Failing fan

[horvendile]

Since I have absolutely no time for such nonsense, it seems that my CPU fan is considering to die on me. The last few days it's been making noises that I am inclined to attribute to failing bearings.

Now, does anyone have experience of how long the fan might live on while (occasionally) sounding like a small aeroplane? I realise that mileages vary, but the order of magnitude would be helpful.

The CPU is a Thunderbird 1200 and the fan... well, it's spinning now, but I have a vague idea that it's a Coolermaster this-and-that.

Thanks in advance.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Check your temps on your CPU and see if they're up a bit more than normal, if so I'd worry a bit and start shopping for a replacement now.

If the temps are fine, it could last a considerable while and just be a bit noisy. Sometimes dust/dirt can build up on the fan rotors and cause it to become a bit unbalanced and make 'em run a little rough and noisy, but they'll still run fine. (ALL of Bubbles fans are currently "running a bit rough but running fine" and she's loud right now....I think I'm gonna do something about that soon!)

 

[horvendile]

Thanks for the advice.
According to the program that keeps track of those things both fan rpm and CPU temp are quite normal, but I'm a bit scared by the stories from a few years ago of Athlons practically bursting into flame at the instant the fan fails. Well, maybe that's exaggerating, but there is definitely no overheating protection.

I guess I'll try to clean the dust away and see if it helps. It wasn't long ago I did that, but the CPU is 62 centigrades in a closed case which is two degrees warmer than it was after the last time I did a really thorough cleaning.

I have heard rumours that it's not a good idea to use a vacuum cleaner in a computer. Provided that you don't have small loose parts or bang wildly on the capacitors, any idea whether that's true?

 

[Thowllly]

Thanks for the advice.
According to the program that keeps track of those things both fan rpm and CPU temp are quite normal, but I'm a bit scared by the stories from a few years ago of Athlons practically bursting into flame at the instant the fan fails. Well, maybe that's exaggerating, but there is definitely no overheating protection.

hmm, I don't remember any stories like that... what I do remember is Tom's showing what happens if you remove the heatsink, but for some strange reason everybody seemed to think that 'heatsink falling of' was equal to 'fan stopping' . You might be able to fry an egg on it, but it won't burst into flames. So, yeah, that's an exaggeration...

I guess I'll try to clean the dust away and see if it helps. It wasn't long ago I did that, but the CPU is 62 centigrades in a closed case which is two degrees warmer than it was after the last time I did a really thorough cleaning.

I have heard rumours that it's not a good idea to use a vacuum cleaner in a computer. Provided that you don't have small loose parts or bang wildly on the capacitors, any idea whether that's true?

Apparently it's a bad idea; it generates static electricity and can suck loose componenets. But I don't have any personal experience with that. Just use a can of compressed air and you should be safe(r).

 

[ZoinKs!]

Last week, my cpu fan failed suddenly. It was a stock 5400 rpm screamer that came with my Palomino 2100+ from about 3 years ago. I guess it'd finally had enough revolutions.

I had a monitoring program running and it sounded a low fan rpm warning. It had dropped to ~780 rpm. I shut down the pc and fiddled with the fan a bit but the pc shut down right away when i tried to restart. (Heh, I like to live dangerously 8) )

I ordered this hsf. It runs quieter and cools better at 3000 rpm then the stock did at 5400. I should've gotten something like it long ago.

Anyway, the point is a fan can start to fail without dooming your system but it's still best to get a new hsf asap.

 

[horvendile]

On vacuum cleaners:

Apparently it's a bad idea; it generates static electricity and can suck loose componenets.

Yeah, that's what I've heard too. But would that really apply to the end of the plastic sucking tube as well? After all, the "engine" will be a metre away from the case.
Any idea if it applies to hair dryers as well? Because I've used one of those twice before (with the heat switched off, mind you) without any apparent disasters.

 

[horvendile]

Anyway, the point is a fan can start to fail without dooming your system but it's still best to get a new hsf asap.

Yes, rather that than having to buy a new computer. For me, the timing for that doesn't get any more suboptimal than this.

But since I'm cheap and lazy I'll try cleaning once first.