Heatsink+Fan Problem

I run an AMD 64 3500+ with the stock heatsink and fan. For a few months now my PC has taken to, whilst a bit into booting up beeping contionously (one solid never ending beep). In the manual this says it's a RAM error, however the PC manages to boot up to windows so it can't be! However i have now forund the problem. Looking through the window i was shocked to see the heatsink's fan stop spinning as soon as the beep started! (it was spinning fine just before). All i usually have to do to fix it is reboot and all works fine, however, now ive discovered it's the heatsink fan stopping i am scared as hell im gonna burn out my processor. Any suggestions?? Will a new heatsink/fan setup fix the problem?? (my mobo is a Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLi)

 

You can purchase just the fan or a heatsink/fan combo. Either should fix your problem unless there is a problem with the power feed for the fan.

 

Is there any way to find out where the problem is? I dont wanna shell out on a new heatsink/fan only to find it's not that which is causing the problem!

 

Ways to check. Read the motherboard manual or look closely at the motherboard for a "system fan" connector, you could change the cable over to that if it will reach. You can get an adapter that will power the fan directly from a power supply connector if the problem seems to be with the power coming from the motherboard.
Inspect the heatsink and fan closely, is there a build up of dust in the fins of the heatsink or on the propellers of the fan, maybe there is something physically stopping the fan. You should be able to unscrew the fan and clean it and the heatsink fins.

If there does not seem to be a reason for it to stop, then the motor or bearings are failing. (Blow a stream of air at the fan, does it spin freely or "clunk" around?)

As whiskeyman said, you should be able to purchase a fan without the heatink. If you remove the heatsink you will need to remove the old thermal compound, between it and the CPU, and replace it.

Matt

 

Wow, i didnt see you post before this morning (didnt get an email) so i did this off my own back!
I decided to do a little test to see where the problem is. I used a 3>4 pin converter to wire the heatsinkfan to the power supply, and i plugged one of my 3pin case fans into the CPU fan slot on the Mobo...... The heatsink fan span perfect..... and the case fan stopped spinning just were the heatsink one normally does and i got the usual beep!!! This suggests to me that the problem is in the motherboard not the heatsink/fan, so buying a new one will just waste money.
What do you think? Are there any BIOS settings dealing with fans?
I am kinda considering water-cooling now, cos i dont really wanna send my mobo back to gigabyte or whatever!

 

Molex adapters:
http://www.pccasegear.com.au/category197_1.htm
Run the CPU/heatsink fan directly from the power supply (you will not get a readout of the CPU fan's RPMs).

Matt

 

O yea, ive already got a 3>4 pin adapter. Its what i used earlier. So you think i should just run the fan off my PSU then and not bother with the Mobo supply.

 

OK, one slight problem. Without a fan attached tp the CPU fan slot the computer constantly beeps as it thinks there is no fan attached to the heatsink or whatever.

 

OK, fan conncted to PSU, BIOS fan warning disabled.....But now my fan is real noisy all the time so me thinks new heatsink/fan anyway.
Cheers for your help guys.... problem solved!

 

The third wire (yellow) on a three wire / three pin connector is the fan speed sensor connector.
The solution is to cut the red and black and splice them to a molex connector / adaptor and connect them directly to a power supply molex connector. Connect the three pin connector with only the yellow wire left connected, to the motherboard cpu header. The problem appears to be that something is drawing more power than the motherboard power trace can handle and and the voltage is dropping to low to keep the fan spinning. It could just be the traces to the CPU fan which are damaged, or it could be any other 12V item connected to the motherboard. If you have an additional 4 wire 12V connector for the CPU in addition to the normal 20 wire connnector, make sure it is connected and secure.

 

Yea, well i checked the 4 pin 12V wire and it's connected properly, checked all other power connectors and the like, they are all good. It's certainly not a wattage problem as my PSU is a good quality 560W one.

 

These days, it's usually a good idea to run your cpu fan off the power supply. There are 3-to-4 pin adapters that include a yellow split-off to the bios can do fan rpm monitoring. I actually have a zillion of these things on my shelves.

There's a limit to the current that the mainboard's cpu fan connector can deliver and if you attach a powerful fan, you can damage your mainboard. Plus, it's one less thing that can go wrong and possibly cause damage to your cpu.

If you're looking for a new HSF, you might want to consider one that has a universal mount for any 80mm fan (or whatever size) so you can swap them out easily if one fails or install one that's quieter or gives betting cooling performance, etc., etc.

I think the memory "beep" you were referring to is one repeating beep...not one continuous beep.

Gary

 

No, my PC was making just one continuous beep, not repeating.... that's the CPU fan failure alert, i have now turned that off in the BIOS so i can put the fan onto the PSU.
Will these "3-to-4 pin adapters that include a yellow split-off" wires allow the Mobo to control the speed of the fan? Or is it just so that the BIOS knows the RPM?

 

Yes.

Bioses don't ever control fan speed. I have a rheostat attached to my fan so I can control fan speed. Some Thermaltake fans come with these. Let's you tailor your "cooling-to-noise ratio ".

 

I think i'll get an extension and then connect it to my fan controller.