[starman]

Wow.

A friend of mine gave me their boss' computer to fix. The damn thing smells like an ash tray. How the heck do you get rid of that smell? (and don't say "not smoke")

[CollinG3G4]

Air dust the fans
Run it outside for awhile
Oh, and febreeze the hell out of it

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by CollinG3G4

Air dust the fans
Run it outside for awhile
Oh, and febreeze the hell out of it

Just make sure it's OFF before applying the Febreeze!!!!

I've had to fix a variety of electronics that have been in "unpleasant" environments, including a small den of many chain smokers. The worst was from some hole in the wall office that had a "bug" problem. Not only had the equipment (a commercial 2-way radio base station) been soaked in Raid, there were still...er..."victims" of the Raid in it. "Eww" doesn't begin to describe it!

BTW, alcohol does tend to cut the tar deposits, but it'll take forever and there's no guarantee you'll be able to get at all the nooks and crannies. Maybe you could fix the computer in the garage...

[macaddict0001]

The real question is why the hell do you have to fix a friends boss' computer

[starman]

Originally Posted by macaddict0001

The real question is why the hell do you have to fix a friends boss' computer

Just because someone's a boss doesn't mean they have a multimillion dollar company with an IT department.

[ghporter]

And "boss" doesn't always equate to "jerk," either.

If he's a good boss, show him the insides of his machine and tell him that's what he's doing to his lungs... now's as good a time to quit as any.

[Tomchu]

I lent my Mac Mini to a friend whose grandma is a heavy smoker. I literally took the thing *completely* apart to its smallest piece, and dusted/wiped every single piece down. I put it back together, but that fresh-Apple-product smell is long-gone, and you can still smell smoke when you inhale from the grills.

In other words, you will never get the smell out from a PC, which is 10x bigger and has 10x as many nooks and crannies. I can't believe people actually willingly inhale this ****.

[JoshuaZ]

First, don't use it as a bong. Second, air it out.

[ShotgunEd]

Originally Posted by Tomchu

...and you can still smell smoke when you inhale from the grills...

I can just envision a hardened maclot trying to get his fix.

[ReggieX]

Make the boss buy a new one.

[Kr0nos]

[Athens]

does Fébréze remove the yellowish stain too?

[Kevin]

I was looking for a older Fender twin to use for clean sounds not too long ago.

I posted a thread in a music forum wondering if anyone was selling one (You get a better deal doing this than using Ebay)

I mentioned that said amp not belong to a smoker, or be around smoke. Because that smell is hard to get out of a amp.

Well a guy piped up saying HE had a twin for sale on Ebay, and that if I wanted to buy it off there, He would give me a good deal.

So I did. It came and I opened the box. HORRIBLE smoke smell coming from the amp. There is even a burn on the top from where someone sat a cig on it.

Needless to say, I was pissed. I didn't even plug the thing in. Sent it back.

Didn't put a bad report on his ebay account because the talking didn't go on there.

But said user tried to make a big deal about it in said music forum by flaming me for costing him "money he shouldn't have had to spend" (He payed for both shipping costs)

User was eventually banned from said forum for his attitude over the whole thing.

Even the admins told him that I specifically said, no smoke smell, and not to be owned by a smoker. Knowing it had been, he tried to sell it to me anyhow.

This happens all the time on Ebay.

He either didn't pay attention to my post, or did and thought he could pull a fast one.

Cig smoke does nasty things to guitar amps.

[SirCastor]

I wonder if he realized it smelled like Smoke? Sometimes smokers are so used to the smell that their tolerance for it is way up. Still not a good excuse, but an idea...

[Kr0nos]

Originally Posted by Athens

does Fébréze remove the yellowish stain too?

Dunno...you could try though.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by SirCastor

I wonder if he realized it smelled like Smoke? Sometimes smokers are so used to the smell that their tolerance for it is way up. Still not a good excuse, but an idea...

Regardless if he smelled it or not, I specified "Not owned by a smoker, or smell of smoke"

I specify "not owned" because of that reason.

Smokers don't realize things stink of smoke. They are so used to it.

He tried to argue that it did not smell like smoke, so it shouldn't matter if he was a smoker.

I asked him then how did I know it was owned by one.

[Dark Helmet]

Why would you bother getting rid of it if it is going back to them?

[starman]

You try workng on the insides of a computer that smells like that.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by starman

You try workng on the insides of a computer that smells like that.

Work on it in the garage or something. I don't think anything will get that smell out quickly.

[Bandit240]

My grandmother is a heavy smoker and has a Goldstar PC from back in the 80's. Well 15 years of smoke finnaly got to the computer. I had to replace the fan in it and that was nasty, think of dusk that reeks of the worst smoke smell ever.

[chris v]

Haul it down to the car wash. First, go with the low-pressure foaming action, and let it soak good before switching to the high-pressure rinse. Waxing afterwards should help to keep down subsequent smoke buildup.

[paul w]

"We spray everything with Ozium-D, let it de-ionise, vacuum the spray out with a de-ionising machine. Hit it with high-pressure compressed air, and wet-dry vac it to extract the remaining liquids. We top it off with one of our seven air-fresheners, in your case, I would recommend the Jasmine, or the Potpourri."

[rickey939]

Now in scary cobra scent...

[Eriamjh]

If it's a PC and not a Mac, put it in the dishwaser, plugged in. Run until clean.

[shabbasuraj]

[ghporter]

Windex actually works pretty well on the yellow, sticky crud that builds up inside such boxes. But it will take quite a while to wipe it all out and it still won't get the gunk off cooling fins and such.. A really thorough cleaning of electronic devices requires a soft toothbrush, a lot of alcohol, and a roll of good quality papertowels, followed by low pressure air to dry out the alcohol left on things. It often takes more than one attempt to clean things out effectively, too.

If you can fix the thing quickly, do it outdoors, in the garage, or in some other non-confined space. If not, roll up your sleeves and get cleaning.

[DeathToWindows]

Yeah, alcohol is your friend here.

You might want a fume hood...

[macaddict0001]

Originally Posted by starman

Just because someone's a boss doesn't mean they have a multimillion dollar company with an IT department.

yeah but a FRIENDs boss.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by macaddict0001

yeah but a FRIENDs boss.

Yes... wouldn't you do something to help a friend out?