Desktop Update

My desktop underwent a major overhaul last night...



[Note: the new external hard disk from Maxtor]


But, its nothing to worry about, since I'm just cleaning the dust buildup for over 2 and 1/2 years worth of dust on my motherboard.


The whole motherboard have minimal dust though, even the fin of the chipset cooler have minute amount of dust on it.


Time started: 11.00 p.m.


I took out the rear casing fan first, initially cleaning it with a toothbrush. The 120 mm fan has been running near-non-stop for the past 3-4 months or so when I last cleaned it, and boy! There's a whole colony of dust bunnies because it looked like fur was growing out of the fins.
Even with dust filters at the front of my casing, and monthly cleaning, there were still plenty of dust.

Next, I used a cotton blot, with a little baby oil I rub off the excess dust.


11.30

Took the case to the balcony and brush the vents clean.

11.45

The progress of taking out the motherboard began. Disconnected all the wires, SATA cables, molex power cords, motherboard power cords. Removed those RAM sticks and graphics card, and placed them in the anti-static bag.

12.05

Unscrewed the retention screws of the motherboard. Next, carefully holding the sides of the MB, took the thing out. The CPU cooler was dirty as well.


12.30

Since I bought thermal paste when I was in Lowyat, I anticipated that I would need to take off the CPU cooler and try changing the position of it, for better cooling...




Having Cooler Master NanoFusion at hand, I (almost not as) carefully as I usually am, took out the Cooler Master Hyper TX-2.


[got the pics at overclockers online]





Wow, I didn't know that dust would build up so damn fast on my cpu cooler, thinking it was those type that has thinner fins than the stock cooler. The back side of the fan was a whole continent of dust bunnies, thicker than furs you see on those ceiling fans that has not been cleaned for ages.





After removing the fan from the heat sink, I used cotton buds to clear off the dust. Took ages to clean the fins of the heat sink as well.





1.00a.m.

The cleaning process of the CPU cooler is done, and the base is cleaned from the previous thermal paste, and so is the CPU itself. The process of cleaning the motherboard began.


It was simple, since there wasn't much dust to begin with.



1.15 a.m.

The endeavor of applying the thermal paste is on. Since I've never done it before, I could only guess that you would want a even spread, as thin as possible and blah-blah-blah...


1.30 a.m.

The HSF is now on the MB, with the fan blowing towards the rear case fan, so I guess that the heat is straight away exhausted through the rear opening. [Note: I hate those Intel push pins mechenisms for putting in the HSF]


[Note: the clearence of the cooler from the chipset cooler]



Since previously I had it blowing towards the power supply fan, I guess that the hot air was not good for my PSU.



[Facing upside down before my overhaul]


1.45 a.m.

Now to put everything back together. Its harder than taking everything out. Much more challanging I would say...


I bought Cooler Master (don't call me a fan boy, cause its the most reasonably priced stuff I could get and the fan is quiet.) 120mm fan. The pack of four was divided between Peter and I, and the econo-pack cost RM37 for four. Heck, icute 120mm fans cost RM18 each, and they were as loud as hell!.




I installed the new fan at the front of my case. Since I have two hard disks running now ( a 250Gb and a 500Gb) I needed something to cool them down. Before, my 250Gig was running 41 degrees during idle.


2.00 a.m.

Reinsert the cables, wires, pins into the motherboard. Damn it was strenous. The front panel pins are to go in the correct place or else I'm not able to use the front audio ports (seldom use them though). Power bottons, reset botton, HDD LED, power LED pins are plugged accordingly, and the USB and firewire pins are plugged too.


2.20 a.m.

Hard Disks are repositioned to make sure that the front case fan and give them a good chill. The graphics card are inserted and RAMs are slotted in possition.



2.25 a.m

Everything is connected, wires are organized. By leaving the case opened, I hoped that nothing will go wrong.


It did...

The screen of the monitor was blank, wont load windows or even the RAID checksum for that matter...


Well, Murphy's Law states that: When something has the possibility of going wrong, it WILL go wrong...



I lay down on the floor and think of the possibilities...

1. I did (maybe) changed the position of the hard disk SATA slot numbers, I could've maybe changed the boot order.
2. Sort of un-pinned the CPU, could've mess up the post or CMOS of the MB.
   
3. I screw up with the CPU when cleaning off the previous thermal paste
4. I fried the MB with static electricity when cleaning it, didn't put it in the anti-static bag for around 30 mins when cleaning the CPU cooler.
   

Eventually, it was 1 and 2. Reset the CMOS by (not removing the CMOS battery) but jumping the switch pin of my motherboard. It's sort of like the reset button for your MB, with out the button, you have 3 pins and a hat that goes into only 2 pins. So, by changing the position of the connection, or jumping, you can reset the CMOS.


2.40 a.m.

It entered into the RAID checksum, but wouldn't load Windows.

Restart and entered the BIOS. Redid the load priority, mess with the values a little and restarted.


2.41 a.m.

Hurray!!! It loaded Windows.





2.43 a.m.

Closed the case and tested if everything was up and running.




3.00 a.m.

Wiped everything down with a cloth and enjoy the results...






The Temperature Difference.

Before, the CPU was running idle at 37 deg.

Now, its 35 deg idle


Hard Disk,

The 250Gb is now 39deg (before was 41) idle

and the 500gig is now 35deg idle (didn't know the temperature before adding the case fan)



So the whole process took me more than 4 hours, but the satisfaction is more than that.