Question Little bugs in PC and accessories (I think maybe dust mites). What should I do?

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Kyozo

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Sep 29, 2021
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At first I thought it was dust, they are white and very small. I first noticed them when the occasional one would crawl across my phone screen laying in bed (pc is in my bedroom). I looked them up and google came up with like 1000 different bugs it could be. However due to them being really white and small I narrowed it down to dust mites or computer mites. After first seeing it on my phone, i looked around my PC and saw a few around the case, on it and looking in my Pc i noticed one on my CPU cooler. I looked around more seeing them on my monitor and keyboard and USB mic. I don't know how long i've had them, (had this et up for a year) or even how i didn't notice them. Don't know if they have been here the whole time and I just assumed there were dust so I didn't bat an eye to them. Also I don't know if they only a problem in my PC since I noticed them in other areas around my room. So they could be coming from somewhere else but I haven't noticed them in groups so far always just the odd one by himself. Is it a summer thing since its approaching summer or what? Anyways any advice what to do would be appreciated. Are these harmful to my PC? How can I get rid of them? Where did they come from?
 
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Well, you did just describe an actual computer BUG - like it was when that term was first used.

First I'll just say cleaning the computer will obviously not solve the problem (i.e. get rid of the bugs).

But for the bugs, I have a couple of ideas what might work (depends on where their nest are located)
  • If possible, run all bed sheets through a washing machine using at least 60 degrees Celsius
  • Replace all mattresses in your bed (you cannot wash it).
  • If possible and if you have a good freezer, you can kill bugs inside small items if those items are possible to put in the freezer.

And for your question if the bugs can cause disturbances to the computer - yes. Say a bug places itself over two adjacent pcb tracks on a ram stick, then the delicate nature and high frequencies of todays ram makes it possible.
 
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Grobe said:
Well, you did just describe an actual computer BUG - like it was when that term was first used.

First I'll just say cleaning the computer will obviously not solve the problem (i.e. get rid of the bugs).

But for the bugs, I have a couple of ideas what might work (depends on where their nest are located)
  • If possible, run all bed sheets through a washing machine using at least 60 degrees Celsius
  • Replace all mattresses in your bed (you cannot wash it).
  • If possible and if you have a good freezer, you can kill bugs inside small items if those items are possible to put in the freezer.
And for your question if the bugs can cause disturbances to the computer - yes. Say a bug places itself over two adjacent pcb tracks on a ram stick, then the delicate nature and high frequencies of todays ram makes it possible.
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Replace my whole mattress? They seems expensive. Also I don't know if the mattress is the source meaning that even if I will replace it they could find there way back to my new one eventually. And after doing a bit more resaerch into computer mites the websites are telling me that they are harmless to PC's (hopefully this is true). But I will replace the sheets though.
 
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Kyozo said:
Replace my whole mattress? They seems expensive. Also I don't know if the mattress is the source meaning that even if I will replace it they could find there way back to my new one eventually. And after doing a bit more resaerch into computer mites the websites are telling me that they are harmless to PC's (hopefully this is true). But I will replace the sheets though.
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If there are critters in your PC, they are everywhere in your room or house.

A PC is not a very hospitable place for bugs. Nothing to eat. There is no reason for them to be in there, except that everywhere else is already full.
The ones you see are the ones out foraging for food or somewhere to make a 'hive'.
 
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USAFRet said:
If there are critters in your PC, they are everywhere in your room or house.

A PC is not a very hospitable place for bugs. Nothing to eat. There is no reason for them to be in there, except that everywhere else is already full.
The ones you see are the ones out foraging for food or somewhere to make a 'hive'.
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Don't they eat dust or dead skin cells which a PC is very full of? However I guess maybe the high temps will kill them. I've done a basic cleaning e.g air dusting and wiping down but as you mentioned to earlier it won't get rid of them but hopefully reduce the numbers
 
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Kyozo said:
Don't they eat dust or dead skin cells which a PC is very full of? However I guess maybe the high temps will kill them. I've done a basic cleaning e.g air dusting and wiping down but as you mentioned to earlier it won't get rid of them but hopefully reduce the numbers
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You run the risk of damaging your computer by turning it on. I know people in apartments who had bugs living all of their furniture, carpet, walls, etc. They had to replace pretty much everything because of it. You might want to call a pest control company to deal with the bugs. From what it sounds like, they are everywhere in your room.
 
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Cj-tech said:
You run the risk of damaging your computer by turning it on. I know people in apartments who had bugs living all of their furniture, carpet, walls, etc. They had to replace pretty much everything because of it. You might want to call a pest control company to deal with the bugs. From what it sounds like, they are everywhere in your room.
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Yeah, we have called professionals now. They will be coming tomorrow, weird thing is that there solution is spraying a water based "pest killer" however they said to leave the electronics in the room idk how that will pan out but there the experts. soooo
 
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Kyozo said:
Yeah, we have called professionals now. They will be coming tomorrow, weird thing is that there solution is spraying a water based "pest killer" however they said to leave the electronics in the room idk how that will pan out but there the experts. soooo
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I would double check with them. At least make sure to unplug anything electrical. Afterwards, wait for wait for the electronics to dry before using it again.
 
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UPDATE: Just a general update, we had the exterminator round. We believe the bugs to be "Bird Mites". This is due to there very small nature and also since there is a bird nests above my room which seems to be the only room affected by these bugs. He sprayed some sort of bug killing spray around my room and all the rooms just to make sure. He was going to take the birds nest out however due to the bird making the nest in a small crack in the roofing it was impossible to take out so we just sprayed it and around it with the "bug killing spray". The service we got comes with 2 visits so he will will come back 2-3 weeks later and do the same and on the second visit he will block the hole in the roof. They also offer a free 3rd visit if the treatment doesn't work hopefully it doesn't come to that. Still see a few mites on my set up and monitor however the logic is that at night when they crawl and and come to feed on me they will walk on the floor, which has been sprayed with the bug killer, and then die (hopefully). Plus I assume when I start my PC they will crawl out since its too hot for them inside and then they will hopefully go and crawl to the sprayed areas and die. Anyways thanks for the tips and advice I appreciate it.
 
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Nice to hear, an hopefully you get rid og those bugs once for all.

Kind of fun to think about this, in this forum we usually talks about fixing bugs, but in this occasion the bugs needed to be killed. Isn't that an overkill for a computer problem? 😎
 
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