Great timing for "someone else" to bring all this up...

Time flies... (According to my markings), I have not cleaned my CPU
fan since I oiled my NorthBridge MB controller chipset fan - 01/04.
(AMD 2000+ Retail, AMD Retail fan)

I did that (then) when my wife's computer was freezing in the BIOS.
(It was even corrupting the BIOS screens -- if I was able to get that
far during a Boot...)  Note: Her computer is "almost a twin" of mine,
one MB revision" less than mine.
(An age difference of about a month or two.)

So I just took MY computer apart...  (Coincidentally, I was having
a problem with the BIOS freezing during Boot (during RAM count,
or during detection of the HDs, or during the Ultra ATA controller
card HD detection...)  I always had to "try" to boot twice to get it going...
(Note: This has only been like this a day or two... <grin>)

My fans were filthy.  I would suggest anyone with any type of "odd"
problem to go look at their fan(s)...
 OR, you could do it now as prevention...
(I changed the NorthBridge fan to ballbearing while I was there...)

Side note about static.  Chevy Trucks Computer Controlled Automatic
Transmission Repair manuals warn about this too...  They say ESD can
damage with "discharge/potential difference" as low as 100v. (There are
no "sparks" that low, only a difference of potential with a "possibility" of a
current flow to even it out...)
"YOU" can not even feel a direct current "discharge" (spark) until it
gets past 4,000v.  (DO NOT TEST this...)
So, (according to them), just because you don't feel anything it does NOT
mean you are not doing lots of damage... Note that EACH "spike" eats away
at the electronics in a way similar to the way a surge suppressor eventually
"wears out" from taking constant "hits".      FWIW

                                           Rick Glazier

From: "Frank Suszka"
> The risk of static electricity  inside a box is not "relatively small".

> Dean Kukral wrote;
>> (The CPU is the part most prone to overheating, and it has a
>>heat-sink and fan on it, so dust is not a problem; the video card and
> <chipset may be hurt a little by dust, I suppose.)

                         PCBUILD's List Owners:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                       Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>