clean computer and connections before service cal

[KG4YMC]

Pretty basic stuff, but our home computer was not
connecting to the internet reliably( we have wildblue). I took the cover off and discoved that the cooling fan for the power supply and othe two fans. One on the circuit board had a square condensor type thing ( not an expert ) that was covered with dust. with unit unpluged , and q  tips and vacume cleaner and some alchol I  clean all the fans, cooling vents, and took q tip to connectors on ciurcit board . Also , I thought since we have wildblue there is a light that is suppose to indicate on the " black box " satalight reciver, when it is getting strong downlink and uplinks ( green lights) when it wouldn't connect we got dim light or none. I cleaned the cable tv type connectors to dish, put compute back togeter and wow. it works fast, connects in no time . Not bad for no code general !!! anyway, felt great to fix it , and had to brag. so get outvacome cleaner , go easy with brush, q tips . don't put fingers near power supply , even with it off, basic safety rules and may save service call, again, this is probably basic stuff but it felt great to fix it 73 kg4ymc   somestimes we win one hi ...

[KE4DRN]

hi Terry,

great fix !

I use compressed air from my workshop to
blow out all the pc's once a year or so,
I don't run them 24/7 like we do at work
but it helps.

also a General w/o CW testing but I like CW.

73 james

[KU4UV]

If computers become too clogged with dust, cat hair, ect. the fans can even become so clogged that they stop turning at all.  I recommend cleaning the fans at least every 6 months.  Blow the dust out of everything really well.  DeoxIT also works great for cleaning dirty/corroided contacts on memory modules, video and sound cards, etc.