How to Keep a Noisy LinkSys Gigabit Switch Quiet?

[jaykchan]

I need to find a way to keep a LinkSys Gigabit switch (EG008W) quiet.

From day one, it makes a relatively loud noise when I power it up; I

can hear the noise even I have closed the door of the equipment closet.
This sounds like noise from a noisy fan. If this is the case, I may be
able to replace the noisy fan with a quiet one. The problem is that I
don't see how it can have a fan inside its low-profile chasis.

No, I cannot get a refund because I left it in the box over 15 days
before I powered it up for the first time, and I bought it from CompUSA
who has that short refund period.

I have already sent it back twice and get two different replacement
units (of the same model). And all three of them are noisy in exactly
the same way. Seem like this is by design, and is not a random
manufacturing defect. I cannot afford to send it back because the
shipping cost is becoming more expensive than the switch itself.

My questions are:
- Where is the noise coming from?
- How can I keep the noise down?
- How can I open it and look inside without
breaking it apart? The case is really hard
to open, and there is no screw.
- Does anyone try this before?

Thanks.

Jay Chan

 

[kony]

I need to find a way to keep a LinkSys Gigabit switch (EG008W) quiet.
can hear the noise even I have closed the door of the equipment closet.
This sounds like noise from a noisy fan. If this is the case, I may be
able to replace the noisy fan with a quiet one. The problem is that I
don't see how it can have a fan inside its low-profile chasis.

How tall does a fan need be?
I'd "guess" they just plopped a heatsink w/fan on the
processing chip. Sure, you could do something-or-other
about that, and since your warranty is up you have nothing
to keep you from opening it, so why haven't you yet?

No, I cannot get a refund because I left it in the box over 15 days
before I powered it up for the first time, and I bought it from CompUSA
who has that short refund period.

See? I forcast the future and do cute parlor tricks too!
;-)

I have already sent it back twice and get two different replacement
units (of the same model). And all three of them are noisy in exactly
the same way. Seem like this is by design, and is not a random
manufacturing defect. I cannot afford to send it back because the
shipping cost is becoming more expensive than the switch itself.

My questions are:
- Where is the noise coming from?
- How can I keep the noise down?
- How can I open it and look inside without
breaking it apart? The case is really hard
to open, and there is no screw.
- Does anyone try this before?

Did you look for screws behind the label(s) and under any
feet? If you're SURE there are no screws, what's left is to
take a knife in an inconspicuous area (after gently heating
the plastic so it's a little more flexible, less likely to
crack) and slide knife inbetween the crack somewhere,
determining how the (top and bottom?) seat together,
probably with a tongue and groove or half-groove lip so the
outer portion of the lip, shell, should be flexed outward a
little while you're peering along the seam with a strong
light, looking for little plastic friction-tabs. You'd just
sorta work your way around the seam unhooking each set of
tabs, and having some strips of cardboard (or whatever,
thin) material handy to shove in to keep the case seam open
as you proceed the rest of the way around it. At least, IMO
that's the best way to do it if there aren't any screws.

So you have it open finally and there it is, the fan.
Having no idea how well ventilated the chassis is I can't
begin to guess how much slower the fan can be, whether a
really low RPM fan will be sufficient or perhaps just
throttling back the current fan as much as tolerable. Tiny
fans are also harder to come by, they're out there but if
you want to pick and choose exactly what replacment
make/model/speed/noise you get, it may end up premium
priced. Another alternative would be to check the voltage
with a multimeter and calculate a resistor value to place
inline on the power lead... Somewhere in the ballpark of
10-200 Ohms 2W would be my first guess as to a suitable
value(s) to try if you dont' have alternate methods of
determining the voltage/noise relationship of a particular
fan.

 

[jaykchan]

OK, I will attempt to open it. If I find that I may be about to break
it into pieces, I will try another approach, such as building a box to
house it.

Thanks.

Jay Chan

 

[kony]

OK, I will attempt to open it. If I find that I may be about to break
it into pieces, I will try another approach, such as building a box to
house it.

Thanks.

Jay Chan

Usually one finds they're about to break it right after it
breaks, though if it's the plastic friction tabs I mentioned
then the common "break" would be a tab or two coming off.
Whether a tab coming off matters could depend a lot on how
much it needs to do unusual things like withstand abuse or
stand up sideway on a pedistal-thingy, as some of them are
designed to sit vertically as an option.

