Alert! Previous Fan Failure Strike the f1 key to continue, F2 to run setup utility

[taz82]

Hello everyone,

I have been receiving the following message for over a year now

Alert! Previous Fan Failure Strike the f1 key to continue, F2 to run setup utility The entire screen is blank, with this text only. (followed by 2 beeps)

Normally I just strike the F1 key to continue the pc boots and
everything runs fine; recently my pc has begun to shut itself off
after about 20-30 mins. I am wondering could the above message
message be causing this? If so why did it take so long for something?
like this to occur? How do I check to see if the fan has failed? Is there
more than one fan? Are fans easy to replace? Where do I get one?



If the fan is not the cause do you have any possible suggestions as to
What might be the cause? I realize I should have addressed this issue
A long time ago. I want to get this fixed these shutdowns are very
Annoying.

Here are some details of my P.C

DELL Dimension 8250 P4 3.06GHZ
Purchased in 12/02 (5 years old)
Windows Home XP SP1
80 Gig hard drive
512 RDRAM memory


Thanks for any replies, responses

 

[GameJunkie72792]

Well it must be the fan. probably on the cpu. If this is the case when you ignore this you allowing the cpu too run with no cooling and it shuts off when it overheats. seeing as how you have a Pentium 4 from back in 02 its probably a socket 478.

its pretty straight foward changing this fan old off new on. but to make sure remove the side panel on you computer and when you power it up there should be a fan some what to the top of the mainboard if it doesnt spin then you know thats your problem. If thats the case heres a decently priced fan for your needs>>> http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1800600&CatId=795


and after you fix the fan problem id upgrading to SP2

 

[mailpup]

I have a Dell 8250. Its specs are in my profile. After owning it for less than a year, I was getting the identical message regarding fan failure. The fan failure was the CPU fan. However, before I did anything about it, Dell called me on the telephone to tell me that they had been experiencing fan failures for this model and were replacing them for free. I told them that I had in fact experienced this fan failure. Anyway, Dell arranged for a tech to come to my home and replace it for free. It took the tech maybe 2 minutes. Happy ending for me. It's been fine ever since.

For what it's worth you might want to call Dell just in case you were overlooked somehow.

Edit: If you replace it yourself, the case opens like a clamshell. See your manual for details. The CPU fan is not attached to the CPU heatsink directly. Rather, it is attached to the back and a plastic right angle "funnel" directs the air to or from the heatsink (can't remember the flow direction).

 

[raybay]

If out of warranty, you can fix it yourself for about $12

 

[GameJunkie72792]

I don't know much of dell's, never owned one, thanks mailpup.

 

[taz82]

Thanks for the Info guys I appreciate it.