Am I Being Conned?
<div class="IPBDescription">New Computer, Bad Experience :(</div> I just bought a new computer in December, about Wensday night it all of a sudden shuts down. I trace the problem to a burnt out Power Supply, ok, easy enough to replace. I decide to send it back to the local guy who built it for me in case of any warranty problems.
He tells me dust caused the PS fan to get clogged and burn out.
I have owned 3 other computers over the span of about 8 years. Not a single one broke down due to hardware problems.
Then he calls just now and says the video card is also burnt out due to....DUST. Now Im not sure if he is BSing or not. I cleaned the system out by hand no less then a month ago, the power supply was the only thing I didn't clean so I can see how its possible it burned out...
Now all of a sudden its the video card which was performing normally that same day? If the PS messed up the video card when it blew out, why didnt it fry the whole system? It was a Geforce4, from what I remember it was facing down...if so then how did dust get in the fan?
I dunno, but I have never had a piece of important hardware fail on me in 8+ years (minus a PCI modem, that was due to a power surge or it was faulty). Im very **** right now. Im thinking of telling the guy to fook off and I will repair the system myself, he is bringing the system to my house now. I will report back later <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
He tells me dust caused the PS fan to get clogged and burn out.
I have owned 3 other computers over the span of about 8 years. Not a single one broke down due to hardware problems.
Then he calls just now and says the video card is also burnt out due to....DUST. Now Im not sure if he is BSing or not. I cleaned the system out by hand no less then a month ago, the power supply was the only thing I didn't clean so I can see how its possible it burned out...
Now all of a sudden its the video card which was performing normally that same day? If the PS messed up the video card when it blew out, why didnt it fry the whole system? It was a Geforce4, from what I remember it was facing down...if so then how did dust get in the fan?
I dunno, but I have never had a piece of important hardware fail on me in 8+ years (minus a PCI modem, that was due to a power surge or it was faulty). Im very **** right now. Im thinking of telling the guy to fook off and I will repair the system myself, he is bringing the system to my house now. I will report back later <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
Comments
In my personal experience, with my own PERSONAL computer that gets thrown in the back of cars, never cleaned and poorly maintened with only 3 fans; the only thing that has gone was the powersupply.
It just exploded.... no clue what happened to it. It sure as hell wasn't dust....
Oh well.... 10 years and just replacing a blown out PS is pretty damn good.
I think the guy is just yanking your chain. Probably just doesn't want to honor his warranty and instead make another sale.
There is a chance that a power supply could go out because of dust. Its a small chance though. However, I highly doubt that enough dust would be getting inside the system to mess up the video card fan, which is upside down on the card (meaning the dust would have to flow up against gravity). It'd screw your CPU fan first before it even got to the video card.
So I say get your computer back, don't pay him a dime, go buy a power supply some place else, and put it in yourself. Potentially, yes dust could have fried the power supply.
But if the video card has "gone bad" while it's been in <i>his</i> hands and he claims it's dust, tell him he can pay for the replacement himself. If it truly has gone bad, a more likely cause is a negligent static discharge in the process of fixing your power supply, so it's his fault. Get a nice, shiny new Raedon and teach the liar a lesson.
I think the guy is just yanking your chain. Probably just doesn't want to honor his warranty and instead make another sale.
There is a chance that a power supply could go out because of dust. Its a small chance though. However, I highly doubt that enough dust would be getting inside the system to mess up the video card fan, which is upside down on the card (meaning the dust would have to flow up against gravity). It'd screw your CPU fan first before it even got to the video card.
So I say get your computer back, don't pay him a dime, go buy a power supply some place else, and put it in yourself. Potentially, yes dust could have fried the power supply. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Which proves one should always know how his machine functions so you can repair the damn thing yourself.
It's fun butchering your friend's PC =D
Because then the power supply would burn out from running the vacuum <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
I don't know about dust being the cause, but these days power supplies and hard drives are the two most likely pieces of hardware to fail. Make sure you get the video card business strait with him though.
Edit: Just though I'd add, If anyone is in the greater Cincinnati area, a little shop called Tristate Computer Wizards is an excellent place to get custom built machines. They are honest, friendly, knowledgeable, they have good prices, and they'll go the extra mile to be sure you are satisfied with your purchase. (no, I don't work there <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> ) Buying from them was the best computer purchase experience I've had.
was a decent card but I DID have to replace the fan twice.
It would make odd noises as it span but nothing to serious.
Do as Doomy mentioned and get back to us.
I can't imagine the interior of your PC. Myself as a lazy guy I clean very thoroughly my computer every couple of months. And it's awfully dirty each time.
Thus, the shopowner can push the blame on his clients without of them becoming aware; on the contrary, many feel guilty because <i>they</i> did something wrong - or so they are told.
I hate people exploiting technophobia. They only contribute to it.
my 13 gig hdd is still chugging away nicely too! <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Because they'd burn out if we did?
So I said I take a look at it. It ran RTCW fine for 20mins. Then I said must have been power flux. So we palyed SimCity4. As soon as the city loaded it reset. I noticed the CPU temp cooling down from 60 degrees centigrade. So I told him its probably dust in the CPU fan, and the PC reboots when it overheats.
Later some PC guy turns up says the same thing.
I dusted my PC out of paranoya.
Thats why when im making my new PC i plan to put extra fans in.
extra work to clean <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
and eys, dust will go up. rofl. you guys think computers get dusty the same way shelves do? no it isnt dust falling onto stuff, tis the airflow. the cpu fan blows down onto the motherboard, thats why if you look at the cpu heatsink it will be caked in dust. same for the GPU, even though its mounted another way, gravity has no effect when the air turbulence is so high.
if you have any real airflow, dust will collect on every surface, and every edge, not just horizontal ones.
i have a harddrive cooler, thats basically some fans taking up a 5" drive bay, they ahve a filter, and act as my only intake, now this filter is black foam, and it turns white with dust about every week. . yes dust can hurt your powersupply when it gets so much that the intake slits are covered, but that wont likely happen.
at least make the mechanic show you the inches of heat-absorbing dust he found.
Right.. but definition there is no such thing as "cold air." You are only removing hot air <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Right.. but definition there is no such thing as "cold air." You are only removing hot air <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--><!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Technically, you're both right.
Heat flows from the CPU into the heatsink via the principles of conduction (<i>"<u>conduction</u>: the transmission of energy through a conducting medium"</i>).
The fan(s) blow air across/through the heatsink. Obviously the temperature of the air being sucked through the fan(s) will be cooler than the air exiting the heatsink. The principles of convection kick in and this 'cooler' air being pushed through will draw heat out of the heatsink, thereby making the heatsink cooler.
My above post is obviously a <i>very</i> "dumbed down" version. I <i>could</i> get insanely technical with my description, as my third year college technical thesis dealt primarily with the efficiency of current heatsink configuration thermodynamics. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->