Do you want us to service your computer?
Back when I worked at the computer shop on the Sittingbourne High Street (Computers Plus), a young man brought in his gaming PC and asked me to install a new DVD writer that he had purchased from the shop. I had a bit of time so I installed the drive and included software right there and then for him.
I pointed out to him that the innards of his computer tower were extremely dusty and the cooling fans were making quite a lot more noise than they should. I recommended that we clean and service the computer and that he could leave the unit with us for a while so we could do it for him. He shook his head, declined the offer and off he went with his computer.
“He’s dead, Jim”
Fast forward to a few weeks later and he comes back to the shop with the same desktop PC.
“It’s dead” he says to me. “Can you take a look?”
“Sure, no problem.” I answered.
I took his details, booked it in and worked on it later that day.
As I took the side panel off I caught a whiff of burnt electronics. Taking the whole thing apart and cleaning as I went, I started to piece together what the problem was.
As I took the high-powered graphics card out of the computer, I noticed a severe burn mark on part of the graphics card’s circuit board. I tried turning the cooling fan on the card with my finger but it would barely move. It had seized from ingress of dust and lack of lubrication.
On further inspection it was determined that the lack of cooling probably burnt out the graphics chip which in turn burnt out some of the surrounding electronic components and shorted out some power circuits.
Upon further testing
Setting the graphics card aside, I cleaned up the motherboard and CPU cooler, making sure to replace the dried out thermal compound before testing the motherboard and CPU.
The CPU was an Intel package with integrated graphics so I would be able to test it without an add-on graphics card. After testing the power supply, I tested the motherboard/CPU combo with just a monitor and keyboard connected.
The motherboard produced nothing but a continuous beeeeeeep noise; the CPU fan spun but that was it. Clearing the CMOS by removing and replacing the ‘coin cell’ battery didn’t help either. It didn’t look good for this computer.
Upon installing his CPU in one of our test motherboards, the system beeped once and came to life, concluding that he had lost not only the graphics card but the shorted components most likely caused the damage to the motherboard too.
Service your computer! 😅
So what’s the moral of the story? Our customer could have had the computer serviced for a very reasonable price simply by cleaning and lubricating any suspect cooling fans (or replacing them if they’re too far gone) and replacing the thermal compound between the CPU and cooler. There is a good chance that these simple actions would have saved him from the inevitable expensive repair/replacement costs. It would have likely improved the computer’s performance too, as the CPU won’t have to throttle its speed to avoid overheating.
Get your computer cleaned! We can’t stress enough how important it is that you service your computer at least once a year. Make it a yearly commitment, just like your car’s MOT!
If you would like to service your computer in the Sittingbourne area, please get in touch. We’d be happy to help you get it back looking and running better.
If it’s too late to maintain your computer, don’t forget we also do desktop and laptop repair!
