Look toward the top center part of this picture. You may not recognize it at first so look closer. Yep, you got it. It's a heat sink over the CPU. The dust is SO thick you can actually see where the dust forms the shape of fan blades on the heat sink.
Now look to the bottom center of the picture. There is the fan that was covering the heat sink. I was hoping this thing would hold more dust. But I guess when you get to twice the weight of the fan itself, it's time to clean it.
Two things really brought on this investigation. One, the fan was running louder than normal. Then it was overheating the CPU (imagine that), and causing shut down. Cari had told me that she was having some problems while playing the Sims 2. She said it would shut the computer off and not come back for several minutes. I assured her I would look into the problem. Maybe someday when I had more time.
I took the cover off the case to help some air flow. (when you stop laughing, wipe the tears from your eyes and then continue reading...)
The other night, I was getting to do some online racing. During practice the computer shut off. Oh, crap! Now this is a serious problem! I took the other side of the case off, propped open a nearby door and opened the window. It was probably about sixty degrees out. Heh. So at ten PM, the door propped open, case laying on the floor, I raced. I even won the race!
The next morning I did the clean out. Woah. I didn't realize how deep that dust was. I now even have the case back on the computer. It had been off for several weeks.
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