 

[jaykchan]

That kind of break will be OK with me. Worse comes to worse, I can use
a velco strip to hold it together. I am more afraid of breaking
anything inside that will make it stop working. I will see how it go
in this weekend or the next weekend.

Jay Chan

 

[kony]

That kind of break will be OK with me. Worse comes to worse, I can use
a velco strip to hold it together. I am more afraid of breaking
anything inside that will make it stop working. I will see how it go
in this weekend or the next weekend.

Jay Chan

They're "usually" built with all parts surface-mounted on a
single PCB, if any (tools) stay near the edge of the casing
at most you should have a bent or cracked casing... that is,
IF there are no screws that they cleverly concealed.

 

[Ric]

Just thought I would add my two cents on this. I have run into the
same problem. Well except for the fact that with the Linksys I am
working with fan has gone bad. It rattles and you can hear it hit the
housing sometimes. At any rate what I have found, though I am unable
to open the housing so far is that there are four prongs that hold
the case to the board inside. To top it off under the rubber feet in
the back are two clips as well. Now this do not pop out they slide to
an opening. One of the problems is the way it needs to slide the pegs
that hold it to the board will not allow, and to top it off the front
housing blocks it from sliding. I even called Linksys about it and
they would not share how to get the dumb thing open. I think I will
check into Cisco and see what they have like it. Our company deals
with Cisco so I have no idea why this one department went with
Linksys. Well really I do know why. They did not bother checking with
IT. Well anyway I hope this gives someone an idea and that they share
it with the rest of us.

 

[jaykchan]

Thanks. I will need to print it out and read it a couple times with
the LinkSys Switch in front of me.

Seem like you are saying that it really has a fan inside. This sounds
promising. May be the noise will go away if I replace it with a quiet
one.

Jay Chan

 

[SRay69]

Just got the Linksys EG008W myself. I have 3 other LinkSys brand
switches and routers and none of them have fans in them! If I
probably wouldn't have bought it if I knew how loud this thing is. I
have a machine with ten 120mm fans in it and this LinkSys is OVER
TWICE as loud!

There are no screws on it that I can see, unless they're under the
rubber feet.

There *are* these little holes that look like some kind of access for
a proprietary security tool. There's also a security sticker near
these holes warning that tampering or opening the unit will void the
warranty.

I really don't care about voiding warranty, I just wanna replace that
POS fan!

Anyone know how to open it nicely?

 

[SRay69]

Ok, figured it out and replaced the fan tonight. Luckily I had just
the perfect fan lying around. Man, LinkSys engineering has
definitely gone down hill with the fan and this switch. I see anger
all over the place about their cooling solution.

My solution makes the fit a good bit tighter, but it has so far worked
great the past couple hours and seems to give decent airflow.

I don't have time to make a tutorial and I shouldn't even be taking
time to make pictures, but I know I'd be grateful if someone helped
me out.

Check it out:
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/jperry69/LinkSysGigabitFanFix.jpg

By the way, that tiny fan was OVER TWICE as loud as my new 14 fan
rig:
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/jperry69/PimpRig.jpg


If you have any questions you can reach me at jim_perry at
hotmail.com. Although I don't know where to get right size fan, the
size I used is in the pic!

Disclaimer:
THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY, SO I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY
DAMAGE IT MAY CAUSE!

 

[jaykchan]

YOU ARE GREAT!!

I am really glad that you have found a solution to this noisy switch
problem.

Ok, figured it out and replaced the fan tonight. Luckily I had just
the perfect fan lying around. Man, LinkSys engineering has
definitely gone down hill with the fan and this switch. I see anger
all over the place about their cooling solution.

You are exactly right. I have returned the noisy switch twice to
LinkSys, and each time they sent a noisy one back. The last time their
tech support promised to personally examine the replacement unit before
sending it to me. Yes, he indeed opened the box and I assume that he
had examined it. But the replacement unit is just as noisy as the
returned one. Something is really wrong: either the product
specification is wrong (this means all the same model of their GigaBit
Switch are noisy), or their tech support really didn't care and just
went through the motion. Currently, I am under the impression that all
from the same model are noisy because all units that I have received
are noisy in the exact same way.

My solution makes the fit a good bit tighter, but it has so far worked
great the past couple hours and seems to give decent airflow.

I don't have time to make a tutorial and I shouldn't even be taking
time to make pictures, but I know I'd be grateful if someone helped
me out.

