Question Could cleaning my PC with a brush caused the GPU and RAM sticks to fail?

[TheNotoriousNoob]

I'm having some trouble with my PC, it was fine as of this morning before it crashed. Its had trouble with crashing due to overheating GPU but I believe that's a different issue.

Anyways, when I went to boot it up again, it turned on for half a second then turned off for about 5 seconds; it would then repeat this process indefinitely (I only waited less than 20 seconds before turning it off again but I doubt that waiting any longer would fix the issue). I've tried all day (waiting a few hours between times) to boot it up again to no luck.

After perusing the web a little bit, many people were saying that it could be an issue with the PSU however I'm unsure.

Things I've tried so far include changing the power cables, ensuring the plugs within the PC are tight, light cleaning of dust for the CPU with a brush.

Does anyone have any tips?

 

[rgd1101]

full system spec? include brand and model of the psu

 

[TheNotoriousNoob]

full system spec? include brand and model of the psu

Oh I'm afraid I don't have the specific detail of the PSU as I had it built by someone (from a shop), however, its a fairly simple one and I can guarantee that its not a 700W coolermaster or anything like that!

I can tell you that i have16GB RAM, RX590, and a i5 CPU if that helps at all! Sorry for the lack of information that I'm able to give!

 

[rgd1101]

without any detail take it back to the shop

 

[TheNotoriousNoob]

without any detail take it back to the shop

Shall do. If there is problem with the PSU, is it worth getting a good PSU or save money towards something else (eg: GPU), also how much should I be looking to spend on a good quality PSU?

 

[--SID--]

If there is problem with the PSU, is it worth getting a good PSU

It's always worth spending money on a good PSU.

how much should I be looking to spend on a good quality PSU?

Depends on price and availability. Do you have alink to a webshop in your country?

 

[TheNotoriousNoob]

I unfortunately had the sad news when taking my PC to the repair shop that both the GPU and the RAM had died due to dust in the PC. The GPU is 3 years old whilst the RAM is only 1 year old. I got it professionally cleaned around 1.5 years ago; other from that I've only done very light dusting with a paintbrush from time to time.

I understand that not cleaning the GPU could have lead its demise (its been having issues), but only 1 year for the RAM to completely die?

Anyways, will taking off the side panel of the PC case and blowing it with compressed air once a month be sufficient, or should I take it to the shop for the man to properly take all the parts out for a deep clean? If so how often?

 

[Nine Layer Nige]

You can visually see if there is dust build up inside the CPU and GPU heatsinks, case fans, psu etc so regularly taking off the side panel and looking is how to aviod dust killing pc components.
I have seen pc's so bad when I used to refurbish them, that some had so mush dust and smoke tar in the CPU fan that it had stopped spinning and the dust litterally had built up over many years to impeed the fins. Horrendous !
Its unlikely that the ram died too.

 

[TheNotoriousNoob]

You can visually see if there is dust build up inside the CPU and GPU heatsinks, case fans, psu etc so regularly taking off the side panel and looking is how to aviod dust killing pc components.
I have seen pc's so bad when I used to refurbish them, that some had so mush dust and smoke tar in the CPU fan that it had stopped spinning and the dust litterally had built up over many years to impeed the fins. Horrendous !
Its unlikely that the ram died too.

I made sure to inspect the side of the PC about once every 2 months and ensured that no dust was heavily clogging the fans and cleaned the CPU heatsink to the best of my ability with my limited knowledge and a paintbrush.

However, for the GPU heatsink, I didn't clean it (besides from its fans) as there's a case covering it (presumably the heatsink).

I believe that the tech man said something about the connectors of the RAM/GPU being covered in dust which lead to its death, but when he pulled the parts out, it didn't even look that bad (very thin layer (1/100mm) of dust).

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Don't clean components with a brush! Brushes can give off static electricity which is a potential killer to electronic components.
Use an air-blower (those cans of compressed air specially made for PC cleaning).

 

[TheNotoriousNoob]

Don't clean components with a brush! Brushes can give off static electricity which is a potential killer to electronic components.
Use an air-blower (those cans of compressed air specially made for PC cleaning).

Thanks, taken note of that for future use. However, do you possibly know why my RAM sticks died due to dust? Theres nothing for the dust to even get clogged in as far as I'm aware. Do I need to manually remove the RAM sticks or just blowing in from the side case?

