Computer Repair
Oregon Tech Support can troubleshoot, diagnose and provide computer service & repair for your desktop, laptop or server. Frequently, we will provide on-site diagnostics and evaluations in order to give you an accurate list of the available options. Our goal is to repair your computer and get it back to you quickly and in working order.
Many things can affect a computer system: Failing hard drives, bad memory, corrupted file systems, unexpected electrical surges, virus/spyware infections and even an incompatible piece of software tend to be some of the most common culprits. Often what is suspected to be the cause tends to be just a symptom of the true underlying problem. A full diagnostic and assessment of your system is the best way to make sure that thing start off in the right direction from the start.
Here's an actual real-life example: The number one enemy of computers is not viruses; it's heat and dust. Heat significantly impacts the lifespan of any computer, while dust buildup acts as a heat insulator. The CPU (brain) of every computer generates a lot of heat, so cooling units (”heatsinks”) with fans are used to reduce the temperature. Lower temperature = longer life span.
Even a standard visual inspection of the inside of your computer can give you a false sense of security. Notice in both pictures above that there's only a minor amount of dust buildup. Yet this isn't the case. Even removing the fan from the top of the heatsink, a fairly simple procedure, shows that everything is pretty clean. It's actually very deceiving.
Once you pull the heatsink off of the computer's CPU, this is how it actually appears. The buildup has accumulated into a thick sheet of dust, something that couldn't be seen from a casual visual inspection. Even spraying it with canned air didn't help, as these areas aren't normally accessible. The dust acts as a heat insulator, blocking the flow of air and the dissipation (transmission) of heat away from the CPU brain. On average, this single issue can cause a computer to run 10-30 degrees hotter than normal, something dangerous to a PC's lifespan.
This is how it should look like. After cleaning a computer properly like this, you'll average a temperature drop of ten degrees less than what your computer was running at before. This simple, regular maintenance event has now increased the odds that you can continue using your computer for a longer period of time before dying of heat-related death. The important part of this story to remember is this: You need to know where to look and which maintenance tasks really pay off in the long run. When we perform regular computer checkups as part of a standard maintenance agreement, this is one of several physical issues that we consider to extend the lifespan of your computer. In the end, it's actually cheaper and can save you thousands of dollars.
