Mac issues - Socoder

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Socoder -> Off Topic -> Mac issues
Sun, 29 Jan 2012, 16:28
lawandcontradict	My Mac decides to live after a month of being dead. Well I’ll be!
Sun, 29 Jan 2012, 16:28
dna	What was wrong with the machine?
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 12:18
Stealth	Macs seem to survive a really long time. It's weird because they use the same hardware as normal PCs. There's a lot more care going in to the design of the enclosure and I suspect that is why. -=-=- Quit posting and try Google.
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 12:53
JL235	They do have a lot of custom parts. For example inside the battery pack of a laptop are multiple batteries, and in most standard PC's these are round, and so waste space. In the Mac they are square. If it's mysteriously come back to life, then it might be a fan issue, if it's filled with dust. You could try vacuuming the fan slots on the edges and the underside.
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 13:04
HoboBen	Don't vacuum your computer! It might be an urban legend, but conventional advice is that doing so will damage it. A can of compressed air will only set you back a couple of quid and it is extremely effective. -=-=- blog \| work \| code \| more code
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 13:23
Jayenkai	Oddly, I heard the opposite, that using compressed air would end up pushing the dirt in further, making things worse... ?! -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 13:29
HoboBen	If you don't open up your computer to do it, that's probably true. I've used it on things like heatsinks (where the dust gets between the small metal fins) and the air pressure is high enough to shoot the dust right out. I'm not sure what would happen if you just squirt the air into a closed box. -=-=- blog \| work \| code \| more code
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 13:32
Stealth	I use a vacuum on the keyboard. Blowing things in deeper hardly seems effective. Sucking them out seems smarter. -=-=- Quit posting and try Google.
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 14:47
rockford	I used to use a vacuum cleaner on my desktop pc all the time - needed it as it sucked in dog and cat hair at an alarming rate!
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 15:09
JL235	I think it probably comes down to common sense. You shouldn't stick a fork into a toaster, but if you do it right, you can get away with it. If you vacuum the outside quickly, with the aim to only remove the layers of dust you get on the outside (such as the case grills), then it's perfectly ok. If you open it up, my advice is to only vacuum the case sides and filters on their own. For the individual fans and components, I use a small wide paintbrush to sweep off the layers off dust into a corner, and then vacuum this up. A vacuum is also useful for getting rid of a lot of the dust you get floating around in the air, especially since a lot of PC owners don't wear a mask when they clean their PC.
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 16:33
Stealth	Any opinions on cleaning the keyboard with a vacuum? I can't imagine there is any component that would be sensitive to suction since they are designed to take such a beating. -=-=- Quit posting and try Google.
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, 17:02
JL235	Keyboards should be fine. If a vacuum can take a key out, then it's pretty flimsy already.
Tue, 31 Jan 2012, 03:58
lawandcontradict	dna: I honestly have no idea why it died at all. One day I was using it for general document and work stuffs, and then it shut off. It did make this SOS beep when I tried to turn it on again though. It's not doing that anymore...
Tue, 31 Jan 2012, 06:36
Retro	iFixit is a good resource for do-it-yourself troubleshooting and repair.