Removing/replacing cards

Open the case, carefully blow out as much dust as you can and close the
case. There is no other cleaning that you need to do.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Sami wrote:
> I'm running Windows XP HE, SP2.
>
> I need to give my PC a physical clean inside. I would like to remove the
> cards from the PCI slots, clean them, and then of course, place them back
> into the slots. My question is, is it safe to do this, or is it likely to
> cause a problem with the O/S? (Incase you're wondering, I had some building
> work done in the house, and despite my best efforts, fine dust has covered
> the inside).
>
> The reason I'm asking is because a friend of mine did just this with a modem
> card, after which Windows crashed and all remedial efforts failed, and I
> would hate that to happen.
>
> Also, what's the correct way to remove hardware permanently, for example a
> PCI TV card? Driver or device first?
>
> I hope these questions are okay here.
>
> Many thanks in advance.
> Sam
>
>

Andrew, you're famous for handing out bad advice in these newsgroups,
but this has to be the single most stupid post you've ever made.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Andrew E. wrote:
> Removing PCI or other cards is ok,return them to same slot when thru.These
> cards can be cleaned (soft brush/vacum,etc),also,if its been installed for
> some
> time,clean the gold connectors on the card with #2 eraser.Also,cards can be
> removed,however believe it or not,only around 12 or so times,after that the
> connecting pins start to loose the gold thats been applied from the mfg..
>
> "Sami" wrote:
>
>> I'm running Windows XP HE, SP2.
>>
>> I need to give my PC a physical clean inside. I would like to remove the
>> cards from the PCI slots, clean them, and then of course, place them back
>> into the slots. My question is, is it safe to do this, or is it likely to
>> cause a problem with the O/S? (Incase you're wondering, I had some building
>> work done in the house, and despite my best efforts, fine dust has covered
>> the inside).
>>
>> The reason I'm asking is because a friend of mine did just this with a modem
>> card, after which Windows crashed and all remedial efforts failed, and I
>> would hate that to happen.
>>
>> Also, what's the correct way to remove hardware permanently, for example a
>> PCI TV card? Driver or device first?
>>
>> I hope these questions are okay here.
>>
>> Many thanks in advance.
>> Sam
>>
>>
>>

Sami wrote:

> I'm running Windows XP HE, SP2.
>
> I need to give my PC a physical clean inside. I would like to remove the
> cards from the PCI slots, clean them, and then of course, place them back
> into the slots. My question is, is it safe to do this, or is it likely to
> cause a problem with the O/S? (Incase you're wondering, I had some building
> work done in the house, and despite my best efforts, fine dust has covered
> the inside).
>
> The reason I'm asking is because a friend of mine did just this with a modem
> card, after which Windows crashed and all remedial efforts failed, and I
> would hate that to happen.
>
> Also, what's the correct way to remove hardware permanently, for example a
> PCI TV card? Driver or device first?
>
> I hope these questions are okay here.
>
> Many thanks in advance.
> Sam

Don't bother removing the cards. If an air duster can't remove the
dust, there is something else that is making the dust stick to the
surfaces, like resin. Just what was the building work that was done?
Were they spray painting inside your house?

The only time I use any physical contact to clean the inside of a
computer is to use swabs to scrape the grime that accumulates on the fan
blades.

On Tue, 1 Sep 2009 18:36:01 -0700, Andrew E. <eckrichco.RemoveThis@msn.com>
wrote:

> Removing PCI or other cards is ok,return them to same slot when thru.These
> cards can be cleaned (soft brush/vacum,etc),


Sami, ignore what Andrew says and *never* use a vacuum cleaner. You
would ran the substantial risk of damaging everything by a static
charge.


> also,if its been installed for
> some
> time,clean the gold connectors on the card with #2 eraser.


Not as dangerous as the above, but I would avoid this too, since
over-rubbing with an eraser can remove the gold. Besides, the contacts
on installed cards don't get dirty. The only times contacts can get
dirty is when they are *not* in a slot.

See below.


> Also,cards can be
> removed,however believe it or not,only around 12 or so times,after that the
> connecting pins start to loose the gold thats been applied from the mfg..
>
> "Sami" wrote:
>
> > I'm running Windows XP HE, SP2.
> >
> > I need to give my PC a physical clean inside. I would like to remove the
> > cards from the PCI slots, clean them, and then of course, place them back
> > into the slots. My question is, is it safe to do this, or is it likely to
> > cause a problem with the O/S? (Incase you're wondering, I had some building
> > work done in the house, and despite my best efforts, fine dust has covered
> > the inside).


Removing any cards to clean them is entirely unnecessary. The only
cleaning you need to do or should do is as follows: take the computer
outdoors, open the case, and blow out the interior thoroughly with a
can of compressed air.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"Leonard Grey" <l.grey DeleteThis @invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:ue$ZqB4KKHA.5948@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Open the case, carefully blow out as much dust as you can and close the
> case. There is no other cleaning that you need to do.
> ---
> Leonard Grey
> Errare humanum est
>


Leonard, if you hadn't provided this answer I would have. A pressurized
canister air duster will do all that's necessary.

Ken Bland

<see below>
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Justin Thyme wrote:
> "Leonard Grey" <l.grey.RemoveThis@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> news:ue$ZqB4KKHA.5948@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> Open the case, carefully blow out as much dust as you can and close the
>> case. There is no other cleaning that you need to do.
>> ---
>> Leonard Grey
>> Errare humanum est
>>
>
>
> Leonard, if you hadn't provided this answer I would have. A pressurized
> canister air duster will do all that's necessary.
>
> Ken Bland
>
>

I'm actually glad you raised that point because it allows me to ask you:
I once read that some 'canned air' products allow an amount of
propellant to come out and coat whatever you are spraying, which might
be harmful to electronic components. Is this, in fact, true and what are
the details?

