My PC had been making strange noises and running slower, so I assumed it was time to clean the fan/cooling fins. I opened the side panel thing to see cockroaches coming in and out of an open PCI slot. So I got a PCI slot cover. When I moved the PC to my desk I found it look about like rat's nest inside. Roaches were swarming the PC Fan, Cards, Disk Drives, Power Supply, etc. Probably hundreds maybe a thousand. I've never seen so dusty a CPU fan in my life, the all the cooling fins were totally covered in dust and crap.

I cleaned the fins and the fan. Its running faster and probably cooler and not making as much noise, however the roaches remain. I don't like them going in and out of my power supply and Disk Drives, in and out of my USB plugs and crap, I am curious how do you exterminate a PC? You can't spray it...I know they go there due to the heat, any suggestions on how to get rid of these roaches?

On a humorious side it reminded me of the movie where only the cock roaches remained, as I saw them swarming over my PC it was the wiredest thing I've see, funky stuff.

Thanks,

SilverFox

That actually sort of reminds me of the movie Pi when he finds ants in his computer. Well first maybe take it outside and spray out the dust (and maybe some roaches) with canned air.
I suppose you could set one of those roach poison things down at the bottom of the tower. If you have any pets, that may not be a good idea. You may be able to just remove some of the parts and dump the roaches off.

Down here at this time of year it is far to humid to take it out side. It'd probably get wet. As for the bait thing that might be feesible.

I will probably just take it parts out and get the roaches off like you said, and hope they don't come back.

Thanks,

Silverfox

This post has been edited by SilverFox: Mar 31 2007, 10:04 PM

Ever heard of Gamma-Xene ?? It's a white powdery pesticide which is as effective against roaches as it can ever get. It should be available at most of the regular hardware stores. Dust it all over inside your cabinet. It works wonders Biggest advantage is that it isn't a liquid or aerosol - so you needn't worry about your box getting wet and short-circuiting. However, for a couple of days, you gotta be careful ... so that you don't digest any of that powdery stuff yourself. Keep the box away from your keyboard, as in place it below the table or a bit far off (as far as your keyboard + mouse wires permit). As long as it's not on the same plane (read table) as your kb + mouse you shouldn't have a reason to worry

Heh thats pretty strange, i would have thought the pci slots are too small to let them pass through, whats amazing is that there are huge ammounts of roaches just in your pc, it's unbeleivable.
Anyways, what i'd probably do is take it apart and give it a huge cleaning, or do what m^e suggested then take it apart to remove the dead roaches. Good luck

-HellFire

M^e good ideas. Thanks. I'll work on this. Wish me luck!

Yeah I am with Hellfire, how the heck did cockroaches get into your computer like that, after cleaning it out and putting your computer somewhere cockroaches can't get to, also try and find the place the cock roaches are hanging out at and kill the source from there. I am in a bit of shock thinking your computer hasn't gone kaput, I would assume that they been chewing on stuff in their and of course doing nature's duty in their as well. You could say your topic title does make some sense .

This post has been edited by saint-michael: Apr 1 2007, 07:25 PM

Having cockroaches inside the cabinet is really weird. Even though my room has quite a few of them lurking all around the corners and one of the PCI slot latch being open, I have never seen any of them inside the cabinet. The other common bugs that generally dwell in electronics such as TVs have stayed out of the PC as well. Perhaps, the heat factor attributes to it or maybe the daily usage keeps them at bay.

If I were in your position, I would do probably anything to get rid of those bugs. The thought of them eating up the wires, although unlikely, stirs me off. You should certainly try on m^e's formula.

I've heard of computer bugs but this is ridiculous!

Can you not do a general pesticide spray in the area around your PC?

That's simply amazing that they keep coming back. Are you having problems anywhere else in your home? Or just the PC?

All over my Kitchen and part of the living room. The PC is near the kitchen, they have spilled over into that part of the living room. My fear is if i exterminate the house (which I plan on doing soon) is that they will survive deep inside the PC. Lol.

Kinda like off a SCI-FI movie. I use the PC a lot and don't turn it off at night often, perhaps turning it off more often would let it cool at night and morning making them less likely to stay there. That in addiction to possibly M^e's idea could cut down on them hopefully. Thanks for the ideas and suggestions.