PC vibrating - Fan gone nuts, need upgrade

meanpeoplesuck

This fan (see picture below) has gone insane. It's a PC that my brother put together years ago, but he has left the country now. The fan is located inside the PC. Like, it sits inside the PC and doesn't push air out the back or anything, it's just inside the big box.



It has always been noisy, but something must have come loose/broken off because now it's making a more growly kind of noise and the whole pc is kinda vibrating. I'm typing as fast as I can so I can turn the PC off.

Is this an expensive fan to replace? Is it difficult to replace? There seems to be just 4 screws on the front of the fan and only a couple of wires connected to it, but I've never worked on a PC before. Where would I buy a new one? Is this a really serious problem?

The PC sounds like its falling apart!

Someone please help!

John mac

Looks like it needs a good clean.

clogged up with dust!

get the vacuum to it. ( be carefull not to damage any parts)

here.from.day.1

Its looks like the processor fan. It may be trickyish to replace if you have not done much before, and depending on how old the machine is it may be hard to find the fan you need. All in all though it should not be expensive to replace, fans are worth €5 - €20 and if you can replace yourself or get a mate at it you can save on paying some overcharging techie.

If you do take a hoover to the machine be very careful, try and use a low power one if available and if using it on a fan hold the blades of the fan so that it doesnt wreak the bearings of the fan.

meanpeoplesuck

Thanks guys,

I really don't think it's the dust causing the problem, this is a sudden and very loud malfunction whatever it is.

I have an Intel Pentium 4 AMD Anthlon 2.31GHZ processor. Would this be hard to find a fan for?

Any idea what a technie guy would charge to fix this?

How dangerous is it to be turning the PC on for 10 minutes at a time to research a solution to this problem?

I downloaded a program called CPU - Z which says I have a Socket A (462).

Edit: This is the current (broken) fan from what I can see. Akasa AK825 http://uk.shopping.com/xPF-Akasa-AKASA-AK-825-XP3400-80MM-LO-NOISE-FAN-COPPER-BASE

Would this replace it okay? Would I find this is any Irish shops?
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=319463

KamiKazi

I have an Intel Pentium 4 AMD Anthlon 2.31GHZ processor. Would this be hard to find a fan for?

yeah probably, those hybrid cpu's are really rare.

RoyalMarine

meanpeoplesuck wrote: »

I have an Intel Pentium 4 AMD Anthlon 2.31GHZ processor. Would this be hard to find a fan for?[/url]

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

TerrorFirmer

That is the processor fan and needs a good cleaning. Just open it up, and clean it out as best you can with a cotton bud or something similar. Use a can of compressed air from a safe distance to get rid of the more lodged stuff. Does the fan move at all?

What you've listed there is two totally different processors by the way, Pentium 4 and Athlon are 2 completely different processors from rival companies. Maplins still sell Socket A coolers if you don't want to order online, you might even find one in certain PC Worlds. The one on Komplett will work of course but I wouldn't expect it to be up to much.

edit: Please guys do not make fun of someone over a mistake/lack of knowledge. It'd be one thing to make a joke and then offer some advice but just posting a snide comment isn't very helpful. It's all relative I'm sure there's another forum here in which you would be clueless too!

evev

Computer nerds learning not to being snide? We could really change the world here guys! But how else will they converse?:p

Anyway Meanpeoplesuck, be careful about cleaning that fan, I recently had some fun when trying to remove that CPU fan, see this thread:
Click here

If your CPU fan is not working correctly and you are fairly sure it's not dust clogging the thing up, it could lead to your processor not being cooled properly and then overheating and shutting down at the most inopportune times! It can also be tricky unhooking that fan, cos it is often hooked up to a radiator-like device underneath it called a heatsink, that also cools the CPU.
Thats all well and good and informative, but not very helpful right?
Here may be some helpful advice: first, read this: Tutorial in replacing that heatsink/fan
Next, Back up all your data quickly. Things can go very easily wrong in this kind of venture, but you could also be a lucky plucker like me!:)
Before you touch the inside of the computer, touch the metal outside case of the computer, to ground you, and remove static electricity that can crispy-fry your computers components (it really doesn't take much static at all!)
You can find out what kind of processor you have (if you are running windows) by going start->run and typing dxdiag and press enter. The info is contained within that pop-up screen. Use that info along with the likes of Maplin or Komplett.ie to find a heatsink/fan to suit your CPU.

Most of all, don't shy away from doing this. The computer is flipped without that fan, so it's a necessary change, and once you learn how, you will feel like you could build a computer (but that might take a few more tutorials:))
Just follow all the advice online, there are many people in your shoes and everyone learns this way! It's not worth paying one of the aforementioned snide types to fix something that they think is beneath them;)

Best of Luck!