Seems like the fan in my PC has a bad bearing, what will happen if I just leave it?

[Ross PK81]

It's really really noisy on start up but when the computer has warmed up it goes quiet.

The noise has got worse over the past couple of weeks.

What would happen if I don't replace it, will it just stop, or not work as efficiently and therefore endanger my computer?

Thanks.

[Fazor]

Depends on which fan it is. I had a bearing go bad on my vid card fan. I ignored it until my graphics had a meltdown (almost literally). It destroyed the card.

If it's your CPU fan, then it'll eventually overhead and lead to an unstable system, and if you push it, will fry the processor.

If it's the power-supply fan, then ... you end up with a really hot power supply. (I don't know if it's hot enough to meltdown or what happens).

Regardless, you should fix the fan. Solong as it's still running, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. If it's not up to 100% speed you'll probably run a little hot, but shouldn't be dangerous hot until the fan dies completely. Most of the time it's just dirt or something that's keeping a bearing from working right. You can try blowing it out with a can of air.

Replacing fans is pretty cheap and usually pretty easy aswell.

[Moose]

Yup. Fazor's right. Depends on which fan. If it's the power supply, CPU, chipset, or video card fan, when (not if) the bearing fails and stops the fan outright, your computer will suffer damage. Expensive damage. Fans, on the other hand, are cheap and readily replaceable.

[Donnie B.]

Leave the computer on all the time. ;)

[chrissy]

It will annoy you. :whistle:

Get it checked out and sorted out before more damage is done, I had to clean up a laptop that was full of dust from going to Iraq and Afghanistan. (evil fine stuff) It was causing the system to freeze quite often.

[Ronald Brak]

I have a similar problem. Sometimes the fan runs properly, othertimes the fan rattles and it's ability to cool diminishes. As getting it fixed may cost more than the laptop is worth I've decided to simply keep using it for as long as I can while backing up regularly and then replace the whole thing once the fan goes. Actually my friend has offered to give me her old laptop which has a broken disk drive, so I'm feeling glad I didn't rush out to get the fan replaced.

(By the way, if anybody cares, this is a textbook example of how we end up in a recession. My income gets reduced because of the drop in the stockmarket so I use my old computer until it dies instead of buying a new one, and so the guy who owns the computer shop decides he can't afford to take a vacation this year and will stay at home and play GTA instead, which means he won't go to the Blue Oyster Bar, so the bar cancels the renovations they had planned, and so on.)

[ktesibios]

If it's the power supply fan and you continue running the computer after it finally dies, the power supply will overheat. This probably won't cause an immediate failure or catch on fire, but prolonged operation at excessive temperature will cause such things as the insulation on wires and the plastic housings of Molex connectors to deteriorate, become brittle and eventually crumble.

If piece of electronic equipment uses forced-air cooling, never try to keep using it if the cooling system fails. I've seen amplifiers ruined beyond economical repair by a foolish owner who kept running them without the fan working.

[Sam5]

It's really really noisy on start up but when the computer has warmed up it goes quiet.

The noise has got worse over the past couple of weeks.

What would happen if I don't replace it, will it just stop, or not work as efficiently and therefore endanger my computer?

Thanks.


You can buy ac and dc cooling fans at radio shack. I've got one running into the air intake of my VCR/DVD. I noticed the DVD side getting hot after a couple of hours. I opened it up and found a tiny little fan inside, that didn't seem to be working, so I added an outside fan to blow air into the air intake of the DVD.

Regarding the computer, I use a local mom and pop isp. They also have a technician who repairs computers. So when I have a computer problem, I just take my tower to them and they fix it.

My first computer totally crashed. Would no longer light up the screen or do anything. I bought a new one. Several months later I thought of taking my old one apart. I removed the old hard drive, I took it to mom and pop, and their technician downloaded all my old files to a portable external hard drive, which plugs into my new computer. Lol, I've got some old files from the old Baut board of 9 years ago. :)

[TrAI]

It's really really noisy on start up but when the computer has warmed up it goes quiet.

The noise has got worse over the past couple of weeks.

What would happen if I don't replace it, will it just stop, or not work as efficiently and therefore endanger my computer?

Thanks.

