Question Cleaning pc, what did I do wrong?

[Mp1984]

Posts: 30
Forum Member
✭
15/05/24 - 11:44
#1
Hi, I had a rather unpleasant time cleaning my pc this morning, I popped the side off and used a little electronic air blower thing, I've done this 4 or 5 times before, with no issue.

Anyway, about 5 seconds in I realise I've not unplugged the pc, so I do that as I've done previously and carry on. I'm always careful to put a finger on any fan blade im near and watch for movement. I did accidentally very briefly touch part of the gpu board, though not a part anywhere near visible circuits.

It's pretty clean so it doesn't take long, and I take a look at the outside of the case and give a quick blow round the USB's and connections round the top.

I plug the pc back in, out of curiosity I left the glass side I'd removed off, and switched it on, to be met around a second later with a very loud pop, and the computer losing all power. I realised in fact the circuit breaker for all the wall plugs had tripped and after some more fiddling found the 5amp fuse in the plug for the pc had blown. I'm incredibly amazed to say the pc came on without issue at this point.

I am stumped what I've done wrong, but any guesses would be great as I'm terrified of doing it again now. I vacumed the room before doing this so maybe I built up some charge from that too (the vac wasn't used in the pc at any time), though I did vac the outside lightly with the brush attachment (pc plugged in but not open) so maybe that was the mistake

Edit: there was a free USB cable plugged in the whole time which id been using to charge my phone, this would have been on the floor near the vacuum cleaner before I cleaned the pc.

 

[Silas Sanchez]

Sounds like the PC and possibly the rest of the system simply pulled more than what the fuse was rated for. Could be the fuse was cheap &/or worn out or damaged or undersized? If it was a fast acting fuse that would strengthen some of this. Or possible something wrong inside the PSU like a short.
Static and vacuum cleaners wont cause any issues, I know this as routinely use them on my pcs and have so for yonks. I blast my PC (when turned off) with my datavac every so often and even go over the GPU with a soft tooth brush. If static is doing the damage nowadays, it must be something microsoft has implemented in windows 11?????

The most important thing about static is the energy involved is truly minute and the damage it does is usually very small and done to small parts of a circuit in a very subtle way which may very well not reveal itself for years.
After many many years of using the toothbrsuh on my GPU it still gives the same fps as it always has. Most of the static fields are relatively small and most of the sensitive parts are relatively shielded/hard to get to.

 

[Mp1984]

Sounds like the PC and possibly the rest of the system simply pulled more than what the fuse was rated for. Could be the fuse was cheap &/or worn out or damaged or undersized? If it was a fast acting fuse that would strengthen some of this. Or possible something wrong inside the PSU like a short.
Static and vacuum cleaners wont cause any issues, I know this as routinely use them on my pcs and have so for yonks. I blast my PC (when turned off) with my datavac every so often and even go over the GPU with a soft tooth brush. If static is doing the damage nowadays, it must be something microsoft has implemented in windows 11?????

The most important thing about static is the energy involved is truly minute and the damage it does is usually very small and done to small parts of a circuit in a very subtle way which may very well not reveal itself for years.
After many many years of using the toothbrsuh on my GPU it still gives the same fps as it always has. Most of the static fields are relatively small and most of the sensitive parts are relatively shielded/hard to get to.

Thanks, it's an 18 month old pc(reputable builder with 3 year warranty) kettle lead came with it, so fuse is pretty new and looked unexceptional. Never had any issues. Maybe it's just pure coincidence but it seems remarkable!
Thanks for the info, it's really appreciated