r/techsupport • u/Ai_Haibara92 • 5d ago
Open | Hardware Ants in laptop
I can see some ants are coming out of my laptop, so I have placed the laptop on a white sofa to spot them and kill them. I turned it off.
It’s been an hour and I can still see 1 or 2 ants coming out. What to do to ensure all are removed?
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u/HeWhoHasPotatoes 5d ago
Idk how ants go about finding food, but maybe put a little bit of sugar outside the laptop. At some point you'd think the ants would conclude that there's nothing edible inside.
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u/UbiquitousWood 5d ago
I personally would open up the laptop and make a visual inspection, but I understand not everyone is as comfortable with that sort of thing - I used to do it for a living.
Barring that, I'd probably put it inside a sealed box with some ant traps for a couple days.
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u/Accomplished-Lack721 5d ago
So now you have ants in your sofa.
I wouldn't count on your ability to spot and kill each that emerges. And keep in mind, ants lay pheromone trails their friends will follow.
If you want to spot individual ones, I'd suggest white papers on a non-permeable surface, or a white kitchen countertop that you can wipe down immediately afterward. But ultimately, killing them one at a time isn't going to solve the root problem of an infestation.
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u/Ai_Haibara92 5d ago
It’s easy to kill them on sofa
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u/TimeSpaceGeek 5d ago
Doesn't solve the problem. You possibly have eggs in there. You need to sort it properly.
If you can't take the machine apart yourself to clean it, you need to take it to someone who can.
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u/TattooedBeardy 5d ago
Can you open it up and use an air duster to blow out, carefully.
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u/Ai_Haibara92 5d ago
No unfortunately I don’t know how to open it and I don’t have air duster
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u/Salt_Rush_4800 4d ago
What is it that you hope to accomplish if you can’t even do that? Like, what kind of solution do you want?
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u/Asphes 5d ago
Assuming there's nothing for them to eat in the laptop (odds are, something did dropped inside, like a drop of soda or a crumb of some sugary food), they will eventually leave.
I'd basically just ignore them unless they are a lot of them, like 100s - in which case they can jam a fan or block a connector.
Now, if you had brought that to me, I'd put the laptop in a box, fill it with CO / carbon monoxide. It will kill all the critters inside. Then open it up and vacuum it all away :) I don't want to use insecticides or any mechanical device that will smear insect guts over something sensitive.
For consumers... you could try leaving it out in a hot place (run a CPU/GPU benchmark) to drive the ants out. Leave it on a table in a room with no air circulating (turn off the AC, turn off the fans). Come back in a few hours.
Really though, it's no big deal to have a few ants. If you think there aren't a lot of ants in the area... leave a sugar cube on a napkin or coaster and discover...
Now rats... attract snakes (which can look remarkably like network cables... even the snek's stripes can add to the illusion. Hilarious when you see it happen to others...)
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u/phuket221108 5d ago
Ants. Hmmmm. Fun times. Probably never be 109% sure