Tonight was bad, I almost had to start killing people!!!

Don't smoke around your computer...and look into using 'tissue paper' as a 'real' filter in your inlet fans.

Better snag another bargain basement TB drive and triple backup

Actually coffee filters work great.

where exactly?

Actually, I ordered a couple Dirtbagz tonight as well. These little inventions can save us smokers a Ton of money. I suggest anyone who smokes around their PC to invest in these.

Dirtbagz

I'm not going to stop smoking around my PC until I stop smoking all together. I think with the Dirtbag filters plus the Air Purifier I should be good to go.

Bah... kids are like Dorito's. Crunch all you want, we'll make more..

lol j/k

Roll initiative...

QFT, this will happen again unless you stop getting crap in there.

Why hurt the kid if you're going to do damage to the PC anyway? Or did you mean THAN?

http://instantrimshot.com/

That kid must be adorable with that much charisma.

The doctor says my nose wouldn't bleed so much if i kept my finger outa there...

On that note, anyone know a cheap way to get a laptop cleaned?  (By cheap, i mean anyone know a way to get a laptop cleaned?)

-Twilight Storm

  Cool pic Wintersong.  Raven X, that has happened so many times to so many people it ain't funny(not having a the "one" chord or cable attached).  Now when it's one of you techies that makes it even more frustrating(for you).  I bet everyone here who uses a computer more than a few times a year has done that least once in their life.  Glad your back up.

Laptop cleaned... your's filled with dust or something, Twilight? I have to clean the air vents pretty regularly on my laptop or it start to heat up... well i guess everyone has to. BTW, if my laptop's screen goes suddenly (and randomly) white and only way to get rid of it is to restart it, is there something wrong with the graphics card or maybe overheating?

I'm immune to charisma. What does that make of me?

Hmm... Raven's story reminded me.. should i back-up my stuff regularly? I haven't done that ever actually. And there's always a chance something just breaks  when you need it...

Ya - don't let it get dirty for one!

2# buy a new one!

That is one Awesome baby shirt. I showed it to my wife wanting her to see the shirt...and then I got bombarded with the standard "When are we gonna start on the kids?" questions.....damnit....

Well, that depends on how much you know about your hardware. My tech work and side jobs on the hardware end has always been restricted to Desktops. I would assume though that if you have the proper tools and knowledge one can be disassembled. If so I'd start by opening it up and seeing how many parts you can take out to clean without causing any damage. Do some research first though. If you don't know what you're doing I wouldn't recommend trying to take your computer apart like it was a toaster or something. A lot of parts break really easily or can be damaged just by being touched and you having too much static electricity in your body.

If you find you can open it up without doing any damage you'll need a few cans of air, some tweezers, and maybe some pipe cleaners. If you're extremely careful you might even be able to use a hand held vacuum or a vacuum with a hose attachment. Put it to the vents and suck the dust bunnies out.

If you're not confident doing any of that you can always take it to a shop and get a professional cleaning done. It isn't always easy finding a shop that will though, mostly for insurance reasons from what I understand. Out of the 5 non-corporate computer shops we have here in my town, only one of them will do a "Professional Cleaning". The other shops will only blow your system out with a compressor and replace your fans. This doesn't cover the smaller fans like the one in your graphics card or the cooling gel on your heat-sinks plus some other minor details. A lot of shops won't do it because they don't want to be financially responsible for the parts and would rather send them back to the manufacturer and bill the customer for it. Still, there is the rare shop that pays a little extra for their insurance and will do a professional cleaning, but it will probably cost you around $50 or more. Compare that to the price of replacing the parts or replacing the whole laptop and you'll save money paying for it to be cleaned.

Thanks man. I'm glad too. If I would have lost the hard drive I would have lost the entire Elemental Ideas Lists among other things. I'm quite confident when my dirtbag filters come in this weekend or next week I'll never have to worry about standard cleanings again. Still, it's always good to give your system a good once over and replace the cooling gel every year at least. Depending on how often you use your system (if it's year round 24/7 like me) I'd say do those things Twice a year.

If you're video is cutting out like that it could be a few things. It might be the graphics card going, or it might be something simple as a bad driver it doesn't like. Being that it's a "White Screen" for some reason the driver explanation jumps out at me. Normally when it's the graphics card the screen tends be a Black Screen (as in No Video Input) or maybe even a "Blue Screen of Death" as you'll often get a error message when the card stops working. If could also be getting too hot and just bug out when the temps are too much for it to handle, in which case I'd say clean you're vents and make sure when you're using your laptop that it's getting proper air flow to those vents. I had a ex-girlfriend a few years back who would always complain her laptop would get hot and shut down when she used it in bed but couldn't figure out why it didn't happen when she used it on the kitchen table. Turned out when she used it in bed it would slightly sink into the blanket (which was silky) and the vents wouldn't be able to breathe at all and it would shut down.

When it comes to backing up your information you should always keep a hard back-up of important things. Burn pictures and drivers and financial records and things like to DvD at least every six months. Or you can get a external hard-drive and back things up on it.

Thanks, Raven.  I've tried taking it apart once(I do know what NOT to do basically) but I stopped when I started having trouble getting the back casing to cooperate.  I think i inadvertantly did something to the mouse too, because now the left click side will only click if i press down on the far right, where it used to work all the way across.  May have to fiddle with it till I get it open to fix that.

Though if $50 will get the whole thing done proffesionally, I may go that route instead and see about getting them to re-set the button while they're in there.

Either way beats replacing my precious Fyfi.  (Yeah, I name my computers, what of it? )

-Twilight Storm

No problem, my friend. Don't quote me on that price though, I was being conservative. That's just labor really, not counting the price of the fans them-selves (normally $10-$15 per fan) as you don't want to put dirty fans back in, plus the cost of the Cooling Gel (you only need a small dab and they charge you for a whole damn tube). Factor in all that stuff and you're most likely looking at around $100. Still, if that saves you having to replace a $200-$300 graphics card or from having to buy a new $1500 Laptop, I'd say it was a $100 well spent.

Your next problem will be finding a shop that will do a Professional Cleaning. Make sure you ask them if they're going to clean the fan in your graphics card or if they'll want to send it back to the manufacturer. If they say they'd rather send it back find another shop or explain what you mean by "Professional Cleaning" and that they'll be responsible if your Gfx card doesn't work after they clean it. If they say "No" then they don't do "Professional Cleanings".

Well, I just replaced the fan, and I've already got the both heat gels it uses (The Arctic Silver and the silicon base) so I may just try it myself again with a little more self confidence.

Thanks again for the advice.

-Twilight Storm

Have you ever pulled out a processor chip before? If not, be extrememly careful. If you bend even one pin when putting it back in you can fry the chip if not the whole motherboard. First time I ever took a proc chip out I almost did that very same thing. Good luck my friend, I hope the repairs go well.

Check out this video for the Dirt Bag. This is good stuff right here.  

hmm...nm, the video won't work that way. Check it out on their site Here.

Paying money to have the computer cleaned..!

At first it sounded very dumb but now when I think about it, it might be the same thing as somebody fixing their bike themselves while I turned it in and had it fixed for 20$.