Opened my case to investigate a rattling sound.....

[Bill_Bright]

Wrong on so many levels, stick to what you know Bill.

I do know. I've been supporting (and cleaning) personal computers since the IBM PC which came out in the early 80s. By far, cat dander and hair is much worse than dog hair.

 

[Prince Valiant]

Spiders scare the crap out of me, I kill them instantly. To be fair I woke up with a spider bite on my face one night. HOW am I supposed to get a date with a big lump on my face? Sorry to your daughter, but I am afraid I must kill them all on sight. It is war.

I'm not scared of them myself but I also kill spiders on sight in my house. When you live where it might be a brown recluse it's not worth trying to identify before squashing with extreme prejudice .

 

[Bill_Bright]

I see no reason to let spiders run around my home. So I will kill them on site. House centipedes, on the hand, creep me out but because don't carry diseases or cause allergies, they don't eat humans, rugs or clothes or people food, and they hunt down and kill all the other bugs I don't want in my house, I generally let them be.

 

[lexluthermiester]

By far, cat dander and hair is much worse than dog hair.

Depends greatly on the breed of cat, dog or human..

 

[Space Lynx]

I'm not scared of them myself but I also kill spiders on sight in my house. When you live where it might be a brown recluse it's not worth trying to identify before squashing with extreme prejudice .

I saw a yellow and green spider two days ago crawling on my window, I pulled over asap because it freaked me out, those were literally its only two colors... I am in Indiana by the way... I instantly thought of this guys wife and how I wish this spider was in her car instead and THEN we would see how much she loves spiders. I don't know about you, but I am pretty sure bright colors usually means poison. First one I have seen like this year, but yeah.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Depends greatly on the breed of cat, dog or human..

It does and while I generally oppose blanket statements, after years of cleaning countless client, neighbors, and my personal machines, I feel comfortable saying cat hair/dander (when allowed to build up inside neglected computers), is considerably harder to clean than dog hair/dander.

And it is not just from personal observation. A perfectly healthy cat is typically almost obsessive about personal grooming. But any number of ailments and conditions, including painful joints with aging (and they all age eventually) and/or overweight cats, will cause them to groom less often or be unable to reach everywhere. That does result in more oily hair and dander. That's just a fact easily verified by Google.

And the problem is not just oils but the fact those oils collect and cling to the hair and dust drawn in by the case fans.

That said, cleaning out neglected computers of heavy smokers can be just as challenging - especially for those computers that sit on the smoker's desktop. If you ever tried to clean the inside of a car windshield of a smoker, you know what that's like. If that heavy smoker has an old cat, and the computer case has not been opened in a couple years, get out the chisels.

FTR, I am not trying to ruffle cat lover's feathers. Nor am I pitting cats against dogs. For sure, many dogs shed MUCH WORSE than most cats. But except for some hound dogs, cat hair and dander is typically more oily and once it sits and bakes inside a computer case for months (or longer), is harder to clean.

Just another reason why case filters are a must.

 

[lexluthermiester]

It does and while I generally oppose blanket statements, after years of cleaning countless client, neighbors, and my personal machines, I feel comfortable saying cat hair/dander (when allowed to build up inside neglected computers), is considerably harder to clean than dog hair/dander.

Like you, I have been building/cleaning/working on PC's for many decades. My experiences show that the breed/species of where the hair originates is less relevant than the length and thickness of the hair. "Dander" is a common term for shed skin particles. As all land mammals shed both skin and hair, blaming one breed/species over another is a flawed conclusion as how much hair and skin being shed depends greatly on grooming habits of the individual. How much of it is accumulated in the PC's operating environment depends greatly on the size and construction of the living space, how often that space is cleaned, whether or not proper ventilation is in place and whether or not that ventilation system's filter(s) are properly maintained. Addintionally, the location of the PC in question also plays a factor in the equation, such as whether or on it is located on or near the floor or kept up higher away from ground level. One can not offer a blanket statement like "cat's are worse than dog's and human's" because it does not take all variables and factors into account. And unless an analysis is conducted on a case by cases basis, one can not make such a blanket statement with any level of actual validity.

Just another reason why case filters are a must.

On this point we agree.

 

[Bill_Bright]

As all land mammals shed both skin and hair, blaming one breed/species over another is a flawed conclusion as how much hair and skin being shed depends greatly on grooming habits of the individual.

You are missing the point.

For one, I already clarified my comments about grooming - or the lack of. But more importantly, I never said anything about the difficulty in removing the cat (or dog) dander and hair had anything to do with the "quantity" or "how much" hair and dander is being shed. In fact, the top layers of hair and dander is easy to remove. It is the bottom base layer that coats the heatsinks and components and contains the oils that stick to the heatsinks and components that is difficult to clean thoroughly. So your point about "how much" is just pointless.

Now this has nothing whatsoever to do with the OP's problem. So I am done with this OT discussion.