Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Swabs
Use cleaning swabs to wipe off electrical contacts, connectors, and other sensitive areas.
The swabs should be made of foam or synthetic chamois material that does not leave lint
or dust residue. Unfortunately, proper foam or chamois cleaning swabs are more expens-
ivethantypicalcottonswabs.Donotusecottonswabsbecausetheyleavecottonfiberson
everything they touch. Cotton fibers are conductive in some situations and can remain on
drive heads, which can scratch disks. Foam or chamois swabs can be purchased at most
electronics supply stores.
Caution
Onei item to avoid is an eraser for cleaning contacts. Many people (including me) have re-
commended using a soft pencil-type eraser for cleaning circuit-board contacts. Testing has
proven this to be bad advice because any such abrasive wiping on electrical contacts gener-
ates friction and a potentially damaging ESD. Also, the eraser will wear off the gold coating
onmanycontacts,exposingthetincontactunderneath,whichrapidlycorrodeswhenexposed
to air.
Some companies sell premoistened contact cleaning pads soaked in a proper contact
cleaner and lubricant. These pads are safe to wipe on conductors and contacts with no
likelihood of ESD damage or abrasion of the gold plating.
System Disassembly and Cleaning Procedures
To properly clean your system, you must at least partially disassemble it. If you are only
blowingoutthedustanddirt,thengenerallyallyouneedtodoisopenthesystem,leaving
all of the cards, components, and cables in place. For a more thorough cleaning, you will
want to remove cards, cables, and most of the other components, generally stripping the
system down to the motherboard and chassis.
Tocleananyadaptercardsremovedfromthesystem,blowoffanydustordirtusingcom-
pressed air or a vacuum cleaner.
Also,blowanydustoutofthepowersupplyandanyfans.Youdonotneedtodisassemble
the power supply to do this; simply blast the compressed air into the supply through the
fanexhaustport.Thiswillblowthedustoutofthesupplyandcleanoffthefanbladesand
grill, which will help with system airflow.
If the chassis has a removable filter, be sure to remove it and clean it off, either with com-
pressed air or a vacuum cleaner designed for computer use.
