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My Computer does not boot after vacuuming

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Cleankill   10-11-2008 at 11:44:56 PM

I have a A7N8X-X & 2500 Athlon XP. Recently i vacuumed some dust in the mb and surronding area, and now my computer does not boot. But the Onboard LED lights-ON? any ideas? thx

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one-shot   10-11-2008 at 11:57:43 PM
- 1 +

I'd hate to say this but LOL. Vacuums and electronics are bad friends. Like Water and electricity. They should be kept apart at ALL times. The static from the vacuum could have fried your pc. Good luck and I hope this may be a lesson well learned.

Reply to one-shot
Cleankill   10-11-2008 at 11:58:35 PM
- 0 +

lol... really... i have done this many many times...

Reply to Cleankill
stoner133   10-12-2008 at 12:12:21 AM
- 1 +

Then you were very lucky in the past but your past may have caught up with you. Vacuming causes air to move and air moving builds static electicity. Static electricity causes shorts when its grounded out to the wronge spot. You should always use canned air made for blowing out computers. It has added compounds to keep this from happening.

But one more thing you should check, make sure you didn't knock any connections loose. You could be lucky and find thats the problem, if so count yourself very lucky and next time do it right.

Edit: you also don't want to use a home air compressor to clean out your computer. Air compressors get water & oil into the air supply. Two more compounds that don't mix well with electronics.


Message edited by stoner133 on 10-12-2008 at 12:16:42 AM
Reply to stoner133
jerreece   10-12-2008 at 12:12:37 AM
- 0 +

So there's an inherent problem with vacuums and dust and electronics. Vacuums stir up dust, create static electricity, etc. There's a good chance you created some static spark that shorted something in the motherboard, memory, etc.

You'll have to do some troubleshooting and possibly replacing of parts to be sure which part is dead. But probably is your motherboard.

------------------------------ i5-750 4Ghz @ 1.32V / Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P / Xigmatek HDT-S1283
2 x MSI GTX 260 Core 216 SLI (655Mhz) / 4GB GSkill DDR3 1600 9-9-9-24 @1.5v
2 x WD Caviar Black 1TB / Thermaltake Armor BWS8003
Win 7 64bit / Antec TPQ-850 / 3dMark06 24621
 Reply to jerreece
evilshuriken   10-12-2008 at 12:15:32 AM
- 0 +

One-shot is right man, that's not really a good idea...
They say using an air compressor can do the same thing, but I've used this method for years without incident. Maybe I've been lucky?


Message edited by evilshuriken on 10-12-2008 at 12:16:13 AM
Reply to evilshuriken
mbbs20   10-12-2008 at 12:19:22 AM
- 0 +

it could be al lthat but it could simply be a loose connection as well...y dont u give us some insight to the problem in a bit of detail....like does the processor fan and other stuff like hard drives spin....does your comp make the same kind of noise as it did before or is it quieter (meaning fans are not working)...there can be a lot of reasons apart from the static spark mentioned by others

Reply to mbbs20
stoner133   10-12-2008 at 12:21:26 AM
- 0 +

Yes you too have been very lucky, not only risking static buildup but damage from water & oil causing shorts as well. Even the best filtering systems for air compressors can't remove water and oil completely.

Reply to stoner133
HVdynamo   10-12-2008 at 12:46:29 AM
- 0 +

I have been using the Compressor method on my computers for years as well without any problem on both my computers and my friends, I just don't use a very high pressure, I scale it down to about 30psi or less and I don't blow very close to the motherboard itself. I suppose a compressor can build static electricity, but vacuums are much more likely because the dirt rubs against the plastic hose which generates a significant amount of static to the point where its noticeable, whereas the amount of static generated just from the moving air and the dust would be too minimal to be a problem I believe, but to be safe I don't bring the nozzle to close the the components. So if you got the end of the vacuum too close to the components of the motherboard it is very likely that a static charge could jump and cause problems. Good luck solving the problem, I would check the connections like the others have suggested as well, and if you have extra components that would work, try those as well. Good Luck!

------------------------------ Athlon 64 X2 4400+ @2.4GHZ,Zalman CNP9500 LED CPU cooler Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe, 2GB Corsair XMS-3500LL w/ activity lights, Nvidia 9800GTX 512MB, 2 x 400Gb Western Digital Sata drives, Audigy 2 Zs, PC Power and Cooling Turbo Cool 1Kw
Reply to HVdynamo
Zorg   10-12-2008 at 12:58:18 AM
- 0 +

If you didn't use the brush attachment and rub it all over your components it is very unlikely that you damaged your machine with static.

Check for a loose wire or something else that came loose.

Reply to Zorg
apache_lives   10-12-2008 at 01:20:15 AM
- 0 +

its an old computer, check for blown capacitors or burn patches etc, and yes static is a killer/damager

------------------------------ Q6600@3510/1560 + TT BigTyphoon+Mod
8gb Kingston 800mhz
Gigabyte EP35-DS3P
XFX 8800GT/512
 Reply to apache_lives
Cleankill   10-12-2008 at 04:26:17 AM
- 0 +

thanks for all the input... i will avoid vacuuming from now on... i just remember i have put another power supply(free used one) prior to vacuum. Something intersting was that i notice the CPU fan spin (half-circle) when on turn powersupply. Then later, i press the power button and it did not work. Was that the reason why my mb is toasted?

Reply to Cleankill
Zorg   10-12-2008 at 04:42:26 AM
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It sounds like you are either using a junk PSU or you have a short somewhere.

Try building the bare minimum on a piece of cardboard outside of the case. That will rule out a short.

Reply to Zorg
Cleankill   10-12-2008 at 05:18:00 AM
- 0 +

Another interesting pt is that the Onboard LED lights is ON when the PSU is ON. So i guess the mb is not totally fried. I checked the cables/jumper for mislocation and could not able to find any blown capacitor...lol...

Reply to Cleankill
Zorg   10-12-2008 at 06:32:41 AM
- 0 +

If the LED stays on then it's not a short, at least not a short that is overloading the PSU. Default the BIOS (clear CMOS).

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by Zorg on 10-12-2008 at 06:33:30 AM
Reply to Zorg
apache_lives   10-12-2008 at 07:34:08 AM
- 0 +

Zorg wrote :

If the LED stays on then it's not a short, at least not a short that is overloading the PSU. Default the BIOS (clear CMOS).



reseat the video card and ram and post back (like totally take them out, try with just one stick of ram and a video card etc)

------------------------------ Q6600@3510/1560 + TT BigTyphoon+Mod
8gb Kingston 800mhz
Gigabyte EP35-DS3P
XFX 8800GT/512
 Reply to apache_lives
Cleankill   10-12-2008 at 04:08:30 PM
- 0 +

reseat the video card and ram and post back (like totally take them out, try with just one stick of ram and a video card etc)

tried but still not working

Reply to Cleankill
Zorg   10-12-2008 at 06:23:08 PM
- 0 +

Cleankill wrote :

how to clear CMOS?

It probably won't fix it, but it's worth a shot.

http://i37.tinypic.com/2dsqz29.jpg

Reply to Zorg
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