Well, I built my cpu about a year and a half ago, and it has been running just fine until about a week ago after I watched a movie on my cpu, and it ubruptly shutdown...
At first I didn't pay it much attention until the system kept shutting down after about an hour of running or so. Then I noticed that the case began to vibrate, and there was a new noice that seemed wrong. By now when I wanted to turn on the cpu it would take me like 5 tries to keep it on. Finally, two days later I decided to open up my cpu and turn it on. The processor fan seemed to be struggling to start, and the system shut down immediately.
The second time I tried the fan didn't struggle but after a few seconds it started to wobble again and the system turned off once more.
Now, I'll admit I hadn't dusted my computer in like 6 months, so I cleaned it figuring that this might be the problem. Nope. Fan continued to struggle.
So then I tried removing the fan off the heatsink in order to see if the fan was having problems, or there was something else. The fan worked FINE once it was off the heatsink. I cleaned the fan more thoroughly and reattached it to the heatsink. The system turned on immediately. But about an hour later it turned of again, the noise was back.
Now my cpu is running with the fan over the heatsink, unattached, and the tower is lying on its side so the fan won't fall off the heatsink. The fan only appears to struggle when it attached to the heatsink...
So here's my question:
Is the fan the problem, the heatsink, or both?
I read about loose heatsinks... but mine won't budge so I doubt that's it. If you go t ANY idea, let me know.
Thanks
At first I didn't pay it much attention until the system kept shutting down after about an hour of running or so. Then I noticed that the case began to vibrate, and there was a new noice that seemed wrong. By now when I wanted to turn on the cpu it would take me like 5 tries to keep it on. Finally, two days later I decided to open up my cpu and turn it on. The processor fan seemed to be struggling to start, and the system shut down immediately.
The second time I tried the fan didn't struggle but after a few seconds it started to wobble again and the system turned off once more.
Now, I'll admit I hadn't dusted my computer in like 6 months, so I cleaned it figuring that this might be the problem. Nope. Fan continued to struggle.
So then I tried removing the fan off the heatsink in order to see if the fan was having problems, or there was something else. The fan worked FINE once it was off the heatsink. I cleaned the fan more thoroughly and reattached it to the heatsink. The system turned on immediately. But about an hour later it turned of again, the noise was back.
Now my cpu is running with the fan over the heatsink, unattached, and the tower is lying on its side so the fan won't fall off the heatsink. The fan only appears to struggle when it attached to the heatsink...
So here's my question:
Is the fan the problem, the heatsink, or both?
I read about loose heatsinks... but mine won't budge so I doubt that's it. If you go t ANY idea, let me know.
Thanks