Well, There are many possible outcomes of having a failing fan, depending on the part the fan is supposed to cool, the components used, and just the Murphy state of your area of the universe at the time.

a failing fan may cause insufficient cooling, it will not be as efficient as a fan that is in good shape.

Overheating of components causes slowdown, lockups, thermal shutdown of the system or may just fry the component entirely. This may be things like CPUs, GPUs, RAM and so on. High temperatures will reduce the lifetime of the components too.

Overheating powersupplies may be destroyed, or become unstable. A rather common mode of failing for switched powersupplies in my experience is that the switching transistors kind of fuse, so that it just conducts to all terminals. This will probably blow the fuse on the circuit the machine is connected too, something that may cause problems. Also, it may cause overvoltages to damage other parts of the system.

Poor cooling may influence other components too, like the harddisks, since it can increase the temperature inside the cabinet of the machine. Fires are unlikely, but not impossible. Portable machines are especialy dangerous in this respect, having large, high power batteries based on lithium and often having structural components made from flamable plastics and magnesium alloys.

A bad fan may be bad for the user of the machine too, causing stress and strain to the ears. A slow or unstable system may cause mental instability in the user too.

So, basically, you may experience anything from slowdowns and loss of data to destruction of the machine, damage to other things and loss of sanity, so it is really best to get the thing replaced.

[jokergirl]

It will annoy you. :whistle:

Get it checked out and sorted out before more damage is done, I had to clean up a laptop that was full of dust from going to Iraq and Afghanistan. (evil fine stuff) It was causing the system to freeze quite often.

What she said.

;)

[samkent]

Leave the computer on all the time.

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
I have been repairing electronics for 34 years. I have a clue.
Heat degrades components such as electrolytic capacitors. These capacitors have a paste for the electrolyte. This paste dries with age and heat. The more heat or longer period of heat, the shorter life. In power supplies the capacitors heat up internally just from normal use. The caps lose their ability to smooth the ripple on the DC, which puts a load on the regulator Ics. At some point they give op the fight and can put excessive voltage on the output. Consider it the silent killer of power supplies and motherboards.

Secondly heat sink compound is used to transfer heat from semiconductors to the heat sinks. It’s that white grease used for the micro to heat sink connection. But there are other points such as power supply regulators. This grease dries with heat and age. Those of you who over clock, change the grease every two years at most.

Thirdly there is thermal runaway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_runaway

Basically
The hotter the electronics get the more power it consumes.
The more power it consumes the hotter it gets.

To those of you who will chime in and say…
I never turn my computer off and I never have a problem. or
I’ve over clocked for years and never changed my grease.

I say bully for you.
Buy a plasma tv and see if it goes beyond 5 years. Or better still look at the caps on your motherboard and in the power supply. Do the tops buldge??

Will your name be the next on my repair sheet???

[Donnie B.]

I think you missed the winkie on my post, samkent.

[Alan G. Archer]

Ross PK81, are you having trouble locating the source of the noise? In some machines it can be difficult pinpointing the offending fan, especially if you are dealing with five or more fans or a small case. Motherboards and PSUs can also produce squealing noises not related to their fans. I've found that a cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels is a good tool to isolate sounds.

[Ross PK81]

Well, when I was trying to sort out a problem with my computer over the phone, they instructed me to unplug different fans in my computer to see which one was making the noise.

I unplugged the fan at the back and the fan for what I'm sure was the CPU, discovered which fan was making the noise, and then went back downstairs to the phone.

After i put the phone down, I came back upstairs, and forgot all about plugging the fans back in.

I turned the computer on and started using it again, nothing too labour intensive, just reading forums, after a while, the computer shut itself off. I could smell a burning smell from the back but there was no smoke.

It seems as though that the PC started to overheat and it shut itself off to save any damage from happening.

It seems to be okay now, but I'm still worried some damage may have been caused, and that maybe my PC might not have much life left in it.

What do you guys think?

Thanks.

[Sticks]

PC World - Hope they have a sale? :whistle:

[novaderrik]

my Dell did this on me when it was 2 years old- back in the year 2000. the main fan started making noise- which it did on and off for a few days- and then it was quiet. a day later, the computer shut itself down.
the next day, i took a look at it. the fan started working normally, and the computer lasted until July of 2008- a mere 8 years after it over heated- when i got the Compaq i'm on now becasue the Dell would have a hard time booting up and was getting bogged down by even the simplest web sites. Craigslist and Drudge were about the only sites that didn't slow it down.

