thistlechaser | Geeky guys are so sexy, or: Why I spent all night on my knees under my desk (RL)

Last night I was innocently playing FFXI when my computer started making a noise. A bad noise. It sounded like a very angry dustbuster. Loud, too (I heard it a room away through a closed door). Only thing I could think of that would make a sound like that inside a computer would be the fan (??? I'm no hardware person) and since I have long hair and a cat, I could see how it would get tangled in there and stop spinning.

So for one of the first times ever in my life, I opened the case. I touched almost nothing (just poked the fan with my finger to see if it would spin freely, which it did), I closed the case. Nothing worked. GAH! See? See? That's why I never open it up!

A few rebootings(? it seemed to be making rebooting noises but the screen stayed dark) and eventually it seemed to boot totally up, but the horrible noise was still there. Hours under my desk checking things and connections and prodding at stuff. Eventually I gave up, turned it off, and went to bed.

Thankfully I'm reading an amazing book and reading is all I wanted to do, so yay! No game/computer to distract me! I read for hours and gave myself quite a nice case of eyestrain and a horrible headache. :P

Woke up this morning and turned the computer on. Hey, sometimes things just fix themselves for no reason, right? Nope. Bad noise, screen blank. I got back on my knees and unplugged everything and took it off to someone who could hopefully help.

Knowing no where else to go, I went to see the Geek Squad (fix-it people in Best Buy). The guy said noises like that were caused by dust in the fan and that I should just buy a can of air and spray it around in there. He showed me, hooked it up to his monitor, and it worked! How very odd... (As a side note, OMG, geeky guys are so hot! They all had really short/neat hair, most had glasses, those skinny ties, just typical geek-look. Mmmm. Keep your muscle men, I'll take a smart geek anytime -- way big bonus that they can fix my computer!)

So anyway, I Iugged the computer and the can of air home, hooked it up, and it booted! Pictures! On my screen! ...then the noise happened again. Bah. Unhooked it, sprayed air all around inside it, put it back together. Noise is gone (for now?).

So tell me, hardware people, does that make any sort of sense? That dust in your fan could cause horrible, horrible noises?