Client handed me a laptop caked in pet hair and Cheeto dust last Tuesday

I was in my shop in Austin when a guy walks in with this Dell that looked like it survived a fur tornado. The fans were completely choked, thermal paste was baked into a crust, and the keyboard had four dead keys from crumbs. I spent 45 minutes with compressed air, a brush, and a can of contact cleaner just to get it to boot without overheating. Has anyone else had to refuse a job because the device was too disgusting to touch?

2 comments

2 Comments

martin.jamie21d ago

Four dead keys just from crumbs? Man, that is beyond nasty. I had one last year where the trackpad had this weird sticky film that smelled like old soda, but I've never seen actual keys fail from food debris. You are a braver soul than me for even busting out the contact cleaner. Honestly, after finding a pet hair clog in the fan, my gag reflex would've kicked in and I'd have handed it back to the client with a "no thanks, try Best Buy." It's one thing to deal with normal dust, but Cheeto dust and baked-on thermal paste crosses a line. Your 45 minute scrub session sounds like a full-on biohazard operation, not tech support.

jakep2421d agoMost Upvoted

For next time, grab some 99% isopropyl alcohol and a cheap ultrasonic cleaner (like $30 on Amazon). Drop the keycaps in for a few minutes and most of that gunk just falls off without any scrubbing. On the board itself, a soft toothbrush dipped in that same alcohol works way better than contact cleaner for dried on crud. Just make sure everything is bone dry before plugging it back in, give it like an hour in front of a fan to be safe.