Today after a heavy dusting in my house, I booted the pc (which was covered in a thin layer of dust already), it failed to post. It only worked when I cleaned the RAM slot. This once happened in my office. The computer started and all was fine but it won't post. Several days later the mechanic said the RAM sticks were dusty. I didn't believe. Is that really a thing? I mean can it be another underlying problem or it WAS the dusty RAM slot? What dust has to do with it? My RAM sticks are not older than 10 months.
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1@Mods: Can someone please tell me why all the comments were deleted?– BluebugCommented Dec 5, 2018 at 8:31
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2 Answers
Dust can definitely do it, but usually only if the RAM is moved. Dust gets between the RAM stick and the pins on the socket, interrupting the connection. More than once I've had a machine fail to POST only to discover a small piece of dust or debris in one of the RAM slots.
answered Dec 4, 2018 at 19:09
If your definition of the verb "dust" includes vacuuming, then static discharges can cause problems. The reason we use canned air instead of vacuum cleaners is that air passing by the vacuum cleaner head creates a large static charge from the large amount of fluid passing through the tip. It's possible to spark your components this way.
Given the description, it's not what you did, but I've been cautioned against vacuuming electronics and computers for this reason.
answered Dec 4, 2018 at 20:44