Also how is it possible that both the GPU and RAM died at the exact same time? Wouldn't one die first causing the PC to shut down? It seems like a one in a billion chance for both to happen at identical timing.

 

[TheNotoriousNoob]

In my last post I mentioned that dust killed my GPU and (both) RAM sticks at the exact same time due to overheating I believe (don't know how everything happened to die at the exact same time but that's what the PC repair man said).

So obviously as this crucial lack of maintenance has caused me the cost of more than half of the initial price of the PC, I will put more effort into cleaning.

I plan on getting one of those air spray cans and will do light cleaning once a month by taking the side panel off.

However, I'm quite nervous of removing parts to clean so i wanted to ask how often should I bring my PC to a shop to get it deep cleaned?

My RAM sticks were only a year and a half old before they apparently died to dust so you'd have to bare that in mind.

 

[Lutfij]

You can do said cleaning at home, with the aid of a painter's fine bristle brush and a can of compressed air or even an air blower. Where are you located? Regions that have low humidity tend to have the risk of static buildup when using an air compressor to dust out the case. I tend to do my cleaning when I notice the fans ramping up more than usual, meaning my radiator fins are clogged up or that dust filter is clogged up with debris, impeding airflow and proper heat dissipation.

Depending on how dusty your crib is, you might need to clean out the system every month or every quarter or even every week. It all depends on the amount of dust build up you see in your case/crib. Where is the system located? Above or below your desk?

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Thanks, taken note of that for future use. However, do you possibly know why my RAM sticks died due to dust? Theres nothing for the dust to even get clogged in as far as I'm aware. Do I need to manually remove the RAM sticks or just blowing in from the side case?

Also how is it possible that both the GPU and RAM died at the exact same time? Wouldn't one die first causing the PC to shut down? It seems like a one in a billion chance for both to happen at identical timing.

May be your having used a brush to clean them led to their eventual demise ?

 

[TheNotoriousNoob]

You can do said cleaning at home, with the aid of a painter's fine bristle brush and a can of compressed air or even an air blower. Where are you located? Regions that have low humidity tend to have the risk of static buildup when using an air compressor to dust out the case. I tend to do my cleaning when I notice the fans ramping up more than usual, meaning my radiator fins are clogged up or that dust filter is clogged up with debris, impeding airflow and proper heat dissipation.

Depending on how dusty your crib is, you might need to clean out the system every month or every quarter or even every week. It all depends on the amount of dust build up you see in your case/crib. Where is the system located? Above or below your desk?

The person in the previous post told me that by using a painter brush, this can cause static buildup which can cause damage to the parts. I live in a very humid part of the world so static buildup shouldn't be much of a problem hopefully.

Do you think its fine just to take a can of compressed air and spray it at the side of the case? Or do I need to get the PC fully disassembled twice a year and have it deep cleaned at a shop?

 

[TheNotoriousNoob]

May be your having used a brush to clean them led to their eventual demise ?

If that is the case, then that's a very expensive mistake, however, I live in a very humid country so the chances of that would be very unlikely. Last time I had my PC properly cleaned, the man was using a can of compressed air and was using a large painters brush going all over it.

Also someone else recommended that I use a brush to clean my PC on this website only 5 minutes ago

 

[USAFRet]

Do you think its fine just to take a can of compressed air and spray it at the side of the case? Or do I need to get the PC fully disassembled twice a year and have it deep cleaned at a shop?

It absolutely does not need to be disassembled.

 

[TerryLaze]

In my last post I mentioned that dust killed my GPU and (both) RAM sticks at the exact same time due to overheating I believe (don't know how everything happened to die at the exact same time but that's what the PC repair man said).

It's pretty much impossible that this happened.
You would have had extreme slow downs or extremely loud fans for very very long before your GPU would have died from overheating.
And I never heard about ram sticks dying from overheating.
Static from dust..maybe.

 

[TerryLaze]

The person in the previous post told me that by using a painter brush, this can cause static buildup which can cause damage to the parts.

Bristle is anti static, not every brush is made from it, most brushes are plastic which does carry a lot of static.

 

[TheNotoriousNoob]

It's pretty much impossible that this happened.
You would have had extreme slow downs or extremely loud fans for very very long before your GPU would have died from overheating.
And I never heard about ram sticks dying from overheating.
Static from dust..maybe.

I did use a paint brush to clean the heatsink of the CPU, and I may have gone over the RAM sticks with it. My head hurts thinking that this so easily avoidable expensive mistake could have been caused by this.

