Don't
let your computer bite the dust!
Dust!
Have you ever opened up your computer
and noticed a healthy sheet of dust
dwelling inside? Well, if you live
on Maui you probably know the dust
I'm talking about. The reddish cloud
that disperses into the air when
you blow on it is genuine Maui dust!
So why should this dust concern
you, and what can you do about it?
Normal
dust finds its way to every surface.
Not even the fans, floppy disks,
hard disks, and circuitry of our
computers are safe from it. Dust
on a computer fan isn't necessarily
catastrophic but if you notice the
fan has trouble spinning it's time
to replace it. Floppy drives are
very vulnerable to dust because
of their exposed nature. You may
notice strange errors or an outright
failure of your floppy drive if
it is damaged. Hard drives are not
nearly as forgiving as floppy drives.
They are built and sealed in a static
and dust free environment but after
years of use it is possible for
a grain of dust to find its way
inside the protective shell. Once
inside the dust can easily send
the read/write mechanism to its
demise by crashing it into the data
section of the disk spinning at
up to 10,000 RPM. Unfortunately
this destroys both your hard disk
and its data, and sometimes beyond
repair! Now that we have covered
normal dust lets discuss Maui's
dust.
Everyone
knows that Maui's weather is unique,
but did you know our dust is equally
unique? Maui's dust is heavily concentrated
with iron. Iron is a conductive,
corrosive substance. Once it collects
on electronic components it eventually
corrodes through the circuitry's
protective coating and then through
the wires themselves. Unfortunately
due to today's advanced micro soldering
techniques this type of damage is
not repairable. The entire board
must be replaced! I've seen a vast
amount of computers bite the dust
while working here on Maui. It's
an unfortunate but avoidable event.
So how can you protect your computer
from dust here on Maui?
First,
do not use a vacuum cleaner to clean
you computer! The tiny dust particles
that pass over the plastic nozzle
of your vacuum build a static charge.
If the static discharges on your
computer (known as an ESD or Electro
Static Discharge) you are sure to
destroy something. The best way
to clean your computer is to use
compressed air that you can purchase
from Costco or any hardware store.
The air will blow the dust away
without creating any harmful static.
Another way to prevent dust from
getting to your computer is to cover
it while it is turned off. Those
are the simplest ways to protect
your computer from Maui dust and
it will help extend the life of
your computer.
About the Author
For more information about keeping
your computer clean and running
properly, check out my maui computer
repair site!