LG

Leonard Grey <l.grey.RemoveThis@invalid.invalid> wrote:

><see below>
>---
>Leonard Grey
>Errare humanum est
>
>Justin Thyme wrote:
>> "Leonard Grey" <l.grey.RemoveThis@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:ue$ZqB4KKHA.5948@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>> Open the case, carefully blow out as much dust as you can and close the
>>> case. There is no other cleaning that you need to do.
>>> ---
>>> Leonard Grey
>>> Errare humanum est
>>>
>>
>>
>> Leonard, if you hadn't provided this answer I would have. A pressurized
>> canister air duster will do all that's necessary.
>>
>> Ken Bland
>>
>>
>
>I'm actually glad you raised that point because it allows me to ask you:
>I once read that some 'canned air' products allow an amount of
>propellant to come out and coat whatever you are spraying, which might
>be harmful to electronic components. Is this, in fact, true and what are
>the details?
>
>LG

That propellant is compressed air (DUH!). The only possible problem
might be condensation.

"VanguardLH" <V DeleteThis @nguard.LH> wrote in message
news:h7li1i$jcn$1@news.albasani.net...
> Sami wrote:
>
>> I'm running Windows XP HE, SP2.
>>
>> I need to give my PC a physical clean inside. I would like to remove the
>> cards from the PCI slots, clean them, and then of course, place them back
>> into the slots. My question is, is it safe to do this, or is it likely to
>> cause a problem with the O/S? (Incase you're wondering, I had some
>> building
>> work done in the house, and despite my best efforts, fine dust has
>> covered
>> the inside).
>>
>> The reason I'm asking is because a friend of mine did just this with a
>> modem
>> card, after which Windows crashed and all remedial efforts failed, and I
>> would hate that to happen.
>>
>> Also, what's the correct way to remove hardware permanently, for example
>> a
>> PCI TV card? Driver or device first?
>>
>> I hope these questions are okay here.
>>
>> Many thanks in advance.
>> Sam
>
> Don't bother removing the cards. If an air duster can't remove the
> dust, there is something else that is making the dust stick to the
> surfaces, like resin. Just what was the building work that was done?
> Were they spray painting inside your house?
>
> The only time I use any physical contact to clean the inside of a
> computer is to use swabs to scrape the grime that accumulates on the fan
> blades.


Thank you very much to everyone for your useful advice (except maybe
Andrew - even I'm not that stupid). The building work I had done was mainly
plastering inside the house, and I had an interior wall knocked down, which
both created lots of fine dust which just got everywhere.

Around this time, a crackling & popping noise started on the PC's sound - I
thought the dust may have somehow caused this and I've used an air duster,
but to no avail.

I have a Soundblaster Audigy 2 s/card and a Nvidia Geforce 6200 graphics
card (it's an old spec 2nd PC) and after some research, it seems that
there's some kind of conflict between the two device drivers; strange how
they lived together quite happily for years until the dust got in there!

Thanks again,
Sam

Comment at the bottom

"Bennett Marco" <benmarco.RemoveThis@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:dgnt95hhjhqg1aj2sgrs804jbiuk8gq89o@4ax.com...
> Leonard Grey <l.grey.RemoveThis@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>><see below>
>>---
>>Leonard Grey
>>Errare humanum est
>>
>>Justin Thyme wrote:
>>> "Leonard Grey" <l.grey.RemoveThis@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>>> news:ue$ZqB4KKHA.5948@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>>> Open the case, carefully blow out as much dust as you can and close the
>>>> case. There is no other cleaning that you need to do.
>>>> ---
>>>> Leonard Grey
>>>> Errare humanum est
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Leonard, if you hadn't provided this answer I would have. A pressurized
>>> canister air duster will do all that's necessary.
>>>
>>> Ken Bland
>>>
>>>
>>
>>I'm actually glad you raised that point because it allows me to ask you:
>>I once read that some 'canned air' products allow an amount of
>>propellant to come out and coat whatever you are spraying, which might
>>be harmful to electronic components. Is this, in fact, true and what are
>>the details?
>>
>>LG
>
> That propellant is compressed air (DUH!). The only possible problem
> might be condensation.

Maybe not, Bennett. I have a pressurized container labeled "3M Dust
Remover, Compressed Gas Duster." On the back of the canister the contents
are listed as "1,1-difluoroethane," with the advisory "Do not spray into
enclosed spaces, such as inside of paper shredders, as vapors may collect
and ignite." Enter "1,1-difluoroethane flammable" (without quotes) into
Google and the answers may surprise you.

Ken Bland

On Aug 31, 8:14 pm, "Sami" <inval....TakeThisOut@invalid.com> wrote:
> I'm running Windows XP HE, SP2.
>
> I need to give my PC a physical clean inside. I would like to remove the
> cards from the PCI slots, clean them, and then of course, place them back
> into the slots. My question is, is it safe to do this, or is it likely to
> cause a problem with the O/S?  (Incase you're wondering, I had some building
> work done in the house, and despite my best efforts, fine dust has covered
> the inside).
>
> The reason I'm asking is because a friend of mine did just this with a modem
> card, after which Windows crashed and all remedial efforts failed, and I
> would hate that to happen.
>
> Also, what's the correct way to remove hardware permanently, for example a
> PCI TV card?  Driver or device first?
>
> I hope these questions are okay here.
>
> Many thanks in advance.
> Sam

Take a digital picture or two first, then you have no questions.

Here is a nice tutorial to consider reading:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial118.html