I have no reason to believe the dust in my home is particularly "metallic". Just what I would call common dust that settles on surfaces over time.
I recently had a motherboard failure and I cannot find the cause.
Usually I blow out the dust in my computers once a year with compressed air but I think I missed last year with this one.

It worked perfectly for years until the other night when I was just sitting in my office and I heard a strange BRRRRRUP sound from it and that was it.
It went dead but I was able to eventually restart it but now it randomly freezes or reboots at practically any time.

As far as the dust, I would not say it was heavy, but it was visibly there. A light dusting on the horizontal surfaces which included the upper facing circuit board side of the graphics card.

What is the likelihood that dust shorted out my PC? Is it even possible?

 

Do you have a known good power supply that you can swap? I had a computer that became erratic. It took me quite a while, but I traced it to the power supply

 

Do you have a known good power supply that you can swap? I had a computer that became erratic. It took me quite a while, but I traced it to the power supply

Thanks. I already bought and installed a new power supply and it changed nothing.

So I'm wondering (for the future) how likely it is that DUST can actually cause problems.

It absolutely was not enough dust to cause any significant overheating. It was a relatively light dusting.

 

The only problem dust will create is to reduce Cooling-Air-Circulation.

If You get ~4-Years out of a "Consumer-Grade" Mother-Board, you're doing good.
Besides, at ~4-Years old, it's pretty much an out-dated-antique.
.
.
.

 

I heard a strange BRRRRRUP sound

I'd suspect something with rotating parts, e.g. the hard drive (assuming the PC has one), case fan or CPU fan. No fan = much heat = dead PC.

 

The more common failure in your situation is electrolytic capacitors on the board.
These may look bulged at the top, or sign of leakage at the board. Some may run warm to the touch but hot would indicate failure. Aside from the PSU, there are voltage converters using these electrolytics.
While household dust is not a good dilectric unless it gets wet, it acts as a thermal blanket promoting excessive heat.
This can lead to failed electrolytics.
My two cents

 

I used to have my PC in my bedroom... Mine went pop..... We found out that hairspray damaged connectors... several had blacked over the years.. It was close to her dressing table.....

My penneth!!

 

it could also be tin whiskers depending on the age of the mother board or materials used by the manufacturer. Its more common in very old components but its another angle to consider for a failure you cant pin down.

 

Regarding "older" motherboards, I routinely use computers that are already retired by other folks. I have no need at all for the blistering speed required for video games and on-line video entertainment, and so an occasional half second pause is no bother at all. Of course I also try to avoid the most bloated OS and other bloatware. I have no compulsion to always chase the bleeding edge of the latest gimmicks. The fact is that it is poor code that always needs a faster processor.
As for dust, the power supply with it's cooling fan is the biggest accumulator of dust, by far. And while most dust is not very conductive it does insulate and it does hold moisture, AND air-born aerosols that can have some effects.

 

Another thing to remember is with central air anything you did some place else in the house can get transmitted to other places and if it is fine enough say from sanding or grinding. it might flow threw depending on your filtration system. That blue floss is good but its no hepa filter right.

 

You could measure the resistance of the dust but it seems unlikely that light, dry household dust—which is largely human skin—would cause a failure.

Heavy dust can frustrate heat dissipation and cause failures. Potentially, heavy dust in high humidity environments could cause trouble. But what you describe makes me believe the failure was unrelated to dust and more likely related to component failure or a PCB fault.

As previously mentioned, one of the easiest first steps is to check any electrolytic capacitors on the board for swelling, which would indicate long term heating which is a common if not the most common cause of failures.

 

........ I heard a strange BRRRRRUP sound from it ......

Hard Disk Failing?
Try booting a Live Linux from a USB stick and see if it holds.

 

I'd suspect something with rotating parts, e.g. the hard drive (assuming the PC has one), case fan or CPU fan. No fan = much heat = dead PC.

Hello,

This unit has an SSD so no rotating parts other than the fans. All are working normally.
There did not appear to be enough dust to cause any thermal problems. It was a very light dusting.
I would think it would hav taken considerably more layers of dust than was present.

 

it could also be tin whiskers

I wouldn't have thought of that. However, in aerospace, tin whiskers are a serious concern. Especially in satellites and space craft. There are other forbidden materials also not allowed in space due to the sublimation of metals that can coat components and optics.

Tin whiskers are largely the product of tin/lead solder; hence "Tin" whiskers. The tin can grow dendrites that can lead to a short circuit just about anywhere. While RoHS (Removal of Hazardous Substances) has greatly reduced the chance for tin whiskers, if you've repaired something and used tin/lead solder - you Could have whiskers. If you've not touched solder to the board and the computer is noted as being "RoHS" then I would discount whiskers all together.

As for common dust - that's largely made up of dead human scales that we shed every day. They do build up but unless they're wet generally don't conduct. However, other airborne materials can settle on things, and who knows what they may be. In the case of a computer next to a makeup station, yeah, hair spray can build up and potentially corrode some metals. Strange what we use to beautify ourselves. Me? I don't have any need for hair spray as you can tell from my avatar. But just like "you're never supposed to bring food into the bathroom" even fecal matter can be classified as dust. Imagine that - poop floating around in your home. This is the #1 reason why I keep my toothbrush in a sealed box. Don't want to brush my teeth with poop on the brush.

Generally speaking I wouldn't expect dust to be the culprit. But there's nothing that can rule that out either. It could have simply been time for something to BRRRRRP out. Last time I heard that sound it was the power supply burning out. It was a decent suggestion to replace the PS, but you said you already did that with no change; so the old PS is likely not the culprit. Hard to find a ghost failure. Especially an intermittent ghost failure.

 

Only problem with dust is the obvious air flow restrictions, and its presence invites chassis intrusion which can lead to physical damage through clumsy handling.

 

Tin whiskers are largely the product of tin/lead solder; hence "Tin" whiskers. The tin can grow dendrites that can lead to a short circuit just about anywhere. While RoHS (Removal of Hazardous Substances) has greatly reduced the chance for tin whiskers, if you've repaired something and used tin/lead solder - you Could have whiskers. If you've not touched solder to the board and the computer is noted as being "RoHS" then I would discount whiskers all together.

You have that backwards. Lead was added to solder to prevent tin whiskers. It became a problem again after RoHS. NASA and aircraft manufacturers were exempted because it could cause disastrous failures.

 

I'll second dl324's comment. Tin whiskers are an issue with lead free solder. Solder that contains lead will not grow tin whiskers.

 

You have that backwards.

I softly disagree. Softly because I'm not 100% certain, but from my understanding about tin whiskers is that it's caused by the tin growing "Whiskers". TonyR1084 mistakenly used a word - "Dendrites" - as others have used. The attached article from the federal government might lend some further understanding of what tin whiskers are, how they form and what they can do.
https://www.fda.gov/inspections-com...des/tin-wiskers-problems-causes-and-solutions

 

I'll second dl324's comment. Tin whiskers are an issue with lead free solder. Solder that contains lead will not grow tin whiskers.

+1

The RoHS boondoggle that keeps on giving.

https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/design/technical-documents/tutorials/5/5250.html

In the end, there is no evidence that lead in electronics presents a health risk or causes environmental harm. However, many of the proposed lead-free solutions do pose environment problems and many are much worse for the environment.

 

Tin whiskers are an issue with lead free solder.

It's not the lead that causes tin whiskers.

Looking up what's in silver solder I found this. It surprised me to see there's still some lead in silver solder.