors in the ATX power connector???, something had gone wrong and the ATX connector had melted pins/the plastic is partly melted.

 

New parts are ordered, dust is removed, the PC is waiting in bits for new parts, when it's back together/running I will take pics.

 

The PSU was clogged with filth and dust, the intakes good lord...

 

 

I can confirm this is a result of living in a dusty room and smoking, no sawdust or anything like that, just smoking many cigarettes and not cleaning the PC.

and they said they did not know why i was not working they do now

[ttam]

Cigarette tar + dust over time kills components with fans

[TheProfosist]

Poor antec 1200 and looks like someone smokes, just a bit.

[Shakaza]

This reminds me of my friend's computer. Her mom smokes, and it probably hadn't been cleaned before my dad and I tackled it, and it was in a similar situation to this computer, except far worse. It could barely load into the desktop without the fans ramping up to max and the computer overheating. Everything was so choked with dust that no air could travel anywhere. I wish I had taken some pictures, especially of the heatsink. The whole thing was so disgusting that we had to take it outside to clean. Ugh, I feel sorry for the people who have to clean this one.

[Askew]

and they said they did not know why i was not working they do now

 

I edited the post more, with images now.

[helping]

Shit dude

 

at this point I'd either whip out the air compression (because canned air is going to do fuck all nothing here LOL) or get a gallon of alcohol and a tooth brush and go to town.

 

I expect this to be analogous to an abused animal photo diary from half dead infested to normal.

also tell your friend to crack a window before he lights anything up

[Askew]

Shit dude

 

at this point I'd either whip out the air compression (because canned air is going to do fuck all nothing here LOL) or get a gallon of alcohol and a tooth brush and go to town.

 

I expect this to be analogous to an abused animal photo diary from half dead infested to normal.

 

We got the most of the filth out as posted just above on this page, but I have a whole can of IPA and a roll of kitchen towels to attack it with before reassembly.

 

We are going to use the EVGA Supernova G2 850W PSU for a replacement unit, it's available at a good price from my retailer and it's allegedly a good unit with a 10yr warranty from EVGA which is nice.

 

dw I chastised this nigga earlier in front of his mother lol

[AdsStan]

you went to town on that well done

[Fred Castellum]

After reading some of these comments @MyInnerFred I would love to see those images, I have not seen anything worse than this and dead rodents? FML you've seen some shit...

 

 

For all the people doubting the reason for the filth, it's not sawdust or anything special, the recipe for this was simply neglect of cleaning duties and smoking cigarettes near the PC, don't do it folks smoking is bad if this is his PC can you imagine how his lungs look.

Unfortunately I have no pictures, I never took my camera to work and I was using a old Razer flip phone at the time never used the camera on that. But I can assure you I've seen all kinds of messes.... spider webs, roaches, beetles, rodents... and all sorts of things that would make you cringe. 

[TheProfosist]

Unfortunately I have no pictures, I never took my camera to work and I was using a old Razer flip phone at the time never used the camera on that. But I can assure you I've seen all kinds of messes.... spider webs, roaches, beetles, rodents... and all sorts of things that would make you cringe.

Yep and some stuff where you were legit like where was this and how was it even running until now.

[chilicheeseburger]

Unfortunately I have no pictures, I never took my camera to work and I was using a old Razer flip phone at the time never used the camera on that. But I can assure you I've seen all kinds of messes.... spider webs, roaches, beetles, rodents... and all sorts of things that would make you cringe. 

Rodents? Seriously ? :mellow:

[Fred Castellum]

Yep and some stuff where you were legit like where was this and how was it even running until now.

Just thinking about it brings back some cringetastic memories... I the pungent odor that seeped out of the case when opened... ughhhh

[SpaceSquid]

Oh my sweet summer child... if you think this is bad... I've worked on pentium 3 PCs from Dell that'd make you get AIDS just from looking at them.

Pics?

[Fred Castellum]

Rodents? Seriously ? :mellow:

Yup dead rats... No idea how they even got in... they were just there....