Check it out:
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/jperry69/LinkSysGigabitFanFix.jpg

I am really glad that you have taken the time to take pictures and show
the dimension of the new fan (original fan 40x10mm, new fan 60x15mm low
speed fan). Now, I am sure that the fan is the source of the noise
(instead of some other hard-to-replace electrical components); I can go
about replacing it.

I assume you need to oversize the fan in order to maintain the same air
flow while running it in low speed to reduce noise. This makes sense.

One question though:
How do you open the case? What was the trick to open it? Do you
simply slide the black plastic cover in the front forward? Do you need
to press down any specific area to get the cover off?

By the way, that tiny fan was OVER TWICE as loud as my new 14 fan
rig:
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/jperry69/PimpRig.jpg

Your PC is really nice -- and BIG. It must be your game machine that
you need to overclock it to get the last bit of performance out of it
-- that will explain the reason why you need 14 fans.

Disclaimer:
THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY, SO I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY
DAMAGE IT MAY CAUSE!

I know this. Anyway, I had already broken the warranty seal when I
attempted (and failed) to open the case. This warning may be useful for
other people who may attempt to do the same thing.

Jay Chan

 

[SRay69]

YOU ARE GREAT!!

Aww, shucks. :roll:

Currently, I am under the impression that all from the same model

are noisy because all units that I have received are noisy in the
exact same way.

Yeah, I'm sure most of them are noisy. Take a look at Amazon user
reviews on this model and most complain loudly about it (no pun
intended).

I assume you need to oversize the fan in order to maintain the same

air flow while running it in low speed to reduce noise. This makes
sense.

A larger fan is the right way to go, but even the fan I have in it is
blocked some by the front cover, the blue one without holes. There's
good airflow and I can feel it when I bring it to my face.

One question though:
How do you open the case? What was the trick to open it? Do you

simply slide the black plastic cover in the front forward? Do you
need to press down any specific area to get the cover off?

I guess I wasn't very clear in the pic. The blue front piece it what
comes straight off. You'll want to pull it off towards you if you
have the unit's front facing you. One side seems to come off better
than the other, so you'll need to find out which side works for you.
There's no real trick, you just basically pull like heck until it
comes loose. It snaps back together with no problem, but like you
say, it will void the warranty of course. LinkSys makes sure of this
with it's little security sticker on the bottom of the unit.

If you need a picture to see how it comes off, let me know.

Your PC is really nice -- and BIG. It must be your game machine that

you need to overclock it to get the last bit of performance out of it
-- that will explain the reason why you need 14 fans.

Actually I haven't OC'd it at all yet, mainly because I haven't had
time. I put it together to replace an old LOUD 5 year old PC. It's
mostly a development machine right now, again no time to play games
on it, YET! I wanted a quiet case with good airflow and this was
the best one out there. It can be bought from www.MountainMods.com if
anyone's interested. You can't beat powder-coated aluminum.
Definitely worth the price. Those are all huge 120mm fans too.

 

[jaykchan]

I guess I wasn't very clear in the pic. The blue front piece it what

comes straight off. You'll want to pull it off towards you if you
have the unit's front facing you. One side seems to come off better
than the other, so you'll need to find out which side works for you.
There's no real trick, you just basically pull like heck until it
comes loose. It snaps back together with no problem, but like you
say, it will void the warranty of course. LinkSys makes sure of this
with it's little security sticker on the bottom of the unit.

I finally managed to partially disassemble the case by doing these:
- The case is made from three plastic pieces:
o The front black cap
o The top silver cover
o The silver base.
- The left and right sides of the front black cap are
snapped together with the left and right sides of
the top silver cover.
- By squeezing the left and right sides of the top
silver cover at area where the front black cap meets
the top silver cover, we can easily pull the front
black cap out.
- Then, we can easily remove the top silver cover from
the silver base.

This was the easy part. The difficult part is how to remove the circuit
board from the silver plastic base. I still cannot figure out the
"right" way to remove the circuit board in order to remove the screws
that hold the mounting plate of the fan (The screws are inserted from
the bottom of the circuit board). I may need to drill a large hole
through the plastic silver base to reach each of the screw head.

