else, but I pressed F1 and it was doing it's thing - taking forever - and when done said same thing. Figured I'd just shut down and look next day.
I unhooked everything, put the tower on it's side and opened it up - oh my goodness for dust - got out the air duster (have done it a few times without opening it up - then phoned the local comp. place and they asked which fan had quit - I said I don't know - didn't know they had more than one and he told me they can have up to 8. Said bring in will take look. I struggled with it and took it down and he opened it up and WOW! I thought I had air dusted it, but it didn't look like it! He figured which fan and took it out - they have some, but not what I needed and they'd have to order it as Dell has a diff. end to the kind they sell. Then points to something inside and said to look at it, it had a hole one of the little posts. Said if it was him he wouldn't put any money into it as it was an older comp. and I could have a look at what they had and one of them would answer any questions I had. OK. They figured I was going to leave it with them and I said NO, I'll take it and decide what I'm going to do as I'm not stuck as I also have a laptop (didn't mention my husband has a destop too!)
Later last night after my hubby and I get homek, I asked him to put it up on the table and I was going to open it up and have another look. Well, even more dust again (WOW). I set about to really clean out the dust and the fan (I discovered he didn't hook it back up and I wasn't sure where it went.). It took me a bit to get it good and then had Ray put it back at the comp. desk. I said OK fingers crossed - hooked everything up and it runs like a charm! I'm on it right now!
I had been wondering if he was trying to make a sale! (When he had told me to have a look at what they had and he'd be over shortly to see if I had any questions - the girl - who I think has been there much longer - said something to him I didn't catch, but then he said "yeah, one of us will be over to see if you have any questions.
But anyone who has a tower usually keeps it on the floor, where there's the most dust. Also, if you have kids and/or animals, they are real dust makers. Any running fan is going to pull cool air into your tower, and all the dust in the air with it. Dusting the outside isn't as important as dusting the inside. I get after the tower with a vacuum, like I do my sewing machine. Just a personal opinion, but I always felt like that canned air was more likely to push dust particles into and under things in there, rather than blow them out. Do be careful with the vac, though. I got a bit carried away with the Janome, and sucked out the little felt wick that keeps the bobbin oiled, and it's NOT a replacement part. Guess they don't expect you to use quite such a powerful vac, hee hee hee. It's clean, though. Glad you got your computer back up and running! Hugs, Marji
I have a runoff table that I have at the side of my comp. desk (an old office one with the shelving for diff. kinds of paper) that the tower and my printer sit on. Didn't like the tower on the floor - too hard to get at it to put in a usb of any kind! No animals, just my granddaughter.
The best thing to use is canned air. BUT, be sure to hold the can upright so that NO liquid spews out,which can cause sudden unwanted temperature differences on your components, as it is effectively dry ice in a can.
Glad you got your computer straightened out. Watch those fans, though... they're often the first thing to give out.
245 degrees F before deciding to give out and baking my data with it. Fortunately, I had JUST bought an external hard drive and backed everything up. Whew!. Lesson learned!!!!
But before you start tinkering, please back up your very valuable data just in case there is a very small blooper. Better safe than sorry there. You know, the old "ounce of prevention, pound of cure" saying. Good luck!
