The human body needs vitamins & proteins to repair itself. Your bike needs servicing in the form of oil change, greasing etc. So do computers need to be serviced from time to time so as to keep them running at a top level of efficiency. The process of keeping a PC in proper condition can be termed as PC Maintenance. PC Maintenance can be classified into two types – HARDWARE & SOFTWARE. Here in this guide I would teach you the HARDWARE part.
Warning :
# I take no responsibility for any harm which may happen to your PC by following this guide. You are the sole risk bearer. If your PC fails to boot or anything gets fried inside the cabinet after following this guide, you have nobody to blame except yourself. I have taken utmost care in preparing this guide but still I do not accept the responsibility for your data losses, hardware losses, death etc.
# Before you open your PC’s cabinet, make sure you have plugged out the power cable from the mains.
# Do not fiddle with the computer innards if you have absolutely no knowledge about the components. You may damage the components.
# Silica gel is poisonous. Do not eat it. Keep it away from small toddlers.
# Those suffering from Asthma or having other respiratory problems should not perform the actions mentioned in this guide. It could prove fatal to their health.
Why you should perform Maintenance?
Maintenance is required to increase the efficiency of your computer. Maintenance also helps in increasing the longevity of the computer components. By doing regular maintenance your computer will run faster, crash less & thus become a highly productive machine.
Checklist :
Before you get down to do anything you need to make sure you have all the proper tools & instruments at your disposal.
# Star headed screwdriver
# Brush – An old paint brush or a toothbrush will do fine
# Vacuum Cleaner or an Air Blower (You can get one at your local PC market)
# Soft lint free cloth
# Pencil Eraser
# Silica gel packets
# Time ( Couple of hours or a boring Sunday will do fine)
Opening the Cabinet :
First of all don’t try to open the PC cabinet within your computer room or drawing room. First get behind your PC and plug off the power cord. After you plug out the power cord, proceed to unplugging the monitor cable, printer cable, speaker cable etc. If you do not know which cable goes where on the back of your cabinet, make a rough sketch on a paper so that you can plug them back later on. When you are done with the above, lift your cabinet and bring it into a well lit room. I recommend you to take it to your terrace or open space outside your house.
If you haven’t ever opened your PC’s cabinet, then beware of the dust inside the cabinet. Most of the cabinets have screws at the back, if you see them unscrew them & slide out the casing. If your cabinet doesn’t has screws at the back then most probably it should have some push buttons on its side which release the covers upon pressing them. Once the covers are out, take your vacuum cleaner & run it on the blower mode. Move the vacuum cleaner over the motherboard, graphic card & other components from a distance. Don’t use the vacuum cleaner over the components for too long as you may damage them due to the heat. Now you should be able to see a bit more clear view of the innards of your PC’s cabinet.
Now proceed carefully with taking out your graphic card, sound card, modem, lan card etc. In a similar fashion, remove the cables from your motherboard, Hard disks, optical drives etc. Again if you are unsure of plugging them back, make a note on a paper. Now you should have your PC dissected.
Next you will need to clean each of the components separately,
# Motherboard – If it is not possible for you to remove the motherboard out of your PC’s cabinet then too no problem. You can clean it then & there. Now slowly start cleaning the motherboard with your paint brush. Clean within the small gaps between IC’s, card slots. It is advisable to change the CMOS battery if you haven’t done it so over the years. Once you are done with the brush, take a soft lint free cloth & clean the motherboard once again. The cloth should remove most of the dirt which gets stuck on the board due to moisture.
# Processor & Heat sink – Cleaning processor & heat sink is a tedious job. You will have to be very careful when you do it. I recommend not doing it, if you don’t know how to remove the heat sink or the processor. If you do know how to remove it then you can take out the heat sink & clean the crevices of the heat sink using the paint brush. If you haven’t done it before, you will be surprised as to how much dust & carbon gets accumulated in the heat sink. After cleaning the heat sink, apply thermal paste over the processor & then put the heat sink over it. The thermal paste aids in improving the heat dissipation. Don’t apply too much of the paste, even a small quantity should do fine. Make sure it doesn’t leak out over the motherboard.
# Graphic card, Sound Card, LAN card etc – Add-on cards are fairly easy to clean. Just use the brush & then use the cloth to complete the cleaning of each of the add-on cards. Clean the contacts of the add-on cards by rubbing a pencil eraser gently over them.
# RAM – Ram modules can be cleaned by a simple cloth. Again use pencil eraser to clean the memory contacts as described in the add-on card cleaning section.
# Cables – You can clean the power cables, SATA cable, IDE cables by a rough cloth. If during cleaning you find any cable to be blacked out or connector about to crack then replace it as soon as possible. If you don’t it could likely damage the components in the coming future.
Watch Youtube Video on cleaning your PC's Cabinet :
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=bwlu0Usc4A0
Putting back the components :
Once you have done the above, you will be left with clean components. Now you need to put them back in the cabinet as they were before. Refer to the paper on which you made a note of the components. After you are done with fitting all the add-on cards, plugging the power & data cables & sitting the processor on the motherboard make sure the cables aren’t interfering with the system fans or the graphic card fan. Make sure the area above the heat sink, RAM, hard disks is free so as to blow out the hot air. Once you are done with the checks, place some Silica gel packets on the floor of the PC’s cabinet. You can get Silica gels at your local chemist. Silica gel helps getting moisture over the components inside your cabinet by absorbing it. Change the silica gel packets after every six months. Finally put back the cabinet covers & you are done with cleaning your PC.
Ending Thoughts :
By now you must be having a really clean & well maintained PC, but your job doesn’t end here. You need to perform the above actions from time to time to keep your computer in good shape. If you need any further help or have any queries on PC maintenance then post it into the comments and I would try to solve them.
Source :
http://gauravlive.com/how-to-guides/...tenance-guide/
PC Maintenance Guide
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