Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Nicotine cake (gross)

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Nicotine cake (gross)

    So I have a friend, more of a friend-of-a-friend really, we call him Pedo because of a certain, uh, ex, that got him in real trouble... anyway. He's not too bright, and doesn't "get" computers. He also smokes, and lives with his mom, who also smokes. Apparently, a lot.

    He brings me his one-and-only machine, a smoke-yellowed Acer laptop that's randomly freezing on him. Just complete up-and-freeze. No BSOD, no weird errors, it just cuts. Immediately I think "heat" and take the panel for the CPU off, and see what appears to be some kind of air filter behind the heatsink. Wait, a filter, on the exhaust? What, do they not want aluminum shavings being expelled in the air or something? Wait a second...

    It wasn't a filter.

    I spent the next few minutes extracting about a pound of thick, tarry, finger-staining dustcake with the consistency of actual cake from his CPU heatsink, with a can of air and some tweezers. Not my finest moment.

    He wanted to wipe it anyway, so I did just that, since I wanted to test a new trick I had for reinstalling XP (OEM with certificates replaced to match the target machine, slipstream in some SATA drivers and throw it on USB! It even validates so you can use MSE and stuff, as long as you do the cert thing correctly.) The freezing persisted even after the wipe, so I'm willing to bet his habit actually killed his computer.

    Smokers, do your computer-fixit guy a favor. PLEASE don't smoke around your computers. It will kill them prematurely, and leave a mess we definitely don't want to clean up.

  • #2
    I've heard of similar stories on Computer Stupidities (www.rinkworks.com/stupid). One store involved a computer in a taxi company where everyone smoked, and the thing was riddled in tar and nicotine. Do you have to wear gloves or a protective mask when cleaning that off though? If the need arises for a scraper...

    This is why I'm glad I don't smoke. I used to have a lot of musical equipment & was able to get a good amount back because they were never exposed to a smokey environment.

    Comment


    • #3
      *makes a face and icks* I recently brought my computer over to a friend because after a unwanted house guest my computer wasn't running as it should and I was concerned. My friend opened it and then immediately quarantined pieces to his porch to air out because the thing stunk to high heaven. I can't smell so I was apologizing profusely. Turned out the friend smoked cigars in my place and that was the yellow and brown marks I was finding in random places.

      Comment


      • #4
        Twenty years ago I was on a temporary detail to another office. They provided a computer for me to work on. It had an amber screen monitor, with dark amber letters. I tried cleaning the screen, and ended up having to use a razor blade to scrape the cigarette smoke crud off the screen, which turned out to have bright amber letters.

        After my wife's uncle died (in 1981 at age 86) we had the pleasure of cleaning out his apartment, where he had lived for 20+ years. He smoked several packs a day. One of the items I claimed was a set of bookends showing a couple of brown robed monks reading a book. They were very dusty and after I got them home I started to rinse off the dust. When I wiped the water off with a paper towel, the towel turned brown. I gave the one bookend a real good cleaning. It was a monk in a bright red robe reading a golden book. My wife suggested I leave the second bookend uncleaned for comparison. Here is a picture:

        Attached Files
        "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

        Comment


        • #5
          Used to be a house painter. once while painting the living room of a rental property it began pouring rain out, so we finished up for the day and went home (too high humidity -paint won't dry).
          next day, go back to finish up and WTF? theres yellow streaks down the walls! turns out the previous tenant was a heavy smoker, the yellow was nic-tar behind the crownmolding (like baseboard for the ceiling) softened by the high humidity it literally ran down the walls ruining days of work.
          It's a tough row to hoe, and I'm just the Joe to hoe it.

          Comment


          • #6
            Oh thank you for the link to computer stupidities I had lost that years ago...I used to read it all the time.....yay
            https://www.youtube.com/user/HedgeTV
            Great YouTube channel check it out!

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth telecom_goddess View Post
              Oh thank you for the link to computer stupidities I had lost that years ago...I used to read it all the time.....yay
              No problem. I had memorized it years ago because I always loved going back & reading the submissions. I just wish it was updated frequently.

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth emax4 View Post
                No problem. I had memorized it years ago because I always loved going back & reading the submissions. I just wish it was updated frequently.
                I remember they don't update it more than like 4 times a year....but I have a few years to catch up on now
                https://www.youtube.com/user/HedgeTV
                Great YouTube channel check it out!

