main cooling fan buzzing

my main cooling fan is erractically buzzing on and off
I don't think I touched it when taking out the sound card (s)
problem could be coincidental
I have tried tightening the 4 screws and cleaning it with a toothbrush
when I touch the top of the fan the buzzing will stop (for a while)
what should I do ?
is this just an annoyance or is the fan about to pack it in and should be replaced ?

 

schamish

Sounds like it may be one of the blades is partially broke/bent or out balance in some way and is vibrating. Also could be that the case has overheated and the Fan blade assembly is not running true on the shaft & as a result it is vibrating.

Replacement appears to be a likely solution.

Instead of cleaning with a toothbrush, I use a one inch artists brush (with long bristles), and a vacuum cleaner and gently move the brushes across each blade to take off the residue & let the Vacuum take it up.

Hope this helps

 

If irdreed's,
suggestion doesn't work replace it. Fans are too cheap to risk popping the CPU.

Rookie
- -

 

cpu cooling fan installation

well got a cpu cooling fan.
what are the steps to install the fan ?
remember I am a newcomer at hardware installation

 

Hey it's just a little clip. Those screws just hold it to the base.
No Problem

Make sure it matches not too big or small. "Not Likely though "
If it looks off, take off the old one and bring it to the store with you.
Otherwise, Post back one way or the other.

Rookie
- -

 

don't want to push my luck.
there are two clips.
What do I do with the clips to release the fan ?
do I unscrew the screws on top of the fan ?

 

In all probability you have four srews holding the fan to the heatsink ( I think you have a socket 7 AMD K6-II bsed on one of your other posts). If this is the case, just unscrew these and your fan should come off - now you need to find a replacement fan. I think what you are referring to re: clips are the heatsink clips holding the heatsink onto the CPU socket. If this is the case, leave these alone.

Tough to know for sure without a picture or a better description but replace that fan.

 

Agreed. Leave the clips alone and just unscrew the fan and replace it with another. Most likely it's a 60x20mm fan. You might want to try and match the wattage of the original fan. Also take note of whether it's using a 3-pin mobo connector or a 4-pin Molex (from power supply) connector. You can get a decent, name-brand, ball-bearing fan for $5-10. You can also get one for $3 but I wouldn't try to save pennies when it comes to your cpu-cooling fan.

 

thanks new fans in

thanks to everyone for their help.
I had tried to unscrew the screws. However two came out and two were partially stripped.
I was told to pry off the fan while unscrewing.
It was simply a matter of pulling the fan up while unscrewing
works fine now
also installed a 8 cm larger fan as well

thanks again

 

That's good news schamish and thanks for the feedback.

You must remember what you have learned since it 's an old mechanics trick to exert upward pressure while trying to remove a stripped *****. That only works when the stripped ***** extends beyond its inserted material. That lets some good threads (the ones sticking beyond the base material) take hold and back the ***** out.

Cheers.
edit; ***** means s c r e w of course, It's encoded to protect the innocent.

 

the fans seem to be running well and the case if back on.
according to ada32 (exceptional program) the temperatures
are:
motherboard 25 degrees c (77 degrees farenheit)
cpu 35 degrees c (95 degrees farenheit)
aux 41 degrees c ( 206 degrees farenheit)

are these reasonable values for an Amd 350 system ?

 

Other than the aux reading (don't know what that is) that sounds like reasonable temperatures albeit pretty cool in your house apparently. I'm guessing it's less than 70° F. but I can't guarantee that since temp sensors tend to be more relative then actual in their readouts. The important thing is to establish and record a benchmark that represents what the sensors read when you were operating without any problems. That will serve you well when troubleshooting later.

Please comment on what the aux reading represents since it seems quite high. Also, did you mean AIDA32 as the exceptional program? If so, I agree. I generally read a MOBO temp of 88° F. and a cpu temp of 82° F. but I'm running an Intel P4 and they are fairly conservative.

Cheers.

 

and the answer to the question of aux is

In most cases Aux wire is not connected, so the possible temperature it may
reflect is meaningless.


Best Regards,
Tamas Miklos

www.aida32.hu

 

fan on power supply

after all this I notice that the fan on the power supply does not seem to be working.
Is this of any concern ?

 

It sounds like you replaced the wrong fan!! I would recommend not operating the computer without a power supply fan. Replace it immediately or else get a new power supply (recommended).

 

can you replace fan itself of

Zephyr,
everything seemed fine until the CPU fan stared making an erratic burr.
on closer examination the power source fan does not seem
to be working (diagnosis by q-tip stuck into fan -high tech diagnosis)
if the computer temps are
motherboard 26 degrees c (70 degrees f)
cpu 33 degrees c ( 91 degrees f)

out of wack or ok ?

to replace the power source fan can you replace just the fan or the whole power source unit ?

 

The fan is replaceable as an individual unit but you'll need to have some basic skills and tools. It will likely be hard wired so you may need a soldering gun, solder, wirecutters, splice connectors, and shrink tube ot tape, just to mention a few.

New power supplies are fairly cheap and I would recommend that if you don't want all the bother. Pull the old one out and take it with you for matching up to the new one.

The temps you mention are within reason but that says nothing for the temp of the power supply components. Fix that thing before something worse happens, you're skating on thin ice. I think your CPU temp will go down when you get the PS fan running since it's largely responsible for ventilating the cabnet. You CPU fan is recirculating previously heated air now.

 

power supply replaced

Zephyr,
power supply has been replaced.
the cpu and motherboard temps are 5 degrees farenheit
less than previous.

thanks again

 

Cool deal!

 

floppy disk (s) fail (40)

Zephyr,
after the power source install I get the following error message on boot " floppy disk (s) fail (40) "
F1 will allow me to continue with the reboot
as before Win 98 se
I have run the hardware wizard nothing new detected
all the cables seem tight -unless something is in the wrong place ?

any ideas ?