I have found sources for a quiet 60mm fan (60mm x 60mm x 15mm) as shown
in the following links to replace the noisy 40mm fan:

http://www.quietpcusa.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=8&Product_ID=222&CATID=7
http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/papst_60mm.html

I have these questions:

1. It has 2 wires; but it has two 4-pin plugs.
Can I simply cut out the 4-pin plugs and solder
the 2 wires to the 2-pin plug of the noisy
40mm fan?

2. The 40mm fan has two wires: red and black.
The 60mm fan has two wires: red and blue.
I assume I should connect the red wire to the
red wire, and the black wire to the blue wire,
right?

3. The power consumption of the 40mm fan is
supposed to be 0.6W. The power consumption of
the 60mm fan is rated as 0.4W. This is OK, right?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Jay Chan

 

[kony]

I have found sources for a quiet 60mm fan (60mm x 60mm x 15mm) as shown
in the following links to replace the noisy 40mm fan:

http://www.quietpcusa.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=8&Product_ID=222&CATID=7
http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/papst_60mm.html

$21? Yikes!
With a bit of searching you might find a much cheaper fan
that's only a little noisier. $21 is very expensive for
such a fan, I used to buy other decent name-brands for $1
each. Unfortunately I don't know where to find that size
cheap now.

I have these questions:

1. It has 2 wires; but it has two 4-pin plugs.
Can I simply cut out the 4-pin plugs and solder
the 2 wires to the 2-pin plug of the noisy
40mm fan?
yes


2. The 40mm fan has two wires: red and black.
The 60mm fan has two wires: red and blue.
I assume I should connect the red wire to the
red wire, and the black wire to the blue wire,
right?

Odds are that's right, but you could also touch, hold the
wires together and confirm the fan spins before soldering,
or take voltage readings (to determine polarity). I assume
you've confirmed that the two fans use same voltage, rarely
a router/switch/etc might use a 5V fan instead.

3. The power consumption of the 40mm fan is
supposed to be 0.6W. The power consumption of
the 60mm fan is rated as 0.4W. This is OK, right?

Yes that's fine.

When fans are shoehorned into tight spots, their mounting
can introduce a lot of additional noise. I don't know the
clearance on the new fan to the other parts but it may be
something you'd need to modify for quietest results. One
simple aid can be putting washers under the fan on the
mounting studs, either to absorb vibration (if washers are
flexible) or at least raise fan blades further away from
components.

 

[SRay69]

I finally managed to partially disassemble the case by doing these:

- The case is made from three plastic pieces:
o The front black cap

Are you sure it's black? Mine is a dark blue. Try turning on a
bright light!

I still cannot figure out the "right" way to remove the circuit

board in order to remove the screws that hold the mounting plate of
the fan (The screws are inserted from the bottom of the circuit
board). I may need to drill a large hole through the plastic silver
base to reach each of the screw head.

Please, don't go drilling holes! See my picture and you'll know
exactly how to remove the circuit board from the silver base. This
threw me too at first. Yes, there are two screws you can't get to.
BUT, there is a third screw near the back of the unit that holds the
fan mounting plate AND the circuit board to the plastic base. See
the middle picture here:

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/jperry69/LinkSysGigabitFanFix.jpg

It's actually down right now, but hopefully should be up later. Gotta
love ISP hosting.

Anyway, see the arrow pointing to that screw? Do you not have the
same screw? If you have a black front cap, then you might have a
different version than I.

I have these questions:

1. It has 2 wires; but it has two 4-pin plugs. Can I simply cut out

the 4-pin plugs and solder the 2 wires to the 2-pin plug of the noisy
40mm fan?

Yep, that's what I did!

2. The 40mm fan has two wires: red and black. The 60mm fan has two

wires: red and blue. I assume I should connect the red wire to the
red wire, and the black wire to the blue wire, right?

Yes, that should be correct, but you should test it first on a
computer power supply if possible just so there's no chance of
hurting the Gigabit switch if it happens to not have any polarity
protection. You shouldn't be able to hurt the fan, but you might
want to buy 2 just in case. It's always good to have an extra fan
lying around!

3. The power consumption of the 40mm fan is supposed to be 0.6W. The

power consumption of the 60mm fan is rated as 0.4W. This is OK, right

I'm starting to wonder if we have the same switch. I have the
EG008W:
http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=35&scid=42&prid=529

My original 40mm LinkSys fan shows 0.06 AMPS and the new 60mm fan
shows 0.1A. The unit has been running with the new fan for a couple
days now with no problems.

