terryc said on Sun, 19 Jan 2025 11:32:23 +1100

>Before everyone goes off chasing wobblies, please consider the air you
>and your devices are in.
>
>VOCs = Volatile Organic Compounds are a modern wonder substance and a
>disaster at the same time.
>
>If you and your devices live full time in a basically closed
>environment, your air will be full of these compounds.
>
>You can and should web search the matter before you start adding
>substances/sources into the mix

It's not like I drink the stuff or smoke the stuff huff the stuff, nor
spray it around willy nilly. I've been using this stuff fairly
regularly since 1978, and I'm still here.

>They seem to have an affinity for copper surfaces. e.g contacts, where
>they can build up and coat the surfaces

Yes, that's the whole point, to coat the copper surface with lubricant
to prevent fretting corrosion.

>leading to intermittents.

s/leading/preventing


>The most effective solution is repeated working of the contacts; i.e
>repeated removal and reinsertion of the card, plug, chip, etc.

Been there, done that. It works for awhile and then stops, because the
vibrating machine shaves off oxidation which then builds up, putting an
ever thickening barrier between contacts. You need a lubricant to
prevent the shaving. I used to have better cites, but here's one:

https://www.nyelubricants.com/what-is-fretting-corrosion



>
>This is an old, but NOT well known problem. It is exacerbated by the
>modern practise of recirculating air in offices and sealing modern
>homes.
>
>I became aware of it when doing system support in a newly constructed
>and furnished tower building when the roll out of new PC computers was
>plagued with intermittents.
>
>Whilst the entire department was investigating every thing they
>imagine could be responsible and with windows 3.1 there was a lot. I
>stumbled on the fix when one of these newly intermittent computer was
>dropped.It basically split into four shell components and motherboard,
>backplane and any daughter boards. The only screws in the system were
>those holding the daughter boards into the backplane.
>
>This theory was repeatedly tested by disassembling any intermittent
>computer, working the interfaces and reassembling the bits. This
>solved the intermittent problem and closed the tickets. In a few
>cases it was necessary to work any chip socketed in the motherboard as
>well as the RAMM cards.
>
>Please don't add anything like lubes.
>For your own health, you are better off improving the air yourself and
>the device ares in.

Do you envision me splashing this stuff all over? Do you really think a
fingertip of lubricant will significantly alter the air in my house?
Car mechanics deal with tons of lubricants all the time, and I don't
see them living shorter lifetimes.

Here's my advice for a long life: Don't smoke, don't join a gang, don't
rob banks, and yep, don't drive a car.

SteveT

Steve Litt

http://444domains.com