-=PCTechTalk=- Re: CD ROM Drive

Too late G!  I should have waited to hear from you.  Don't think I have done 
any harm with the compressed air but certainly did no good either.  And I 
did not unplug--never even thought of that.
We are headed south to visit our son in a day or two and I will be in or 
driving through cities that will have more electronics.  I will see if I can 
find the right thing to clean the CD-ROM Drive.  Also I hope to try 
installing this card program on his computer, providing he has XP installed 
by now.  That would eliminate the slim possibility that it is the disks that 
are faulty.
Sandi
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "GMan" <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 8:38 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: CD ROM Drive


> Sandi,
>    Sorry my answer took so long to get on this one.  I don't like the idea
> of blowing compressed air into a drive for two primary reasons.
>
> 1.    Commercial compressed air canisters contain a propellant. 
> Propellant
> is in liquid form until it is ejected out of the can.  Liquid is not good
> for electronics, even if the liquid is non-conductive.  Although this 
> liquid
> evaporates almost immediately, it can also leave a thin residue behind. 
> As
> a result, I prefer to reserve compressed air for stuff like blowing the 
> gunk
> out from under the keyboard's keys and for blowing the furballs out from
> heatsinks and exterior fans.  For the more delicate electronic stuff, I 
> have
> an adapter hooked up to a real compressor in my garage that doesn't
> introduce moisture into the air.
>
> 2.    Most of the advice surrounding cleaning is seriously faulty.  I'm 
> sure
> that many people have been using cans of compressed air for years without
> incident, but most of them already understood much of what most the folks
> giving the advice forget to say.  Specifically, NEVER use compressed air 
> on
> a device that is attached to power.  If it's attached to something that's
> attached to something that's attached to something that's connected to the
> wall, it's attached to power.  Shutting down the computer is NOT enough.
> Either unplug the system from the wall (or power strip, or turn off the
> circuit breaker) or remove the specific device from the system before 
> using
> compressed air on it.  Also, some devices use capacitors that retain their
> charge long after they've been unplugged.  Taking the time to learn which
> ones (like CRT monitors and mainboards) can go a long way towards keeping
> you and your electronics safe.
>
> Peace,
> GMan
> http://reddit.com
> "The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask!"
>


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