System Slow After Vacuum Blow Cleaning The Cabinet

[plainman007]

Hi Guys,

I just opened my workstation and used an 800 watt portable vacuum cleaner to blow out the dust in the cabinet, and there a was quite a lot even though not apparently visible. Also there was a lot of dust in the psu unit which came out thru fan fan vent area.

But now when i reconnected my system. It was performing erratically. programs would open with a large paused delay even before the splash screen of each program. Then when i opened up my NLE software some of the files on the timeline seemed to have unrecognized frames. And the video would lock up at those positions etc. So i ran a windows diskchk scheduled during reboot and durig stage 4 of 5 in the test it named a few of the video files on my hdd (which included the problem files and said windows replaced bad clusters in file those files).

What could have sparked these problems ? Is it a bad idea to blow clean the interior of the cabinets with a vacuum blower ? Also the air generated is somewhat warm but not too hot. I was very pleased as my system looked fresh and clean inside and i thought it would only do good for the system to be dust accumulation free. The psu fan etc was just covered in globs of dust but now looks clean as new.

What mustve sparked these bad clusters suddenly ?

Any thoughts on what would have caused this and ideas to prevent bad clusters would be helpful ?

Thanks

[zapionics<alt>]

Too bad you encountered this problem.
My first thought is ESD since I had some issues with that in the past, but I think we should explore simpler explanations first...

I wonder if there is any dust bunnies jammned in the CPU HSF or in the PS fan blocking them? You should be able to see the fans spin up once power is on.

Also; I assume you powered off the system to do the blow out and I'm wondering if the battery on your motherboard is working? How old is it?
(Maybe BIOS settings are not optimal).

[plainman007]

Dear Zap,

Ive checked all the fans. Thats why i mentioned that all the fans looked spci n span after the cleaning. I inspected all the fans. They run smoother and more silent. The heat sink, i flashed a torch beam in and found it to be free of any dust bunnies.

Ofcourse i powered off the system and kept it in an empty room with the covers stripped off and then used the blower. But will the batt on the MB cause a problem like this ? Sudden Slowdown, Freezing Lockups, Applications not opening up, And the HDD also developed some bad sectors which i identified using HDTune application. I think the impact of the air had an effect on some particular harware. Already my system was running on a delicate balance in the fact that it has a 400w PSU and i have 3 drives, a graphics card, dvd drive, dual monitor, 4 gb ram.

Ive been told that its a slightly underpowered PSU, but some say its just ok. I dont know if all these problems are based on this. Ive however found it impossible to add a 4th drive to the system inspite of an available sata port on the MB. Ive tried 5 HDDs and all failed within 5 minutes of installation. Some survived, but i immediately noticed the other drives struggling to cope and behaving erratically. Which led to suspecting the PSU.

Maybe that just triggered off the old problem ? Just speculatiing. I dont mind changing the PSU right away tomorow just to be sure that its no the problem. Do you suggest i put in a 600 or 800 watt PSU just to clear that out of the equation ?

[Sir Skully]

I'd check PSU, HD maybe going south, and heat.
Also is PC oc'ed?
Reset the CMOS...
Not knowing whats in your system, its hard to say what PSU to recommend....

[ctal]

Hi Plainman,

Yes I recall your reports some time ago of all the problems you had trying to install an additional hard drive.

If HDTune is reporting bad clusters, I'd have to think there really is a problem in the hard drive, but which may very well have been caused by the power supply. Just speculating, but perhaps the lower operating temperature in the power supply that resulted from the cleaning increased its output voltages, or its turn-on transients, or some such thing that may have been marginal to begin with, especially if it is not a quality supply from a leading manufacturer (Corsair, OCZ, Seasonic, Antec, Enermax etc.).

More important than the wattage rating is the quality of the design. In fact, I would think a good quality 400W supply would be fine, unless your video card is an extremely high powered one. I know that the selection you have out there is limited, but try to find a replacement from one of the major manufacturers. 600W should certainly be plenty if the quality is there.

And watch the "reallocated sector count" number reported in HD Tune. If that continues to decrease, the hard drive probably needs to be replaced. If it stays the same, the hard drive probably is safe to continue using, although the files that were affected by the lost clusters are probably irreparably damaged. Hopefully you can recapture the video files from tape, using Vegas' recapture function, and restore the other files from backups.

Regards,
-- Al

[zapionics<alt>]

Originally Posted by plainman007

... Do you suggest i put in a 600 or 800 watt PSU just to clear that out of the equation ?

