Noisy CPU Fan

[Guest]

I realize that this may have nothing to do with Windows - then again, it just
might!

I've been working on a friend's Dell Dimension 8400 - the problem was a
noisy CPU fan which I just replaced. The noise is now much better than it was
- but intermittently the fan starts to make noise again. If I shut it down
and wait a few minutes then it's quiet again.

I haven't really figured out the pattern yet - it can go for a long period
and still be quiet and other times it seems to get noisy right away.

I have the same Dell machine - so I know that this is not normal. I realize
that it could be that I got a bad part - but why is it only noisy sometimes -
when the cpu gets hot? - when its quiet, the fan is still running; I can feel
the wind.

Is it possible the the operating system is somehow involved? All I did to
install the part is remove the old and install the new - so should I have
done something else?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

I realize that this may have nothing to do with Windows - then again, it just
might!

I've been working on a friend's Dell Dimension 8400 - the problem was a
noisy CPU fan which I just replaced. The noise is now much better than it was
- but intermittently the fan starts to make noise again. If I shut it down
and wait a few minutes then it's quiet again.

I haven't really figured out the pattern yet - it can go for a long period
and still be quiet and other times it seems to get noisy right away.

I have the same Dell machine - so I know that this is not normal. I realize
that it could be that I got a bad part - but why is it only noisy sometimes -
when the cpu gets hot? - when its quiet, the fan is still running; I can feel
the wind.

Is it possible the the operating system is somehow involved? All I did to
install the part is remove the old and install the new - so should I have
done something else?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

What you are probably hearing is the fan speeding up as the computer
gets hotter. He may have problems with air flow in the case, the room
temperature, the computing load, or the heatsink could have been
improperly installed.

 

[Papa]

Sometimes new fans are defective. Since they only cost a few bucks, I
suggest you return the fan and get a replacement that is a different brand.
Good luck.

 

[Vanguard]

I realize that this may have nothing to do with Windows - then again,
it just
might!

I've been working on a friend's Dell Dimension 8400 - the problem was
a
noisy CPU fan which I just replaced. The noise is now much better than
it was
- but intermittently the fan starts to make noise again. If I shut it
down
and wait a few minutes then it's quiet again.

I haven't really figured out the pattern yet - it can go for a long
period
and still be quiet and other times it seems to get noisy right away.

I have the same Dell machine - so I know that this is not normal. I
realize
that it could be that I got a bad part - but why is it only noisy
sometimes -
when the cpu gets hot? - when its quiet, the fan is still running; I
can feel
the wind.

Is it possible the the operating system is somehow involved? All I did
to
install the part is remove the old and install the new - so should I
have
done something else?

What do you mean by "noise"? That the fan is louder, or that it makes a
buzzing or some other sound? If it is just getting louder, that's the
temperature control inside the Dell changing the fan *speed*. The
faster a fan spins, the louder it gets.

Just because you and your friend have the same hardware doesn't mean
both of you have the same software concurrently loaded. Could be your
friend's Dell has more stuff loaded into memory and which is more often
loading the processor which heats it up which makes the fan spin faster.
I've been sometimes stuck with using a Dell at work and periodically I
will hear its fan get louder and quieter simply because I am also
periodically placing a different load on the processor (long enough to
raise the temperature past some threshold).

The fan doesn't stop spinning. It is just slowed down. That's why you
feel the airflow when your friend's Dell is quiet[er]. For those of us
not using a Dell and actually want some decent temperature and speed
control, there is SpeedFan which has a similar function of changing the
duty cycle of power to the fan but is more configurable.