My PC wasn't connected to power whilst cleaning it if that changes things at all

 

[Zerk2012]

I would question who is working on the PC that told you some dust killed the video card and memory. I've worked on some that was way beyond some dust crap caked everywhere blew it out nothing was dead.

 

[Nighthawk117]

I unfortunately had the sad news when taking my PC to the repair shop that both the GPU and the RAM had died due to dust in the PC. The GPU is 3 years old whilst the RAM is only 1 year old. I got it professionally cleaned around 1.5 years ago; other from that I've only done very light dusting with a paintbrush from time to time.

I understand that not cleaning the GPU could have lead its demise (its been having issues), but only 1 year for the RAM to completely die?

Anyways, will taking off the side panel of the PC case and blowing it with compressed air once a month be sufficient, or should I take it to the shop for the man to properly take all the parts out for a deep clean? If so how often?

That's very sad never encountered this. Amazed that a build up within 1.5 years would do this. How do you know the components died due dust? It does not seem likely multiple components going at once for that reason.

As for cleaning, I clean my PC once a year with compressed air and use damp kitchen towel to clean all the dust off all the fan blades and bottom of the case. I typically take out the GPU and the CPU Water Cooler to clean them. For the radiator I use a little hoover.

 

[Zerk2012]

I unfortunately had the sad news when taking my PC to the repair shop that both the GPU and the RAM had died due to dust in the PC. The GPU is 3 years old whilst the RAM is only 1 year old. I got it professionally cleaned around 1.5 years ago; other from that I've only done very light dusting with a paintbrush from time to time.

I understand that not cleaning the GPU could have lead its demise (its been having issues), but only 1 year for the RAM to completely die?

Anyways, will taking off the side panel of the PC case and blowing it with compressed air once a month be sufficient, or should I take it to the shop for the man to properly take all the parts out for a deep clean? If so how often?

Who is telling you this some kid at geek squad? Sounds like they have absolutely no clue what they are doing. Memory has a lifetime warranty so nothing to buy on that unless there going to sell you your same set back and it sounds like they might be looking at selling your video card.

 

[Bazzy 505]

I unfortunately had the sad news when taking my PC to the repair shop that both the GPU and the RAM had died due to dust in the PC. The GPU is 3 years old whilst the RAM is only 1 year old. I got it professionally cleaned around 1.5 years ago; other from that I've only done very light dusting with a paintbrush from time to time.

I understand that not cleaning the GPU could have lead its demise (its been having issues), but only 1 year for the RAM to completely die?

Anyways, will taking off the side panel of the PC case and blowing it with compressed air once a month be sufficient, or should I take it to the shop for the man to properly take all the parts out for a deep clean? If so how often?

Easiest way to prevent this from happening in future is investing in a decent air purifier for your man cave. You can get a decent one for around 150-200 bucks.
Not smoking in the room you pc is in goes a long way too. Both your pc and your lungs will thank you for it.

 

[TheNotoriousNoob]

Hello all, I know I've already made a post about my issue a couple hours ago, however, I do want to get to the bottom of this so that I don't make the same mistake.

To set the scene, I was having some issues with the PC not connecting to the monitor; the PC was on but monitor displayed no signal. I obviously tried the basics of replugging the cables and even tried using spare ones to no avail. So I decided to try cleaning the inside using a brush (whilst the PC was disconnected of course). As I'm not much of a tech person, I didn't even consider the possibility that the elecrostatic energy could cause damage to the parts as I live in a humid country and have seen people discuss online about using brushes to clean parts. After cleaning I tried to boot the PC up again but instead it power cycling; PC was turning on and off in a consistent cycle (never got to the boot stage).

So i took the PC into the shop the next day where the man pronounced that the GPU and RAM sticks had died as it was too dusty inside (I presume this was because of overheating). The thing is that there was barely any dust inside the PC (even before I cleaned it the day before); just a very thin layer. The man said that there was no way of fixing it and I needed to get a replacement for the GPU and RAM sticks as they died to the reason above. However, according the answers in the previous post I posted on this forum, its very unlikely that overheating would kill two components at the exact same identical time (especially to RAM sticks) for a PC that isn't all the old (RAM sticks were about 18 months).

Based of the limited information provided, do you think that the RAM and GPU of my PC actually died to overheating caused by a small amounts of dust or because I made the error of cleaning my PC components with a brush?