[Fazor]

I'm speaking from an anecdotal point of view (I.e., what I've personally experienced rather than technical); Usually if an overheat causes a serious problem, it's quite evident right away. As others have said; it's certianly not good for your system--but if everything seems to be working fine, then that's what matters. It shouldn't continue to suffer damage solong as the fans are back and operational.

You'll want to watch everything; Once any of my systems overheated, they were more likely to have future heat-related problems ... particularly if you're like me and tend to leave the machine on all the time. Just watch for any quirky behavior; screen artifacts, system freezes, app crashes, etc.

[Moose]

Yeah. A stopped fan = a broken fan. Modern computers nearly always require active (and passive) heat dissipation.

My usual method to figure out which fan is making a noise is to gently stop the fan blades with the eraser end of a pencil, then immediately release. It doesn't hurt the fan enough to matter, and the bearing rattle changes audibly as the fan blade spins back up again. Keeps one from forgetting to plug a fan (or all fans) back in, and you don't have to work the lead plugs unnecessarily and risk breaking one.

[Ross PK81]

When computers shut themselves off when they overheat, is it to prevent damage from happening?

Because if so, then hopefully my computer has done it's job and it should be no worse than it was beforehand.

[Moose]

When computers shut themselves off when they overheat, is it to prevent damage from happening?

It is to prevent catastrophic damage from happening, yes. As to whether or not any damage occurred, it depends on which emergency shutdown setting your computer was on. (This is typically set in the BIOS.). If it was at either of the lower settings, you should be okay. At the highest setting, your computer may have a slightly reduced lifespan, but it shouldn't be extreme.

If the computer wasn't shut down by the motherboard for hitting a programmed tolerance, then you're likely to experience increased instability for the rest of its lifetime.

[Ross PK81]

It is to prevent catastrophic damage from happening, yes. As to whether or not any damage occurred, it depends on which emergency shutdown setting your computer was on. (This is typically set in the BIOS.). If it was at either of the lower settings, you should be okay. At the highest setting, your computer may have a slightly reduced lifespan, but it shouldn't be extreme.

If the computer wasn't shut down by the motherboard for hitting a programmed tolerance, then you're likely to experience increased instability for the rest of its lifetime.

I've not changed the settings. They'll be on default. Do you think on default they'll be at the lower settings?

I guess I could check but I'm not sure what to do.

[Ross PK81]

Hey Tes. All I know is that it's a Dell Inspiron 530.

Not sure if Dell will be the manufacturer of the motherboard or not though.

[Moose]

Fazor and I do sort of look the same if you squint... and the lights are off... and someone shaves.

Ross, As Tes just said, it's very hard to say where they would have been set. It depends heavily on the manufacturer/assembler. Wherever it was set before, though, since it's experienced an overheat, I do I suggest now changing it so it's on its lowest setting (unless that's already somehow below ambient!).

Tes, (as you probably already know,) you can actually stop those fans safely with your finger, they won't hurt you at all.

...Except the one on the power supply. That one you definitely want to use a non-conductive material if you're going to stick something past the safety grille. Power supplies range in the 400-500W area right now. There's not much fun in discovering a freak short the hard way. Hence a nice long non-conductive pencil with a non-conductive soft rubber eraser.

[Fazor]

I would't worry too much about immediate failure of the machine (unless overheating continues to occur). But it is a sign that the system is probably approaching the end of it's life-span. If you don't already; it might be a good time to begin backing up important files in preperation for a new system.

As Moose said, the most likely symptom will be increased system instability. My experience (I've always used my machines heavly as gaming machines, aswell as computer graphics apps) is that it might start crashing more often when under stress/memory intensive tasks. The instability is likely to increase as time goes on, but probably not in the relatively near future.

My duel CPU rig that I took to college lasted a good two or three years after I had some bad overheating problems. It was only replaced because the hardware was slow/obsolete.

