The Filthy, Rotten, Nasty, Helpdesk-Nightmare picture clubhouse

[mechtech]

Some users apparently live in clean rooms and don't ever allow a spec of dust to enter their computers... I'm not sure how much of it is joking or not...

I have a 16"x25"x5" MERV 12 filter in my furnace and it's on 24-7 on continuous recirc. I blew out my PC this summer, first time ever in 5.5 years. For the amount of dust that was it in, it was barely worth the effort. I should have re-pasted when it was out and open..............

 

[Mussels]

I have nightmares, and i have beauty from them
That causes far, FAR more nightmares

You can click to expand most of these
Two chain smokers in front of their PC's, pack a day for 10+ years

Let me ease you into this by showing what wiped off the plastic at the end, after using the air compressor and a toothbrush for a few hours

How bad could the PCB alone be, right?

Oh.


From here on is the "before" images and the nightmare fuel. It's all tobacco tar with dust, then more tar, more dust, ad infinitum.


GTX 750ti *STILL WORKING*

PSU from that PC looked fine, right?

PC #2 was a delight, it had this new RAM technology called sticky channel

PC #3, a poor athlon II x2 555
This one stank too bad to get up close shots, hence more blur

From here we go back to PC #1 and the nightmares

The 750ti

Look up the temperature it takes for steel to turn blue, even if its plated or the various combinations these plates came in over the years

There is no way this happened safely
None. That shit got way too hot for way too long, or anodised from a short grounding out the DVI cable over a very very long time


This guy has cancer now

 

[Veseleil]

I have nightmares, and i have beauty from them
That causes far, FAR more nightmares

You can click to expand most of these
Two chain smokers in front of their PC's, pack a day for 10+ years

Let me ease you into this by showing what wiped off the plastic at the end, after using the air compressor and a toothbrush for a few hours

View attachment 281404

How bad could the PCB alone be, right?
View attachment 281405View attachment 281406
Oh.


From here on is the "before" images and the nightmare fuel. It's all tobacco tar with dust, then more tar, more dust, ad infinitum.


GTX 750ti *STILL WORKING*
View attachment 281408View attachment 281407
View attachment 281409View attachment 281410

PSU from that PC looked fine, right?
View attachment 281414

PC #2 was a delight, it had this new RAM technology called sticky channel
View attachment 281415View attachment 281416


PC #3, a poor athlon II x2 555
This one stank too bad to get up close shots, hence more blur
View attachment 281411View attachment 281412



From here we go back to PC #1 and the nightmares
View attachment 281413View attachment 281418View attachment 281417

The 750ti

Look up the temperature it takes for steel to turn blue, even if its plated or the various combinations these plates came in over the years
View attachment 281419View attachment 281420
There is no way this happened safely
None. That shit got way too hot for way too long, or anodised from a short grounding out the DVI cable over a very very long time


This guy has cancer now
View attachment 281421

Nothing worse than a dedicated smoker's PC. My friend's uncle and his family are the champions in my book. Serviced more than three of their PC over the last 10-15 years, and some of them even couple of times. It's a struggle not to throw up. Everything is covered with a sticky nicotine layer...

But that 750Ti bracket is something else... Just WOW.

 

[Mussels]

I've never seen anything like it

Either it ovheated to near 100C and stayed there a long, LONG time or its anodising from a short
The case brackets it slid into were warped and bent

 

[Veseleil]

Surreal.

 

[80251]

I read that in the 1950's and 1960's roughly 50% of the US adult population smoked.

Just out of curiosity would vape pens and/or cannabis smoking result in the same disgusting results to PC's and their components?

 

[trparky]

I cleaned a smoker's PC once before about fifteen years ago, I swear to God that I got a contact high from all the nicotine in the tar that coated all of the components. I probably should've worn gloves.

 

[GreiverBlade]

I read that in the 1950's and 1960's roughly 50% of the US adult population smoked.

Just out of curiosity would vape pens and/or cannabis smoking result in the same disgusting results to PC's and their components?

i can provide on that ...