Would need you to list all your components first and also say what manufacturer and model your current PS is.
However I'm assuming the system was working fine prior to the dusting... so I'd say you need to do a couple of basic things before exchanging components.

Try checking that the DDR modules and the CPU and all cards are properly seated and didnt become dislodged during the process. Check all the cables to the drives and power connectors as well.

Take note of any special BIOS settings you may have and then clear the CMOS, load the defaults and then re-set your special settings. (BTW, I always take pics of the relevant BIOS screens which is quicker than writing them down)

[PeterT]

Sounds like it might be ESD. Have you tried running memtest?

[plainman007]

Hi Ctal,

Nice to hear from you.

Yes your right i was having a lot of problems installing a fourth drive to this workstation. Ive still not been able to get it to work. Im really perplexed as a backup drive would do wonders keeping my footage & render drives safe.

As for the current problem. I unhooked my "Render Drive" (with reducing the PSU load in mind). Unplugged and replugged in the other two drives for ensuring firm connections. Immediately windows booted quick and normal. Then i copied out all my data off the "Footage Drive" (with lots of dropouts and extremely slow performance) but was lucky to get everything back except one corrupt video and 2 audio. I immediately used a zero fill format utility and did a low level format of this drive and it is back in business. I recopied my data back onto the dirve and everything seems back to normal now. I later plugged in the "Render" drive and it seems to work fine too.

So the system is back to normal. It has a basic Nvidia Graphics card. 8400GT, not what one would call extremely power hungry i think.

Zap > My system is a Core2 Duo @3 Ghz, 4 GB Ram, 3 Seagate HDDs @250gb each, Nvidia 8400GT, Sony DVD Writer, Dual Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, UPS supplies power to Cabinet and one monitor primary monitor, The 2nd monitor draws power direct from a wall socket. The PSU came with the cabinet, Its an Iball atx cabinet. The sticker on the PSU says Iball and 400. Im guessing it must be 400 watts.

In closing,, does it look like all this might be due to the PSU ? I cant see what else can be causing such erratic behaviour. And i really need to put in that 4th drive before i loose all my data permanantly.

[Sir Skully]

plainman007 congrats on finding your problem.
If it was me with your system and having corrupt data.
I'd upgrade to a 600watt psu with good amp's.
Corsair, Ocz, to name a few....

[zapionics<alt>]

good to hear the problem is resolved with the format, I still suspect the drive was zapped ... Based on those specs I think you should replace your PS asap. You need at least 650 watt IMO, and go for a name brand.

[zapionics<alt>]

lol, snap Skully!

[ctal]

The other thing that I think might be a factor, besides the power supply (which I would certainly replace, with one from a quality manufacturer such as the brands that have been mentioned) is the ups.

Most ups's, especially inexpensive ones, put out a waveform which is not remotely close to being a pure sine wave.

And many power supplies, especially low quality ones, will be very unhappy being driven by a waveform like that (that has clipped peaks and extremely high levels of harmonic distortion). So I'd consider ditching the ups, unless it is known to be one of those that generates a clean sine wave.

Good luck!

-- Al

[johnrr6]

WOW----Al you have opened my eyes to something I knew NOTHING about----clean Sine Waves and Power-----and UPS devices....

Did a little research....

Makes sense and I learned something today!

Thanks!

[Sir Skully]

Originally Posted by johnrr6

WOW----Al you have opened my eyes to something I knew NOTHING about----clean Sine Waves and Power-----and UPS devices....

Did a little research....

Makes sense and I learned something today!

Thanks!

That's why its so important to list all your PC systems parts.
When asking for help with a PC system.
You never know what some knowledgeable person my add to the enhancement of your system....

[plainman007]

I think i will go for something above 650 watts. Maybe 700 to 800 watts. To be armed for the future. Maybe if i want to add an external raid system or something, you never know. I think its always worth buying a highpowered PSU graphics card etc etc rather than buy something which after 2 years we will have to replace at twice the cost. Sometimes for a marginal amount more its better to go higher to start with.

That said. Are all PSU's a standard size. I mean will it fit the same PSU space of my current ATX or do they come in varied sizes, which means changing the cabinet too ?

Ctal > The UPS called digital is one of the reasonably good brands here. Most people sell either digital or APC. Ofcourse APC is a slightly better brand but then this isnt a junk brand from what ive heard and people using them here, as ive mentioned in many threads here i unfortunately have no access to brands that are popular in your country. All the no1 brands and quality seems to orginate from the USA. Too bad im on the other side of the globe.

Thanks a lot.