How-To Geek
Potentially The World’s Filthiest PC [Video]
We’re confident we’ve seen some dusty PC cases in our day, but nothing we’ve ever cleaned produced the sheer volume of smoke-bomb like dust this neglected tower spews out.
That noise you hear, about 1:15 into the video, is the sound of the compressor motor kicking back on to top off the pressure tank: behold, a PC so filthy the compressor cleaning it out needs to take a break!
[via Geeks Are Sexy]
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Comments (26)
Jason Fitzpatrick is warranty-voiding DIYer and all around geek. When he's not documenting mods and hacks he's doing his best to make sure a generation of college students graduate knowing they should put their pants on one leg at a time and go on to greatness, just like Bruce Dickinson. You can follow him on Google+ if you'd like.
- Published 05/29/12
i’ve cleaned some pretty dirty boxes but this may be the worst I ever saw.
I did one last week which was worse than this, the owner was quite proud of the fact that it was the dirtiest I had ever seen. You grow potatoes in what came out. I had to go home and shower. I would be too embarrassed to take my box to someone if it was this bad.
Oh god. You better take me to your paradise, because I’m tired of this….
I want no dust, no crashes. Please Mr GOD take me with you. I’ll not touch your angles.
This guy should definitely be wearing a mask to protect his lungs! Given his tower is so filthy, I wonder what the rest of his house looks like. I agree with mtech…disgusting!
I’ve seen several more dirty than that, but I used to do IT for a construction company. They would come back completely choked with drywall dust, concrete dust, soil, and everything else that floats around construction trailers and gets sucked inside. We would routinely pull out dust-bunnies the size of squirrels!
I think the size of the cloud there is because he’s using a real compressor — not just a can of compressed air.
I seen worse or about the same as for dust. The computer isn’t home system but sat in factory setting, like construction site and lot of dirt moving equipment or sat in grain elevator.
Place a computer on the floor near main door of retail store located in farming area in middle of Kansas, in 6 months the dust would be thick as one shown. I live in the middle of Kansas and seen few dust storms.
30+ years repairing and cleaning computers.
Big deal.. Never seen a workshop computer??
WOAH!
The funny part is he though he was done!
Sure, lots of dust, but the heat sink didn’t even look clogged. And no spider nests or dead moths laying all over in it, so definitely not the worst I have cleaned.
Did it run before that?
I worked on a persons computer once that belonged to a lady that did work with dog training, boarding, grooming, etc. It was so clogged up that when I carried it from her van parked in my driveway to my work shop it left a trail of pet dander all the way. Man did that pc stink. I had to shower and change when I was finished with that POS.
25+ years of pc repair
Whilst working in an International Computers Ltd factory manufacturing System 25s roughly twice as big as the PC shown, One of our Engineers chatting in a pub was asked by the Owner of a woodworking mill why although the machine worked perfectly it had an error light on constantly. When it arrived in factory we opened it to find sawdust packed into all four corners including the fans and nobody could understand how it worked!!
I find these all the time in my facility. Box dust plus oil mist equals very dirty computers.
Sadly, I’ve cleaned considerably worse. Had about 25 of them from a factory floor. It was a closed factory that allowed smoking. There were dead bugs, smoke damage, a few had power supplies replaced from catching fire. I did the job, charged a ton, and said maintenance was not a recommendation any longer. Change floor policy and replace those fire hazards immediately. Never heard back from them. Heard about two fire emergencies in the six months that followed. Company is gone now. For the better I suppose.
Am I the only one who was bothered by the high pressure used and limited effort to avoid spinning the fans? Yes, it was nasty but that doesn’t justify such brute force without more precautions being used.
Yep, he wasn’t done. The front cover needed to be removed. In my experience, there’s probably another big dust sweater down the front.
Avoid spinning the fans? What for? I always make the fans spin until they make funny noises! It’s fun! :D
P.S. I’ve cleaned them when they had at LEAST this much dust, but the person also smoked, so the dust was CAKED on and orange! EWWWWWW
Thank you LadyFitzgerald, seems only us girls take notice of the little things.
I don’t know if you could notice it, but the PC is at least 10 years old. That would account for the incredible amount of dirt and dust that had accumulated in it. It would have had to have been on and used for a very long time, and then, most likely put into storage for a while. Looks like it even has a Windows 98 key on top.
The worst are ones around smokers in homes with roaches.
LOL SHOULD HAVE CALLED THE HAZMAT TEAM!
I’ve seen dust-bunnies, but that is ridicules. I sure hope you were wearing a mask, you never know what contaminants may have been in there. That thing had been sucking and collecting crap for a long time. Dust that heavy could contain chemical and biological contaminants that could pose health risks.
The worst one I ever worked on came out of a bar, it was just caked with dust and what ever it is in cigarettes.
My question is…did that computer run before he cleaned it out???
Wow, I’ve never seen a computer that dusty!
What about cleaning the insides of the 3.5″ floppy ? And wear an OSHA 1 micron particulate mask !!!
I had one when i started to work where i am at now that was located in the warehouse, it was completely solid to the point you could not see any of the components when i took off the lid. It was by a packing station where a lot of box dust is generated so that is probably why.