On Thu, 14 Nov 2002 22:33:58 -0500, kelly fernandez wrote:
> reading about this reminds me of an "itch" i've had since i've been > running systems on a long terms basis... I'm maintaing several systems > in industrial/open air envirionments aside from my lan gaming > clients/servers. This basically means that a heck of a lot of dust could > accumulate over just a few months. > The enviroment definatly determines the amount and type of dust/crap you collect. Don't hesitate to take a air hose and blow some of the crap out, just try not to over spin the fans with the air. I've killed fans with a high pressure air line before. > my question is: "Aside from the typical stopping of fans, does these > dust particiles/clumps [lots of them] affect performance in any way? or > cause instability just by itself?" Yes, in the form of lack of cooling and heat buildup. If the HSF fans are plugged with dust, air cant pass thru them and cool it. My workstation fills up with this brownish sticky dust (half cigarette smoke ;) ) and after a few months I start overheating and lock-up. I clean it out and its business as usual. I'm asking this bec. it appears that > my systems seems to boot a lot slower after about 1+ years of daily [14+ > hours/ day] operation... and in some cases crash on me more often using > the same programs which VERY rarely crashed before [yes, they're windows > gaming clients]. I regularly format them, and do replace fans that slow > down. my theory is that these might be caused by the hard disk slowdowns > due to wear and tear [IDE's]. The problems with using EIDE's is in a server enviroment is they arent designed for continuous usage. If your server takes a break for a portion of the day and the HDD's re allowed to power down, I wouldn't be concerned about it, but a very busy disk subsystem thats in use all day can cause the drives to fail over time. Try running a performance check to see how they are working. Also, if the drives are subjected to extreeme heat or inproper mounting they can have troubled. I believe most manufactures recommend 1/8" min clearence around the drives. But since you say its a "client" I dont think these factors should have an effect. More of a FYI ;) I would run something like ATTO and see how they are performing. Also, I've heard tails that the majority of manufactures are switching to a 1 year warrenty period. I forget where I heard it and can't back it up, but its one of those things that stuck. But I have yet to see dust cause a problem with a EIDE drive. If the machine seems slow and unstable, check the cpu and chipset coolers and see if they are gumed up. A hot chipset can cause some funkyness. but how about the > memory/motherboard/processor/network card/etc wear and tear [if there > was such a thing] ? > Not that I've seen, with the exception of a cloged chipset cooler, or video card. I had a 64M ati card cook itself from cloged dust, requiring a RMA from ATI. But in every other circumstance the only thing dust has caused me was some instability. Things you can do to help are install filters on the intake fans, and run machines in a conditioned envirment like a data center. But sometimes neither is possible, and a good ol air hose can correct the problem :) Rob _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds_linux