My current system required a new video card after I negleted to fix the fan on mine. That little...bugger...got hot. I burned my finger pretty good pulling it out immediately after it basically melted down (I was playing a game and the screen suddenly went garbled, then the system shut off. I knew the problem right away). I've replaced the card, and have no other (noticable) effects.

[Fazor]

Fazor and I do sort of look the same if you squint... and the lights are off... and someone shaves.

Good luck; If I don't shave for my g/f I'm sure not going to shave for you. No offense. :)

[Moose]

Mine prefers mine, so I guess we'll have to settle for squinting.

[chrissy]

Threads merged.

[Ross PK81]

I would't worry too much about immediate failure of the machine (unless overheating continues to occur). But it is a sign that the system is probably approaching the end of it's life-span.

I'm not sure if I'm understanding you right, but are you saying that if overheating continues to occur it's a sign that the system is approaching the end of it's life-span?

Luckily, it hasn't overheated yet. And it only overheated in the first place because of me forgetting to plug one of the fans back in.

[Moose]

I think Fazor misspoke a bit, Ross. If your machine frequently goes unstable with the fans on, then there was damage done. If you let it overheat again and again, then there will be damage done.

Ross, if you don't use the machine as a gamer's box, you'll be fine. Gamers, on the other hand, really do have to consider heat on... well, not on a day to day basis, but it's never very far from our minds.

[Moose]

Hazard of having grown up in a time and place where fans had heavy metal blades and could do real damage to a 5-year old's fingers. ;)

Yup. You can never go wrong sticking the pencil in first. That's what they're for, after all.

[Ross PK81]

I think Fazor misspoke a bit, Ross. If your machine frequently goes unstable with the fans on, then there was damage done. If you let it overheat again and again, then there will be damage done.

Ross, if you don't use the machine as a gamer's box, you'll be fine. Gamers, on the other hand, really do have to consider heat on... well, not on a day to day basis, but it's never very far from our minds.

Hey Moose. Nah, I don't use the PC for gaming, just consoles. I use the PC for the browsing the net, watching videos, listening to music, making movies in WMM, and burning dvd's and CD's.

I guess WMM and burning dvd's and CD's are labour intensive though.

[Moose]

They can be, yeah, but you shouldn't bake your processor (any further) over it. But if it's going to go unstable on you, that'll be when it happens.

[Ross PK81]

Well so far I've just made a video CD, and it seemed fine.

[mugaliens]

...screams "DON'T STICK YOUR FINGER IN THAT FAN!" every time I contemplate it. Hazard of having grown up in a time and place where fans had heavy metal blades and could do real damage to a 5-year old's fingers. ;)


Tes

Well, if you want to stick your fingers in the blades... :shifty:

It's a lot easier, though, to simply touch and apply a slight pressure to the flat disk area of the back of the fan. :lol:

They stop on a dime.

[Fazor]

I think Fazor misspoke a bit, Ross. If your machine frequently goes unstable with the fans on, then there was damage done. If you let it overheat again and again, then there will be damage done.

Ross, if you don't use the machine as a gamer's box, you'll be fine. Gamers, on the other hand, really do have to consider heat on... well, not on a day to day basis, but it's never very far from our minds.

Naw, what I meant was often when your fans start to go, it's kind of like when the little things start to go on your car. It might not be related to the decline of your system, but it seems to foreshadow it.

But that might have just been the chance timeline of some of my prior machines.

[Alan G. Archer]

Ross PK81, I should have remembered from this thread (http://www.bautforum.com/off-topic-babbling/84223-i-cant-record-any-audio-my-computer-can-anyone-help.html) that you own a Dell Inspiron 530, but I didn't.

Your Dell has one chassis fan (http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/inspd530/en/OM/HTML/parts.htm#wp1573046), a CPU fan, and a PSU fan.

Which part was the noisy offender?

From a liability standpoint, I can see why the phone support person would not instruct you to physically stop a fan in operation, but for them to have you temporarily run your machine with one or more disconnected fans, especially the CPU fan, is potentially dangerous for your hardware, in my opinion.

It's really hard to say what damage has been done to your system without a detailed inspection. Your PC could last for years or you could be shopping for a new computer tomorrow. I recommend that you backup your important files to external media.

[Ross PK81]

It was the graphics card fan.