141–150 of 177 posts
One day I'm going to connect my water heater inlet to a water cooling block or two and schedule the workloads to queue until somebody takes a shower.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ive done that. I am doing that. Using the outdoors as a natural heatsink isnt crazy. In a couple months it will be -30 outside my window. Why should my computer fans whirl around constanly using 20c indoor air when literally inches away there exists and unlimited supply of -30c outdoor air? Some simple water cooling parts, a 30$ heat exchanger and a little radiator fluid. Net result is lower temps and significantly l…
I had this idea but never executed because it's only bitter cold outside for about 3 months out of the year. And then I'd basically be doing a semi-annual detachment/attachment of my PC from the wall and probably removing/adding an insert from a window for the other end of the loop. This combined with my roughly 4 month itch to rearrange my office made it seem like much more of a pain in the ass than it was worth to…
I have done this. Many years ago I was forced to work with a terrible laptop. It was one of those Dell 5cm thick things that were basically cramming a desktop cpu and gpu into someting that looked like someone had bolted a second box undeneeth a standard laptop. Fans ofc screeming loudly all day. So I had the brilliant idea to just run everyting of an external drive so that when I could work from home, I could seamle…
Double pro tip (I've done this): Forget the freezer. Put the drive a bag, with cables hanging out. Then immerse the drive/bag in a bucket of ice water. That keeps it cool even while being used. Just be careful to keep the cables away from the water. Last time I did this I used a garbage bag large enough that I didn't need to seal anything.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good story! Still, IMO a better solution is fixing the hardware. Many years ago, I had similar symptoms with an old thick HP laptop. I think I have paid something like $30 for the new fan assembly, it’s a large part which includes a fan, radiator and couple of heat pipes. The assembly connects to the motherboard with a small plug, no soldering was required. It only took half an hour (and a blob of thermal paste) to r…
Opening it up and vacuum cleaning the fan from dust also can do wonders with old and "broken" laptops as a first step. Tiny bit of WD40 in the fan mechanic is the next, then thermal paste, then replacing parts. (Advice, prevent the fan from spinning while doing vacuum)
"Pro tip:" Do not direct the output of a strong air stream (e.g. the kind used for automotive work) at the fan as it can de-blade the fan.
(Why would I do this? I found a cellphone and needed to break into it to figure out whose it was. If the guy had a new phone under the same IMEI, it would have knocked him off the network. Eventually, I found out when I finally busted into it and tracked down his identity, he had since enlisted in the Marines and there wasn't anything he probably was missing on that phone anyways)
Never seen this done to a whole laptop, but it wasn't an uncommon last ditch method for pulling files off a dying HDD back in the days of spinning platters. Preferably in a zip lock vacuum bag and left over night. This is a 17 year old article, but I'm a little skeptical that 10 minutes in the fridge whilst still in the laptop would have made much difference. Probably the forced reboot did just as much. On the other…
Ive recovered a few drives through the freezer trick. It took a lot though. Freezer for an hour, use until lock, freezer for two hours, then rinse and repeat until data recovered completely. Doesnt have to be overnight, just long enough to get the metal to contract, and theres a point where that change no longer happens and keeping it in the freezer is only wasting time. On the topic of reflowing in your home oven..…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good story! Still, IMO a better solution is fixing the hardware. Many years ago, I had similar symptoms with an old thick HP laptop. I think I have paid something like $30 for the new fan assembly, it’s a large part which includes a fan, radiator and couple of heat pipes. The assembly connects to the motherboard with a small plug, no soldering was required. It only took half an hour (and a blob of thermal paste) to r…
Opening it up and vacuum cleaning the fan from dust also can do wonders with old and "broken" laptops as a first step. Tiny bit of WD40 in the fan mechanic is the next, then thermal paste, then replacing parts. (Advice, prevent the fan from spinning while doing vacuum)
In fact, for bearings which need grease, WD-40 can remove the very thing that is keeping the bearings from wearing out!
If the fan is very old and no longer works properly, it just needs to be replaced.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good story! Still, IMO a better solution is fixing the hardware. Many years ago, I had similar symptoms with an old thick HP laptop. I think I have paid something like $30 for the new fan assembly, it’s a large part which includes a fan, radiator and couple of heat pipes. The assembly connects to the motherboard with a small plug, no soldering was required. It only took half an hour (and a blob of thermal paste) to r…
Opening it up and vacuum cleaning the fan from dust also can do wonders with old and "broken" laptops as a first step. Tiny bit of WD40 in the fan mechanic is the next, then thermal paste, then replacing parts. (Advice, prevent the fan from spinning while doing vacuum)
An example of something better to use is 3-In-One Multipurpose or Motor Oil.
Another FYI is that oils break down grease, which is found in bearings (WD-40 aggressively so), so it’s not generally desirable to apply oil to bearings, unless it’s already having issues and you just need some additional life out of it.
My laptop was once heated inside it's case, it was hard to touch it. I don't know how it didn't explode, it was so hot I decided to put it in THE FREEZER. I thought I'd leave it there for 5-6 minutes, but I fell asleep and forgot it THE ENTIRE NIGHT. 7-8 hours. In the morning I panicked as I remembered what I have done. It then had a black screen for a few minutes and I thought I was drowning in my stupidity, but lat…
what brand was that laptop?