Untimely CPU fan replacement day |
Waking up to a black monitor screen and flashing light on the computer with strange noise is rarely a good sign, certainly not on our second busiest day of the week: live radio show Friday. It’s also the day I record the bi-monthly Hmmcast and this is one of the machines used (doh!).
I unplugged everything and moved the box to my workbench area to see what was happening. Besides the massive amount of dust, which I took the compressor to it I noticed when I plugged it back in that the CPU fan wasn’t moving.
Kara did some intrepid Googling and found a PDF file from eMachines for replacing the CPU fan. The connectors on the heat sink were factory sticky and needed some semi-gentle prodding with a flat head screwdriver to release the CPU fan.
The local Best Buy doesn’t open until 10am (no holiday hours yet?), but hopefully that will be my last unintended sojourn of the morning. I’ve learned my lesson, no more eMachine purchases. We’ve had good success with lowend HP and Compaq machines. We roll these things over every 18 months or so anyway. If the flashing light problem is more than the fan, I’ll probably just buy a new machine and scrap this one for parts. No time this morning for new computer shopping though.
Why don’t these things happen on the weekends?
Update 4:47pm PST: LOL, the PC Doctor makes a quiz out of my dusty computer (see trackback link below). The system looks a lot better now after the compressor was taken to it:
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Pingback by Quick quiz - What’s wrong with this picture? » The PC Doctor — December 1, 2006 @ 4:55 pm PST
I have a question please. Two days ago I logged off my pc, that evening I logged back on, I recieved this message on my pc before Windows even opened up…”No CPU fan detected” Well needless to say I had no clue as to what a CPU fan was, so I googled it, I then took the panel off my pc to get a better look (after I unplugged the pc of course) The first thing I noticed was that the back vent on the tower was clogged with a thick layer of muck! I’m a smoker so I’m sure that added to the dust. I cleaned the vent with a soft toothbrush and removed the fan and cleaned it as well, I then removed all dust inside my pc. I was gentle as to not do any damage to any parts on the inside. I then plugged it back in (in hopes that would do the trick) …I turned it on, and to my amazment NO message this time….my question to you is, do I need to replace the cpu fan? or since it is now running is it okay to run it? It’s running quieter then it has in awhile. I’m still scared to death that it will quit again, so I have a small fan placed next to the tower running too. Is this okay?
Thanks,
Linda Kay
Comment by Linda Kay Gibbs — December 11, 2006 @ 6:43 am PST
Hi Linda - I’d pick up a can of compressed air or get a friend with a compressor to blow the dust out of the system. And then you might still want to replace that fan. If it goes out as you saw most computers will notify you that it is unoperational and probably not start up. Running a fan outside the unit isn’t going to do what an inside fan is going to do.
Comment by TDavid — December 11, 2006 @ 9:51 am PST
Thank you TDavid for getting back, so am I safe for now? Like I said it is running great. It’s not even making that sound it was before I cleaned it. All my components are working great at this time.
Thanks again,
Linda Kay
Comment by Linda Kay Gibbs — December 11, 2006 @ 11:09 am PST
Hi Linda - “safe” is something I wouldn’t want to say, especially since I’m not a hardware technician by trade. If you leave it alone it might be just fine, but if it isn’t working correctly, it won’t keep the components cool and could cause damage to them if they overheat. Extreme heat is death to computer components.
Best case scenario is fan dies, computer senses problem and won’t startup until it is resolved. Fans are cheap. I paid like $5 for a replacement CPU fan.
You can probably replace the fan yourself, but if you don’t want to mess with it then find a local computer repair shop to do it for you. Probably will cost you $40-75 including parts and labor, anything more than that to replace a CPU fan keep looking for somebody else. Certainly less expensive then if fan dies when you aren’t paying attention and the motherboard gets fried.
Bottom line: if it was an important / regularly used machines of ours, I’d replace the fan. If it was one of our extra boxes I probably wouldn’t worry about it.
Hope that helps
Comment by TDavid — December 11, 2006 @ 11:27 am PST
Okay, you’ve convinced me. I’m going to do it myself though, it doesn’t seem to be that hard of a job after looking at it.
Thanks for your feedback.
Linda Kay
Comment by Linda Kay Gibbs — December 11, 2006 @ 3:11 pm PST
One more thing please, other then the obvious message “No UPC fan detected” what else should I look for if the fan is not working properly?
Linda Kay
Comment by Linda Kay Gibbs — December 11, 2006 @ 3:13 pm PST
My Recommendations is to remove the side of the case and watch the fan, does it spin smooth?
Else i would recommend a new CPU fan.
Could be wise to buy a new one and have just in case that it dies and you don’t need to rush around and look for a new one at that time.
Comment by Forser — December 11, 2006 @ 3:28 pm PST
Another option is to get the extra fan and run them both. There are fans that you can plug directly into your power supply. Never hurts to extra cool the inside of a box, especially P4s and AMD64s. They run hot as it is.
Comment by darkmoon — December 11, 2006 @ 3:52 pm PST
Linda, you should be able to replace the fan for yourself. They often fasten in with screws. Find your pc make & model number. Then do a search for make model number and “cpu fan”. As stated above, most the time you can pick them up for around $10.
As far as checking it, you can run the computer with the side panel off and visually see if the fan is running. There are more technical ways of doing it, but thats a good one for newbies ;-). Be sure to post back and let us know how it turns out.
Comment by Lestat — December 11, 2006 @ 4:08 pm PST
I do in fact have the side panel off to watch it and make sure, as of now and since I have cleaned it, it actually is running smoother then it has in awhile, I do however stop about every 30 minutes or so to make sure that the fan is running, so far so good. I had a older pc crash on me and have just bought this one last year, so I’m in no hurry to run out and purchase a new one, lol.
I’m really just learning how to do all this stuff, I find it very interesting how these darn things work, With my old Windows 98 I did learn how to change the modem and add a memory card to it, but when it was hit by lightning (and yes, I did have a surge protector on it at the time) I had to put the old one in the shop, it was burnt to a crisp, it got the motherbaord, processor, etc. and it was cheaper to just purchase a new one.
Thanks so much for your help, it’s most appreciated.
Linda Kay
Comment by Linda Kay Gibbs — December 11, 2006 @ 4:50 pm PST
I’ve had this happen with brand new ones too. You know what they say “One rotten CPU fan, spoils the whole bushel”
Comment by Lestat — December 11, 2006 @ 4:59 pm PST