Computer Repair Experts in Phoenix, Arizona. my PC Techs Presents:

We always ask new clients if they would like us to come out on a regular basis to perform routine computer maintenance. Regular maintenance on your computer systems can extend the life of your machines by many years, and in many cases will help prevent catastrophic failure. As an example, we recently came upon a laptop that was given to us for repair. The system hadn’t been maintained in over three years, and in this case the system fan had stopped spinning. The fan was locked up as a result of dust buildup.

All kinds of bad things happen to a laptop or desktop when a system fan stops spinning. Here, without air circulation the CPU (processor) became so hot that the CPU’s metal fused to the metal on the heat sink. As you can see in the image below, there’s actually a strip of metal from the CPU melted on to the heat sink itself.

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Unfortunately, this is a costly repair requiring a replacement of the fan, heat sink, and CPU. It’s not as bad as it could be, however. The system board itself didn’t melt. We’ve seen that happen on some systems in a similar situation where the system fan had failed.

This failure could have been prevented with regular maintenance. Dusting out your laptop and desktop fans and cases with compressed air will prevent heat and dust from killing them. Heat and dust are the #1 killers of computer systems and electronics! Just like your car, your computers need regular care too if you want them to last longer. Extend the life of your computers, let my PC Techs help you maintain them with regular visits. Give us a call, (602) 456-0150.

When we repair a computer at my PC Techs, one of the first items on our list of work to perform is dust removal. In Arizona, dust is a big problem and coats everything. When a new computer comes into our shop we never really know just how much dust we are going to see! It’s always a surprise when you “pop the case” of a computer for the first time.

Here are a few pictures of the inside of a case that recently came into our workshop.

Over time, dust accumulates inside your computer case

Over time, dust can cause internals components to overheat, due to lack of air circulation

Dust is a slow computer killer. Dust prevents normal air circulation through the computer case. The case draws cooler air from outside the case through the various airflow openings of the case. The lack of circulation caused by dust will often result in internal component overheating and failure. These include video cards, hard drives, computer processor and other internal hardware.

Common intake openings of the case include the front and the sides of the case, while exit openings include fans usually mounted in the rear of the case and the power supply.

Keeping these openings clear of debris can help to maintain the proper airflow around the case. A good practice is to also maintain four to six inches of clearance from the computer to any object which could block airflow.

In conclusion, dusting out your case every month can help to extend the life of your computer – instead of it suffering the fate of death by dust.

We do work for several restaurants and retail stores here in Phoenix, Arizona. These shops are all using windows based point of sale systems. While the software and database that run on the computers to transact credit card payments and process menu items are highly customized and supported by the franchise in most cases, the underlying operating system and hardware is not.

We have learned a lot about these systems and can say with certainty that the biggest issues we have run into are lack of proper backups and lack of spare hardware. When a point of sale system goes down for a store, especially a busy store, it is NO FUN. Employees need to process payments manually by hand and write out paper receipts. As you can imagine, the slowdown at the register does a lot to aggravate customers and employees alike. But there are three things that you can do as a retail store business owner to minimize downtime in the event of a system crash.

1. Perform regular system maintenance

Hiring a firm like my PC Techs to regularly maintain your equipment each month can save you from several hours worth of headache and hundreds or thousands of dollars in lost sales. Our technicians will visit your store and examine your systems for irregular performance. System errors, faulty hardware, failing hard drives, botched OS updates, and corrupted data can, in many cases, be identified and corrected before it becomes a larger problem. Dust can be cleaned out (the largest cause of hardware failure), and parts inspected. Unnecessary programs can be removed and system performance improved. The best part of this scenario, the repairs can be performed before or after regular hours, so customers never experience delay.

2. Perform regular, complete data backups

Usually during the same time as the system maintenance, our technicians can perform a complete data backup of all of your POS systems. This is important. When a hard drive crashes, you want to get your system back online as quickly as possible. To rebuild an entire system, restore data from on off site repository, and get all the hardware and software working correctly could take many hours. With a complete system backup, it could be as simple as popping in the right piece of replacement hardware and running a 30 minute recovery.

3. Identify and build an inventory of replacement parts

When a system failure happens, recovery time can be improved considerably when the right spare parts are kept on hand. Rather than buying hard to find computer equipment online, and waiting for it to be shipped, a replacement part can be obtained from storage and quickly installed to replace the broken component. That part can later be replaced to storage, so you always have a backup on hand for the next time disaster strikes.

When you think about the security of your data and your ability to transact business, keep in mind your local computer experts and ways that they can work with you to help improve the reliability of your computer operations. For help with the maintenance and emergency support of your POS systems, contact my PC Techs today. (602) 456-0150.

Can anyone name a small business, or any business for that matter, that doesn’t rely upon technology for day to day operations? Computers play such an integrated role in our lives. Much like automobiles, it is important to maintain your computers and run periodic checks on them to avoid failure.

When doing routine system maintenance, there are several different areas of the computer that should be checked for potential problems. The operating system itself, installed software, updates and patches, anti-virus definitions, the network settings, the system fans, dust levels, hard disk drives, backups, and external devices! Some are more important than others. For example, if your hard drive fails, you could face some very costly data recovery issues. Dust is another one, dust and heat are the biggest killers of electronic components. A competent computer repair firm will have a checklist of items that a technician will run through, the hard drive and dust levels being just one of those, to ensure optimal performance.

Not to get stuck on the automobile analogy, but it’s so easy to do comparisons between that and computer repair. If you forget to change your oil, over time your engine suffers. If you go long enough, eventually your engine will fail. Computer maintenance is the same way. A lot of clients have come to us with failed hard drives. Sometimes we can get their data off pretty easily and recover their systems. In the worst cases, those hard drives need to be sent off to a lab where data recovery becomes extremely costly. Client with crashed hard drives are usually surprised when we tell them that the crash could have been avoided. There are warning signs that most equipment will give when things go bad, and the signs usually begin a while before the actual crash takes place. For hard drives, it could be slow performance, errors while working, errors in system logs, or even clicking or grinding sounds. Most computer fans make noises too when they are about to fail.

Our experts service and repair machines and are experienced in the different ways you can identify computer problems. If you hire a team of professionals that know how to keep your computers working, and have them come out monthly for a quick checkup, you too will be able to keep working. For most people, computer failures usually happen at the worst possible time. Like, right before an important project deadline. If your computer suddenly crashes or the network is not working you may lose work and income. All of this could be avoided with just a couple hours of preventative maintenance per month.

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