# Dirty PC's



## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/13/ventblockers/


----------



## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

Oh my. :eek2:


----------



## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

Some of them show the tell-tale signs of cigarette smoke damage.
It's amazing what some people will purposely put in their lungs.


----------



## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

I was working for Sperry Corp back in 1985. Mainframe computer company - I was on an assignment doing database design in Madrid, Spain at a large national bank.

The constant employee smoking really got to me so I decided to work down in the computer room. If you've ever seen a mainframe computer room, you'll know they're clean rooms with lots of protections for the equipment.

I'm in there for a couple of days and a hard drive crashes. This was in the day of large (4' high by 5' wide) drives.

I hadn't ever seen one fail before so I, decide to check the filter. It's caked in foul-smelling yellow crud - Yep, the employees had smoked heavily in the computer room.

They were shocked when I explained the physics of disk drive heads and how a particle of tobacco smoke was larger than the gap between the head and the disk.

My gig was up 2 weeks later - never did find out if they banned smoking in the computer room.


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

that's nothing.. you should see a PC that's been in an automotive shop for a few years.. your lucky to even see the chips..


----------



## Alebob911 (Mar 22, 2007)

WOW! I've cleaned a few but nothing like that!


----------



## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

houskamp said:


> that's nothing.. you should see a PC that's been in an automotive shop for a few years.. your lucky to even see the chips..


Yeah, tell me that - been there, fixed ...ummm CLEANED those.


----------



## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

Cig smoke is DISGUSTING in computers. I have seen some really nasty ones, some that I even just threw away and/or refused to fix.

It also discolors the plastic like crazy. Just gross.


----------



## afulkerson (Jan 14, 2007)

Those pictures are nothing. You should have seen the ones that I have had to clean up when I was working for IBM. I have seen dust a 1/2 inch thick on some planars. :bang:grrr::bonk1: You wonder how some of them would even power up. :hurah: Thank god I am now retired and no longer have to look at them. Only the ones at home which I clean ever month.


----------



## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

Even in a supposedly clean, nonsmoking environment, you can run across incredibly dirty computers. One contributor: PC's that sit on the floor -- great dust catchers.


----------



## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

Pish-posh, try cleaning the inside of a pinball machine that's been inside a really smoky bar for a few years! The cellanoid mechanisms generate this weird black dust that no one seems to be able to definitively identify anyway, then you add in caked on tobacco stains and the numerous spilled beers / drinks and it's really bad! Work on one for more than 10 minutes and you'll need a shower to get the smell out of your hair. :barf:


----------



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

> _The cellanoid mechanisms generate this weird black dust..._


 Don't you mean _'solenoid_'?


----------



## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

Nick said:


> Don't you mean _'solenoid_'?


Cellanoid, solenoid, what ever it takes....I guess I should start proof reading what I type before I post, huh?


----------



## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

I have seen pcs very similar to these at hospitals. The get full of dust inside the case and around the floppy drive. It got so bad, that I wouldn't open cases that I suspected were like that unless I was wearing a polo shirt. I wasn't going to get my dress shirts and ties messed up. The other funny part is that the sometimes the pcs get stuck to the floor where they buffered the floor. I don't miss that anymore.


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

cat fur is a great destroyer of computers..


----------



## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

bobukcat said:


> Cellanoid, solenoid, what ever it takes....I guess I should start proof reading what I type before I post, huh?


Proofreading is one word. Not two.


----------



## jerry downing (Mar 7, 2004)

I once worked at a company where a new boss demanded that everyone wear dress clothes. We did, but only in the office when he was present. Certainly not in the field where a tie could get caught in a piece of machinery.


----------



## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

Marlin Guy said:


> Proofreading is one word. Not two.


I do my proof reading at the liquor store.:goodjob:


----------

