Mysterious Case of the Cigarette-Smoking Computer

I vividly remember a situation when a client brought a computer to me for repairs. It seemed that the computer was wheezing and scraping every time it was powered on. The owner thought that the machine was about to die. I did, too, when I heard the distressed machine for the first time. I sounded like it was tumbling rocks around in the power supply and on the mainboard. It also smelled like it was smoking a stale cigarette I immediately turned it off without going through a thorough diagnosis.

I was shocked! I had never smelled a smoking computer before. I thought the poor machine was about to ignite and disappear in a puff of cigarette smoke. I seriously believed that somehow a cigarette had become lodged in the internal machinery and ignited. This was not hard to conceive because the owner was a chain smoker. Within the first 15 minutes of arriving, she had consumed approximately 3 cigarettes and half-choked me to death. I had to ask her politely to refrain from smoking in my workshop.

Having heard (and smelled) some of the problem, I decided to peek inside the machine, hoping to discover the source of the sounds and the cigarette smoke. I took the case covers off, exposing the bare insides of the distressed machine. I was mortified by what I observed! Apart from dust coating most of the components on the mainboard and peeking out of every nook and cranny, there was a gummy substance that smelled distinctly of nicotine. It seemed to be oozing out of the power supply. It also coated the processor cooling fan and the extra exhaust fan in the machine.

This gummy substance also had developed oily dust plumes everywhere it could in the machine. No wonder the machine smelled like it was smoking when powered on! The owner looked totally befuddled as we surveyed the electronic wasteland that was her computer. How would I be able to repair it? Being the gifted electronic genius (pleez!) that I am, I concocted the following action plan.

• I grabbed  (yes, grabbed) a nearby bottle of denatured alcohol and a fluffy, light brush and applied a coating of alcohol over the entire motherboard and its attachments. (This action destroyed the gummy residue without moisturizing the dust).
• Then I cranked up my trusty vacuum cleaner (regular type) and carefully (and gently) extracted the dust plumes and fluff from the entire machine (elementary, my dear Watson).
• I gave the case covers the same treatment.
• After all traces of the alcohol had evaporated, I powered-up the open machine to verify that everything was working fine; no smoking nor "rock tumbling".  (Remember: always disconnect all power sources before repairing electronics.)
• Once satisfied, I replaced the case covers and handed the machine to its relieved and eternally-grateful owner, along with some care tips for the beleaguered machine. (Don't smoke around your computer. The supply fan will "inhale" the smoke and distribute it to the rest of the machine.)

Thus ended the mysterious case of the cigarette-smoking computer. In this instance, great tragedy was averted because the owner sought help in the nick of time. Without correcting the hazardous conditions building up inside the computer, an electical fire could have been generated by the hot elements inside the machine. The nicotine-soaked dust plumes were dense enough to sustain a strong flame resulting in disastrous consequences.  Had the fire occurred while the owner was away from home, who knows?
The morale of this story is: regularly clean dust out of your computer and its attachments ( a household vacuum cleaner applied to the case vents will do) and don't smoke regularly around your computer!