Is dust electrically conductive?

UnworthyBean

UnworthyBean

UnworthyBean

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Just been fixing a friends PC, And each time the power button was pressed, It would spark from the 4 pin processor power. Looking at it, There was no noticable damage or anything, It looked fine. Took the motherboard out and on the back where a nice few scorch marks where it looked like it had short circuited. On the case side of things was a nice clump of dust just under where it had died, Must have just gathered on the long metal bits underneath the mobo.

So, Could the dust actually cause this? And if so, Would anything else be fried?
 
in theory yes, dust is merely particles of dead skin and random bits of other particles that rubbed off into the air and eventually settled.
if there happens be metal in those particles then yep, but still not very well.
 
Dust can carry electricity in ways the pc was not meant to experiance so it could have been the cause of the shortage, yes.

Edit: sorry for the same responce lol there wernt one here so though id answer.
 
Might go get a voltmeter or whatever they're called and test this specific bit of dust out.

Would normally be excited about getting new components, Even though its not my pc. Not excited this time as I will most probably be getting an identical motherboard. Fair enough S775 is at the end of its life span, But no point in buying a newer I7 or anything.
 
UnworthyBean said:
Just been fixing a friends PC, And each time the power button was pressed, It would spark from the 4 pin processor power. Looking at it, There was no noticable damage or anything, It looked fine. Took the motherboard out and on the back where a nice few scorch marks where it looked like it had short circuited. On the case side of things was a nice clump of dust just under where it had died, Must have just gathered on the long metal bits underneath the mobo.

So, Could the dust actually cause this? And if so, Would anything else be fried?
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Depends where the PC has been used. For instance in industrial environments dust is not the same as the dust you might get in your bedroom. If the PC has been used in a straightforward domestic environment I would say it is unlikely dust was the cause of the problem - otherwise PCs would be failing due to dust all over the place and it would be a very common problem.

Be careful connecting up the new Mobo in case the problem lies with power supply, lead or plug-to-mobo.
 
UnworthyBean said:
Just been fixing a friends PC, And each time the power button was pressed, It would spark from the 4 pin processor power. Looking at it, There was no noticable damage or anything, It looked fine. Took the motherboard out and on the back where a nice few scorch marks where it looked like it had short circuited. On the case side of things was a nice clump of dust just under where it had died, Must have just gathered on the long metal bits underneath the mobo.

So, Could the dust actually cause this? And if so, Would anything else be fried?
Click to expand...

pretty unlikely dust did this unless it happened to have metal particles in it for some reason.
 
Its static electricity that caused it rather than full current flow

Water doesn't conduct either, it appears to due to water molecules being slightly polarised meaing they can aline themselves in a way to "carry charge". Its not contuctivity in the normal sense of the word.
 
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Looked inside the PC and dust was the only thing I could really see that caused it. It was running quite happily for 2 years or so, Never touched or moved.

Might have just been coming to the end of its life and wanted to go out with a bang though.
 
humans are only conductive due to high water content in body, dead dry human cells would contain minimal water content.
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And there will sill be water in those cells in a hot comp case!?


Abouslutly not tbh the dust could be conductive but it would have to be solid as there is too much air in the dust for it to conduct. 12Vs just won;t jump distances either it'll spark if touched together but not if not in contact. This is just not possible.
 
feeddagoat said:
Water doesn't conduct either, it appears to due to water molecules being slightly polarised meaing they can aline themselves in a way to "carry charge". Its not contuctivity in the normal sense of the word.
Click to expand...

Pure water is an effective electrical insulator. All water molecules are polar, their orientation does not constitute a flow of current for the obvious reason that the particles themselves must move for current to flow, and each particle is neutral overall. Ions dissolved in water are free to move under the influence of an electric field, and do so. This is the flow of charge. There is no rotation involved.

Anyway... at 12V dust is probably an insulator. Bad luck I fear. You can argue manufacturing defect if it's fairly new.
 
I think we're missing the point. It is a 4-pin connector where the problem happened, so what about the PSU? Try testing the connector with a voltmeter. Also, if you can get a scrap mobo that still kinda works, test it out on that and see if you get the same problem.
 
It's possible, but many, many conductive particles would have to be in direct contact with each other and the items you're conducting electricity from. I've seen cases literally filled with dust and cobwebs and they all worked after a good clean so i doubt this is the cause of your problem.
 
The power supply has been tested, Along with another power supply with the failed Mobo, Rule out power supply being the problem.

Its also over 3 years old, So couldn't blame it on a fault, Also out of Asus' 3 year warranty afaik.
 
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