2yrs+ ago i was a smoker ... got some fans clogged but not to that point ...

now i vape and ... nah ... nothing sticky, unless i pour a non vaporized bottle of eLiquid on my gears ... (accident happens ... ) but nope when vaporised : it is vapour ... and my beard and mustache can get wet from it but not sticky (and cannabis would do just about the same as smoking ... combustion is the devil... although CBD cannabis, like i use sometime since it helps me with headaches and insomnia, used with a dry herb vaporiser do not produce smoke, just vapour coming from a heated not burned plant )

vaporised, the dropplets are very very very small and since no tar

Everything is covered with a sticky nicotine layer...

this would be impossible, with nicotine neither ... Tar is the sticky one ... a bit like "uncle Rupert"


ah... i should have kept the pics ...

i will have to make do with that one ... evidence nr.1 that i bought second hand for my GPU collection:

this, evidently hint at someone murdering a poor hamster in that 8800GT fan .... surely the fan died first and then the evil owner (who was probably a smoker judging by the state of the fan) used, to the death! a poor hamster as "alternative source of movement".

btw, freebase nic is inerte after a few minutes ... pretty sure nicotine resulting from normal smoking get inerte just as fast ...

 

[Naito]

If that's what their PC looks like, just imagine their lungs...

 

[trparky]

If that's what their PC looks like, just imagine their lungs...

 

[maxfly]

I have nightmares, and i have beauty from them
That causes far, FAR more nightmares

You can click to expand most of these
Two chain smokers in front of their PC's, pack a day for 10+ years

Let me ease you into this by showing what wiped off the plastic at the end, after using the air compressor and a toothbrush for a few hours

View attachment 281404

How bad could the PCB alone be, right?
View attachment 281405View attachment 281406
Oh.


From here on is the "before" images and the nightmare fuel. It's all tobacco tar with dust, then more tar, more dust, ad infinitum.


GTX 750ti *STILL WORKING*
View attachment 281408View attachment 281407
View attachment 281409View attachment 281410

PSU from that PC looked fine, right?
View attachment 281414

PC #2 was a delight, it had this new RAM technology called sticky channel
View attachment 281415View attachment 281416


PC #3, a poor athlon II x2 555
This one stank too bad to get up close shots, hence more blur
View attachment 281411View attachment 281412



From here we go back to PC #1 and the nightmares
View attachment 281413View attachment 281418View attachment 281417

The 750ti

Look up the temperature it takes for steel to turn blue, even if its plated or the various combinations these plates came in over the years
View attachment 281419View attachment 281420
There is no way this happened safely
None. That shit got way too hot for way too long, or anodised from a short grounding out the DVI cable over a very very long time


This guy has cancer now
View attachment 281421

Nope. Sorry, cant do it. Those are trash can man pcs. Me no touchy.

Someone needs to donate a couple of air purifiers and a box of filters to the owners of those sad, sad, rigs.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

I...wow. I'm nearly speechless right now after those pics. And after a quick search, I found this handy graphic relating to the color of steel at different temps. It's crazy how much dark blue and purple there is on that GPU bracket...

If those PC's look THAT disgusting, I can only imagine how gross their lungs are. I'm reminded of my grandma who passed away more than a decade ago due to a stroke. She was an absolutely heavy smoker, had to go through at least a pack a day, maybe more. And everytime we'd visit, I'll never forget, there was this like heavy smell of cigarette (she didn't smoke cigars, thank god. But her roomate did. Inside the fucking house, no less) smoke that hit you in the face as soon as you walked through the front door. It's like it was everywhere - in the wallpaper, the furniture, the carpet. And then fter about a couple hours we'd go home...and the smell would be embedded in our clothes and hair. I loved my grandma but damn, going to visit her wasn't nearly as enjoyable as it could have been, all because of those damn cigarettes.

 

[80251]

My grandfather was a chain smoker of unfiltered camels. The guy must've had a iron lung though because even though his daughter and wife both contracted emphysema from being chain smokers he never did. He did eventually die of a pulmonary embolism and I always wonder if that might have been a result of his 50+ years of chain smoking unfiltered camels.

 

[Chomiq]

I have nightmares, and i have beauty from them
That causes far, FAR more nightmares

This gave me flashbacks to the 9800 SE that my buddy from Slovenia sent to me a decade ago. He was also chain smoker the entire card reeked of cigarette smoke and had a ton of brown tar mixed with dust on it.

