Page 21 - News On 7 September 2021

THE SILENT KILLER
Over the years I have encountered many different things that cause computers to die, either a slow death or by a long-drawn-out process. The
biggest cause of computer failure is HEAT. It starts with small indicators such as a jumpy mouse, screen freezes or complete shutdown of your
computer. Laptops seem to be the worse for this, first there is hardly any room under a laptop for ventilation. Add in those that put laptops on
beds (fire hazard as well). If you are experiencing freezing or shutdowns on a laptop you may notice the case getting very hot to the touch.
Here is the progression of what happens with constant overheating.

First erratic mouse behavior followed be the screen freezing or system shuts down completely. Eventually over
time you will go to turn on your laptop and you will have no display at all, while it appears the computer is
running the screen remains black. Here is why. Over time with the overheating the components on the
motherboard heat up to the point of melting the solder on certain components mainly the video chip that
controls the display.
The video chip over time with overheating loses its connection to the motherboard. There are a few indicators
this failure has happened; you may notice the Caps Lock key or your Wi-Fi key on your keyboard has a flashing
light. While this can be repaired it can be a costly fix and normally it is cheaper to replace the laptop. Don’t
worry about your data though it can still be removed from the laptop and transferred to another system.
Desktops do experience overheating issues as well but normally a good cleanout will do the job. Now what
causes overheating in the first place? DUST, this gets drawn into your system to keep the components cools.
Dust builds up over time and causes overheating 98% of the time (the other times is a hardware failure of the
fan).As the dust builds up the fan cannot properly disperse the heat from the components causing the
overheating.
Add one more component in there such as cigarette smoke and it’s a death note. Over time nicotine builds up on the fan blades and as we
know it’s a tarry substance that is very sticky, dust attaches to this substance and builds up even faster. This speeds up the process of system
failure. One way to help alleviate this from happening is to have your system cleaned on a yearly basis. One note though, do not use a vacuum
cleaner to clean out your computer. I do offer a service here to clean properly. Until next time. Dr. Jim