Snuffy "Hub Cap" McKinney wrote:
I finally learned to check these first before jumping into the
software or running to the computer store. A good lesson for anyone
else interested...

I have a board in the PC -- don't remember what it's called -- that
plugs into mother board and give me 6 more USB ports. I have all of
them being used. Yesterday, all the USB devices connected to that
board stopped working. Figured it was the board or bad connections.
Shut it down and tried pulling it out and back in a few times --
didn't help. So I pulled out the bard and saw the top had a good
1/16 inch of dust. Brushed it off good with a dry toothbrush, put it
back in and working again.

Note to self -- try the simple first, dummy.

How many people clean the heatsinks and fans in their computers? Not many I bet.
I've seen some REALLY cruddy computers. My current one has a 5" fan blowing air
in the front, with a 1/4" foam filter in front of it which I can easily remove
and vacuum. That make a huge difference in cleanliness of internal components.

And, It keeps everything really cool and quiet, because the fan only need to run
very slowly.

If I hear the processor fan speeding up - it's time to clean the filter.