A small dust problem here!

[bigmessowires]

The floppy drive in my newly-acquired IIci had some dust bunnies spilling out the front slot. I opened it up, and found this:

View attachment 4996

:O   xx(   :scrambled:

That has to be the worst dust pile I've ever seen inside a computer.

 

[unity]

Wow! There must be something with the air flow design on these. In my high school we had a few IIci and each year they were almost this bad. Yet the other Macs were never as bad.

 

[uniserver]

just blow it out with your air compressor

 

[bigmessowires]

Hehe. I cleaned it pretty well with Q-tips and a lot of lung power, and it actually works.

 

[uniserver]

good job dude!  

 

[Scott Baret]

My IIci is in need of that right now too!! It was cleaned out in 2011 but, sure enough, is accumulating the dust once again!!

 

[Elfen]

Though the environment has changed, dust can be destructive depending on where one lives. Reddish Grey - Iron and rust in the dust which can short out electronics if its not cleaned out. Black - a lot of carbon with some acid (Hydrochloric or Sulphuric Acid), which can be corrosive - Trace Rotting. Whitish Grey - animal hair/pet dander. Yellow - Sulphur content in dust, which can go to Sulphuric Acid if it gets wet. So on and so on. Fluffy vs Dense also signifies how much moisture is in the dust content, which for dust with acid can make it more corrosive.

A job like that, I would have picked the dust bunnies cleaned and vacuumed off the rest. Glad you got it working. Yours look like the last - animal hair/pet dander that has broken down long go.