 

[pavle]

Here's my R9 280X (I edited out the background) that I got from a chain smoker, you could smell it form afar.
Even after quite some cleaning with isopropil alcohol there are still seen traces of tar that once was.
A stark reminder.

 

[neatfeatguy]

I have nightmares, and i have beauty from them
That causes far, FAR more nightmares

You can click to expand most of these
Two chain smokers in front of their PC's, pack a day for 10+ years

Let me ease you into this by showing what wiped off the plastic at the end, after using the air compressor and a toothbrush for a few hours

View attachment 281404

How bad could the PCB alone be, right?
View attachment 281405View attachment 281406
Oh.


From here on is the "before" images and the nightmare fuel. It's all tobacco tar with dust, then more tar, more dust, ad infinitum.


GTX 750ti *STILL WORKING*
View attachment 281408View attachment 281407
View attachment 281409View attachment 281410

PSU from that PC looked fine, right?
View attachment 281414

PC #2 was a delight, it had this new RAM technology called sticky channel
View attachment 281415View attachment 281416


PC #3, a poor athlon II x2 555
This one stank too bad to get up close shots, hence more blur
View attachment 281411View attachment 281412



From here we go back to PC #1 and the nightmares
View attachment 281413View attachment 281418View attachment 281417

The 750ti

Look up the temperature it takes for steel to turn blue, even if its plated or the various combinations these plates came in over the years
View attachment 281419View attachment 281420
There is no way this happened safely
None. That shit got way too hot for way too long, or anodised from a short grounding out the DVI cable over a very very long time


This guy has cancer now
View attachment 281421

Who thought it was a good idea to put used coffee grounds in their computer?

 

[Arco]

Who thought it was a good idea to put used coffee grounds in their computer?

You gotta do what you gotta do to wake up!

 

[Veseleil]

Who thought it was a good idea to put used coffee grounds in their computer?

Cofee at least smells good, unlike tar.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

I've never seen anything like it

Either it ovheated to near 100C and stayed there a long, LONG time or its anodising from a short
The case brackets it slid into were warped and bent

I remember seeing something similar on a chainsmoker's PC about 8 years ago, they had a 5870 that had cooked itself to death, and the heatsink retention bracket was that color, albeit not as vivid. It was crazy to see in person, I cant imagine how that machine was functioning for so long in such conditions.

 

[pavle]

I remember seeing something similar on a chainsmoker's PC about 8 years ago, they had a 5870 that had cooked itself to death, and the heatsink retention bracket was that color, albeit not as vivid. It was crazy to see in person, I cant imagine how that machine was functioning for so long in such conditions.

In this case, with that GTX 750Ti I believe there must have been a chemical reaction, and not due to heat. Perhaps a short with it too, tar is somewhat conductive (aromatic CHs), but certainly not multi hundred degree heat (°F or °C), just no.

 

[nomdeplume]

In this case, with that GTX 750Ti I believe there must have been a chemical reaction, and not due to heat. Perhaps a short with it too, tar is somewhat conductive (aromatic CHs), but certainly not multi hundred degree heat (°F or °C), just no.

Cheap metal with lots of contaminants, cold pressed with little care given to integrity, which is then cheaply and thinly plated. Lots of ills showing through after multiple cycles reaching or exceeding the maximum thermal capacity of this particular metallic composition + coated with toxic chemicals.

 

[Athlonite]

Yeah I'm a smoker (currently attempting to give up) and I've never let my PC get that bad it gets torn down and cleaned twice a year even the case gets water blasted outside

 

[Boatvan]

The user insisted they absolutely didn't spill anything on the laptop. Until I showed them this picture. Then they said their lunch MAY have leaked in the same bag as the laptop.

I give you the stir fry sauced laptop. I think there was fish in it because it smelled like a dock on a lake when I cracked open the bottom cover.

 

[PLAfiller]

The user insisted they absolutely didn't spill anything on the laptop. Until I showed them this picture. Then they said their lunch MAY have leaked in the same bag as the laptop.

I give you the stir fry sauced laptop. I think there was fish in it because it smelled like a dock on a lake when I cracked open the bottom cover.

Will it live? May be a dead USB port? aaand that monitor hinge definitely needs some lubricating

 

[Mussels]

If that's what their PC looks like, just imagine their lungs...

In the GPU's defense the 750Ti cleaned up nicely, while the owner is dying of lung disease