                Comment


                • #9
                  I've worked on a lot of computers over the last few years, and a lot of them belonged to people who smoked. Some of the smokey dust I blew out of those was just downright nasty.

                  One of the worst was a computer that belonged to this one couple I'm friends with. The processor fan broke, but instead of calling me to fix it, she let her sister do it, who doesn't really know about computer repair. After that, the thing was constantly running hot and shutting down, so their solution was to take the side panel off.

                  That worked for awhile, but eventually it started acting up again, so they called me. I fired it up, and the fan was spinning so fast trying to keep things cool, if I waved my hand in front of it it would change pitch. The worst part was that with the side panel open, all kinds of smoke and dust got inside, and caked all over everything. I blew out what I could, and then took each card out one by one and wiped it down. There were a few pieces that were all plastic, like the fan, so I washed them in the sink and dried them off.

                  Once I cleaned off the processor and applied new thermal compound, it ran a lot better, even after I put the side panel back on. I'm guessing that when her sister put the new fan on, she didn't replace the thermal compound. I told them not to let her do anymore computer repairs for them.

                  Funny thing, a couple months later, they got a new computer and gave the old one to the kids. Around the same time, she quit smoking and her husband started going outside to smoke. She told me the other day that she opened it up to clean out the dust, and there was very little at all.
                  Sometimes life is altered.
                  Break from the ropes your hands are tied.
                  Uneasy with confrontation.
                  Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    yeah, it's getting close to my autumn dusting of the machines (next week in fact) and my sister has a bad smoking habit. I always have to spend twice as much time on her machine as the others because it takes so much more effort to get the tar-laced dust out. Thankfully I do this every 6 months, so it doesn't get a chance to build up to the levels where I would need industrial tools to remove.
                    I AM the evil bastard!
                    A+ Certified IT Technician

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      The bookend remind me of just about anything in my parent's house. It was fairly bad growing up, but we moved a lot (rentals) so things didn't have tme ot get really out of hand. Later, they bought a mobile home for retirement, and were there over 20 years. In the small space, with my mom practically chain smoking (my dad had quit when I was a kid), everything was brown after a while.

                      It was so bad, when they would send us a box at xmas or anything, even one that had to go from NC to England, through customs delays, etc, after all that time, when we got it, opening it would make the house smell like smoke for hours - and nothing they sent ever really lost it's smoky smell no matter what I did.

                      I still have objects in my home that were theirs (they've both passed away now) that if I were to pick them up and smell deeply, I'd smell cigarette smoke. Needless to say, I don't smoke. Nor does my daughter - as a teen, she would come in from a concert or party, and no matter how late it was, she'd wash her hair before going to bed cause she couldn't sleep with it smelling smoky from second hand smoke.

                      Madness takes it's toll....
                      Please have exact change ready.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I smoke and Dad who is a Techie, showed me a few photos of really badly gunked up machines. He said if I smoke in the same room as my computer he's not working on it.

                        Duly noted and I haven't smoked in the house for 5 years now.

                        Most of the problems seem to come from the cats' shedding and her insane habit of sleeping next to the fan on the case. I think she thinks it's purring. Still have to clean the case once a week because of damn fur getting in. I'm not looking forward to when she sheds in spring.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I'm a smoker, but I fix my own computer. Actually, after the first one I owned died terribly on me, I clean my system out with an air compressor, alcohol, and Q-Tips once a month. Price you pay, I guess.
                          "You mean you don’t have the one piece of information you actually need? Well, stick your grubby paws in the crayon box, yank one out and colour me Fucking Shocked Fuchsia." - Gravekeeper

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            My parents are both 2-pack-a-day smokers,and when I come to give their computers a cleaning every few months they are absolutely filthy inside.

                            Here's a pic of a 6-month dustup from a 2-pack-a-day smoker (not my folks):


                            from: http://www.topix.com/album/detail/ro...63JQKGCNFCSDBQ
                            The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth DeltaSierra View Post
                              My parents are both 2-pack-a-day smokers,and when I come to give their computers a cleaning every few months they are absolutely filthy inside.

                              Here's a pic of a 6-month dustup from a 2-pack-a-day smoker (not my folks):
                              [IMG]

                              from: http://www.topix.com/album/detail/ro...63JQKGCNFCSDBQ
                              I don't know what this says about me buuuuuuuuut....

                              I've seen worse. In person.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X