I used an electric air compressor to clean dust from my AIO radiator and fan blades while the PC was unplugged. I also held the power button and pressed it a few extra times to discharge the system. The compressor may have been held too close, and one of the fans no longer works when I power the PC back on. I'm more concerned about the RTX 5070 Ti and power supply, since I briefly blew air near both of them. They currently seem to work normally. Could static electricity have damaged either component, or could the force of the air have loosened something inside even though they still function? I didn't realize there could be risks to using a compressor for cleaning.
2 Answers
If the GPU and power supply are working normally, they were probably not damaged. The bigger concern with compressed air is spinning fans too quickly, since a fan can generate voltage and feed it back into the motherboard or its header. It’s best to hold fan blades still or disconnect them before cleaning. Also, avoid getting extremely close with high-pressure air, and make sure the air source is dry and free of oil or condensation. A brief blast is very unlikely to physically dislodge anything inside the GPU or PSU.
Static damage from ordinary compressed-air cleaning is possible in theory but not the most likely explanation here, especially if the computer was unplugged and the other parts pass their normal checks. Test the nonworking fan by connecting it to a known-good header or fan hub; the fan itself or its cable may simply have failed. Keep an eye out for crashes, graphical glitches, unusual temperatures, or power issues, but if none appear, the GPU and PSU are probably fine.
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