Re: OT: Sad
 

You can use a dishwasher too. One of my friends picked up a bunch of old computers (486 thru PIIs) at a surplus auction or something. All the boards were coated in dust, so just put them in the dishwasher, started it up, and made sure to let them dry completely before plugging them back in. I would say "good as new", but really it just made them shiny and helped the ones that still ran to spread heat better.

And yeah, compressed air just gets cold when you let out a lot of it. Simple chemistry, ideal gas laws... PV=nRT, you change the P (pressure) so it is lower, and the only thing on the other side of the equation that can change is T (temperature). V (volume) stays the same, since that's the can itself.

Re: OT: Sad
 

That has my vote for post of the day. Hilarious stuff. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

To make this post somewhat on topic I will give my two cents. I just use compressed air to clean out the computers we have. It seems to work well.

Re: OT: Sad
 

I laughed when I first heard it also but then I found out that many computer techs do it. Water doesnt hurt things like mice, keyboards, circuit cards, etc. Only letting it air-dry, or worse yet not completely dry before using it, hurts it. Dishwasher, hair dryers, anything that can dry it fast is actually a good thing. Its definetly the recommended routine for coke spills.

I only tried it the first time when I found out that replacing the keyboard would cost less than $20 so I figured I had nothing much to lose. It worked great.

Note: microwave drying is NOT recommended. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Sad
 

Yeah I have cleaned alot of computer boards like video cards in the sink with water. Works great its the best thing for getting that 5-6 years worth of dust off with minimal effort.

Re: OT: Sad
 

I've never had a board that's needed cleaning if I'm honest, apart from occasionaly de-dusting the processor and graphics card fans.

The oldest board I had and used was an old ISA Sound Blaster 16 which managed to hang around for years, before being shunted off to a different machine when I got a new motherboard that lacked an ISA slot. It was a true beast, one of the full length ones that filled the entire length of the motherboard. Not the oldest card I've got lying around, that honour goes to a unbranded 1Meg video card, but certainly my favourite

Re: OT: Sad
 

Had a boss that spilled wine onto his Compaq laptop. He was one of those guy's who thought he knew everything when in reality knew nothing. (He was also trying his best impression of a human pickle, the man drank so much). Me and another guy had to pull his laptop completely apart and clean up every bit of spilled wine. Washed it out with water and dried it out some. He started harassing us to get it back, so we assembled it, gave it back to him and told him not to turn it on for another day or so to make sure it was dry. Dork turns it on same day, pop fizz, nothing. Dead laptop.

Re: OT: Sad
 

You can clean a keyboard at a carwash!

Remember this site that Ruatha posted a long time ago? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif