My PC's fan is making weird sounds.

[Sir Loin]

My fan sounds like there is something in it, its making noises like it is stalling or something. Its so loud it wakes me up some nights when i'm asleep. Is there anything i can do?

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Which fan is making the noise I.E case fan/cpu fan/psu fan?

Have you tried cleaning it carefully making sure there are no debris in the blades etc?

If all else fails you can always buy another one.

If it`s the psu fan are your temps stable?

Regards Howard

 

[Samstoned]

it's like when your brakes on the car are squealing thats adevice that tells you it's time to change your brakes.
time for a new fan before ya cook something :chef:

 

[Sir Loin]

its my case fan. I haven't checked it for debris yet though...

oops, its my PSU fan, sorry.

 

[Spike]

it could be that the bearings in the fan are worn. It could be something else. Either way, I'm probably nt being incredibly helpful.

The best advice I can think of is that if there's nothing in the blades causing it, and if the fan is secured properly, it's probably time for a replacement (be it a fan, or a psu).

If you shake the blades of the fan, does it wobble to an unexpected extent? if so, (and if this is in your PSU, I'm advising you NOT to do this unless you know what you're doing. PSU's can really pack a punch, even after they've been turned off!), you might try taking the fan out, if possible, and dare I say, oiling it. (NOT the electrical bit. I mean under the blades). It's unconventional, and possibly even impossible, but it might work.

If it's your PSU fan, and you are already using a cheap PSU, then a replacement would be a better idea.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

its my case fan. I haven't checked it for debris yet though...

oops, its my PSU fan, sorry.

In that case a new psu is probably in order.

BTW in my earlier post I meant to say cpu fan and check that your temps are stable.

Also Spike is quite correct in that if you do open up your power supply be very carefull the capacitors can hold an electricle charge for quite a long time.

Regards Howard :grinthumb

 

[Sir Loin]

The weird thing is I use the same power supply on my friends computer when I made it and i makes the same noise. The fans i used were new.

 

[nein]

The weird thing is I use the same power supply on my friends computer when I made it and i makes the same noise. The fans i used were new.

That's because most people don't know how to handle fans, including "experts".

"If you shake the blades of the fan, does it wobble to an unexpected extent?" <--- This testing advice will cause every single high-RPM ball-bearing fan to fail within their first year of service.

How would they fail? The first thing they do is making a huge noise racket.

 

[Spike]

including "experts".

If that's directed at me, then I'd like to point out a couple of things.

1, I'm not an expert. I never said I was, and never made any attempt to sound like one.

2, There's a difference between a mild agitation, a gentle prod, a stiff poke, and a violent shake. Which of these you would choose is down to common sense. If you gently touch the blades of a fan and they tilt severly, they are either designed to tilt, (very uncommon I would have thought), or the fan is not quite right. Where exactly was the mention of a fan that runs at particularly high RPMs?

3, the poster suggested it was his PSU fan. I acctually advised the poster not to enter the PSU unless he/she knew exactly what they were ding, and gave good reason. Rather, I suggested that if it is the PSU fan, a replacement PSU would be better.

Personally, I think it's about time that some people on this site started to get down off their high-horses, and start appreciating that nobody knows everything, including theirselves, and to acctually read and think about something someone has said before attacking them. If you had thought about it, you'd have realised that it was a post of suggestions, not advice, and that even then, the first line implied a certain level of general uncertainty for the next suggestion.

I'm not the first person it's happened to recently. No doubt, I won't be the last.

By the way.....

How would they fail? The first thing they do is making a huge noise racket.

you wouldn't by any chnace be confirming my suspicion that the bearings in a fan were wearing out would you?

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The weird thing is I use the same power supply on my friends computer when I made it and i makes the same noise

I'm sorry if I'm just being a bit dense here, but are you saying you used a new power supply of the same type in another computer, or that you used the acctual same power supply making the noise now?

 

[Sir Loin]

oops, sorry. I bought two of the same type fans.

 

[nein]

If that's directed at me, then I'd like to point out a couple of things.

1, I'm not an expert. I never said I was, and never made any attempt to sound like one.

No it wasn't directed at you.

2, There's a difference between a mild agitation, a gentle prod, a stiff poke, and a violent shake. Which of these you would choose is down to common sense. If you gently touch the blades of a fan and they tilt severly, they are either designed to tilt, (very uncommon I would have thought), or the fan is not quite right. Where exactly was the mention of a fan that runs at particularly high RPMs?

Never, never push the fan blades in directions they were not made to go. The higher quality and the greater performance of the fans, the tighter the mechanical tolerances.

Such actions would scored the ball-bearings and ruined them.

3, the poster suggested it was his PSU fan. I acctually advised the poster not to enter the PSU unless he/she knew exactly what they were ding, and gave good reason. Rather, I suggested that if it is the PSU fan, a replacement PSU would be better.

Personally, I think it's about time that some people on this site started to get down off their high-horses, and start appreciating that nobody knows everything, including theirselves, and to acctually read and think about something someone has said before attacking them. If you had thought about it, you'd have realised that it was a post of suggestions, not advice, and that even then, the first line implied a certain level of general uncertainty for the next suggestion.

I'm not the first person it's happened to recently. No doubt, I won't be the last.

You didn't happened to be Spike700 - the A+ certified monitor expert at Rage3D forum?

By the way.....

you wouldn't by any chnace be confirming my suspicion that the bearings in a fan were wearing out would you?

No... Fans not getting their blades pushed the wrong ways can last more than 10 years as the typical norm. That's the symptom of fans abused by fools.

 

[Spike]

Never, never push the fan blades in directions they were not made to go. The higher quality and the greater performance of the fans, the tighter the mechanical tolerances.

Such actions would scored the ball-bearings and ruined them.

I will happily agree with that. However, I still maintain that giving a fan a gentle shake (though I'll admit not from the blades themselves) is no worse a treatment than they recieve in transit/when being shipped. If the fan blades visibly move to any real degree (in a twisting motion rather than a circular one. lol), the odds are in favour of the fan being bad. If it can be prooved that this harms hem, then I would greatly appreciate it if someone would do so.

You didn't happened to be Spike700 - the A+ certified monitor expert at Rage3D forum?

Nope. not a chance. lol I did start A+, but bailed out at the end of the harware section, which was done before software, on account of the fact that much of it was old news I already new, and what I didn't know seemed irrelevnt to running/fixing your average modern computer. I'm no expert on monitors, and in fact, knowing the voltages that can still be found inside them after they've been switched off (considerably higher than PSU's) is all I need to know about them. I simply don't need to know anything else because I'm not going inside one. Secondhand monitors are cheap enough.

No... Fans not getting their blades pushed the wrong ways can last more than 10 years as the typical norm. That's the symptom of fans abused by fools.

That's fair enough, but what I was asking was that given that the Sir Loin has this symptom, would it be a fair first guess that that could be the problem, ie, the bearings?


On a seperate note...

No it wasn't directed at you.

My sincere apologies for jumping on you for that. I clearly misinterpreted your comment. I will shamefully admit that on this rare occasion, I am guilty of one of the very things I complained about ("acctually read and think about something someone has said before attacking them"). It happens I guess, but I am genuinly apologetic about it. :blackeye:

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Now I know I'm being dense here...

oops, sorry. I bought two of the same type fans.

I'm still confused.

 

[Sir Loin]

I found what was making the noise, it was a screw in the power supply. Thanks for all of your help.

 

[Spike]

interesting. I assume you mean a loose screw, and not one rolling around on it's own? I don't think any of us would have given that as a first guess.

It's a funny thing, vibration. (which was my second thought, but all the talk of fans caused me to wrongly rule it out. admittedly, it's the simplest problem (ish) and so probably should have been my fist thought.)

Ah well, we live and learn I guess.

 

[pizzada]

screw loose..LOL

I had to laugh, because a few weeks ago a horrendous shreiking noise started coming from my PC case, and knowing very little about PC hardware, I let it go a few days and it just got worse.
At this point it sounded like the PC would die, and Id have to scrap everything.
But I figured, if its gonna die anyway, I might as well try to fix it...and when I opened the case there was about 3 years of dust built up in there, a huge pile on the heatsink fan. So, I just took a vacuum hose to the fan after removing it...sucked all the lint up...and 'viola'..no more shreik of death from the case.

Is this unsafe to do ? Or is there a better way of removing dust ?

thanks, peace...

 

[Spike]

well, it's not the best method in the world, I'll give it that. I've had many a statick shock off various vacuum cleaner hoses over the years. It does work though.

THE method to do it, or so I've been lead to believe, is to use cans of DRY compressed air, which are availiable in the right shops.

Never done it myself, being happy to settle for a static-less paintbrush or a lint-free cloth. Always keeping one hand on the case though, of course, or better still, wearing an anti-static strap (but that, I find, is a pain in the rear-side.)

 

[Darth_Terra1]

I wouldn't use a vac for removing dust as spike said they can cause static, just do as spike said that works fine, that's if you dont want to pay out for compressed air, one way for removing dust from the PSU fan or the case fan is to blow with a straw it saves having to buy compressed air make sure you cover the motherboard with a sheet of paper to catch the dust, works everytime for me.