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.
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.
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