Can you hear me...can you hear me...let me talk a little louder...how about now?
Chances are your place of residence is clean but how about your computer tower? When was the last time you had it in to be cleaned and serviced? Did you stop to consider that your tower should be cleaned inside at least once a year?
If you have to wait until the grinding noise stops when you first turn your computer on, it’s time for some spring cleaning! If and when the fan does cease to growl at you, it could be that the fan is operating normally but its life is coming to an end or it’s just stopped working altogether and that’s where some potential problems could start.
When you push the power button and that horrible sound starts, it’s most likely a cooling fan that needs to be replaced. It’s acceptable to have the fan taken apart and lubed to get a few more revolutions but it’s best just to replace it. There are a couple of possibilities which fan it might be and the culprits are usually the power supply fan or a case fan. That’s where your favourite local computer shop comes into the picture, as they can tell the minute the case is opened which fan needs to be retired.
The writer of this column has six fans in his machine. There is one in the front to suck the air in, one on the top to vent the hot air out, one at the back to suck the air out, a power supply fan and a CPU fan. My video card also has a fan and that helps keep that piece of electronics cool. A little excessive you might be thinking? Not really. Dust and hot air can restrict the overall performance of your computer and these days we are all looking to have the fastest machine we can own.
It really is very easy to disconnect all those wires at the back of the computer — don’t let that deter you! The only wire that snaps into place is the CAT 5 cable that is your Internet connection. All the other cables, most likely, are USB and they do not have to go back into the same port as where they were pulled out from. The power supply has its own unique cable and the video cable probably has two screws on either side that will have to be unscrewed. If you want to label them for future reference, that would be completely acceptable.
Ah there — the noise has stopped. Can you hear me now?
If you would like to submit a question or suggest a topic for future column consideration, please email your question to: info.vpcuc@gmail.com
The next meeting of the Vernon PC Users’ Club is Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria at the Schubert Centre. We start off every meeting with a “TANSQ” session. Come see what we’re all about! If you have your own laptop, please bring it with you.
Call Betty at 250-542-7024 or Grace at 250-549-4318 for more information.