Note, the 60mm fan fits tightly in the case all around. Not one fan
hole would line up for any screw, so I strategically used 2 small tie
wraps to secure the fan to the metal plate. You might be able to get
away with not securing it since the silver top holds it pretty
tightly, enough to bulge it a bit, but you don't notice it after it's
all together.

Don't forget to position the fan so the air is pushed up, NOT down.

 

[SRay69]

When fans are shoehorned into tight spots, their mounting can
introduce a lot of additional noise. I don't know the clearance on
the new fan to the other parts but it may be something you'd need to
modify for quietest results. One simple aid can be putting washers
under the fan on the mounting studs, either to absorb vibration (if
washers are flexible) or at least raise fan blades further away from
components.

Hey there. I doubt washers would be a good idea since there's no
space for anything even a penny high when using a 60mm fan. I
wouldn't recommend using anything smaller since the airflow would be
compromised. After all I do have some experience since I already
replaced the LinkSys fan.

Perhaps you have a picture of your installation? I posted one earlier
that I did.

Here it is again:
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/jperry69/LinkSysGigabitFanFix.jpg

 

[kony]

On 7 Mar 2005 17:17:09 -0500,

introduce a lot of additional noise. I don't know the clearance on
the new fan to the other parts but it may be something you'd need to
modify for quietest results. One simple aid can be putting washers
under the fan on the mounting studs, either to absorb vibration (if
washers are flexible) or at least raise fan blades further away from
components.

Hey there. I doubt washers would be a good idea since there's no
space for anything even a penny high when using a 60mm fan. I
wouldn't recommend using anything smaller since the airflow would be
compromised. After all I do have some experience since I already
replaced the LinkSys fan.

Perhaps you have a picture of your installation? I posted one earlier
that I did.

Here it is again:
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/jperry69/LinkSysGigabitFanFix.jpg

If there is no space, you're not getting good airflow.
There was supposed to be space above the fan, between it and
the casing... your pictures cannot make it clear whether
there is any space.

Regardless, the sweeping idea that "wouldn't recommend
anything smaller since airflow would be compromised" is
quite premature. On the contrary, just about any fan you
put in there is going to make marginal difference (compared
to a different fan) until you devise a method to remove
that heat from the casing itself rather than just
recirculate it inside. Otherwise it's not a matter of
trying to get same flow rate, only a matter of keeping
device cool enough. If they'd used a casing with more
ventilation holes it's quite possible an entirely passive
heatsink couldn've been used instead, as most modern
consumer-level switches/routers/etc don't have one.

 

[jaykchan]

Yes, the price of the quiet 60mm fan is quite a bit higher than what I
expected. Unfortunately, I cannot find it in local retail stores, and
I cannot find anything in internet other than the expensive model. You
see. The fan must meet this criteria:
- 40mm or 60mm (height and width)
- 15mm thick or below in order to fit into the tight space
- Relatively Quiet (hard to judge from description in the web page)
- 0.6W or lower power consumption.

Thanks for the confirmation that I can simply cut the wires and solder
them together to get around with the little problem of incompatible
plugs.

I figure the space is around 17mm. Therefore, a 15mm fan should have a
little clearance left. Worse comes to worse, I can file the edge of
the fan to fit.

Jay Chan

 

[jaykchan]

The front cap looks like black with a hint of blue. It may be a very
very dark blue.

Thanks for the picture. I take a look of the picture one more time.
This time I understand what that screw is for. I thought the screw on
the picture was for the metal fan mount. I unscrew it and I can easily
remove the circuit board from the silver plastic base. I am very glad
to be able to get it off. Now, I can proceed to order a quiet
replacement fan.

Thanks for the confirmation that I can simply cut the wires and solder
them together with the plugs that come from the noisy fan.

The label on the noisy 40mm fan states that its power consumption is
0.6W. I don't use any instrument to confirm this number.

Based on the pictures, I have a feeling that the metal fan mount in
yours is slightly different from mine. I figure that I should not have
any problem screwing a 60mm fan onto the metal fan mount.

Jay Chan

 

[kony]

Yes, the price of the quiet 60mm fan is quite a bit higher than what I
expected. Unfortunately, I cannot find it in local retail stores, and
I cannot find anything in internet other than the expensive model. You
see. The fan must meet this criteria:
- 40mm or 60mm (height and width)

What about 50mm?

- 15mm thick or below in order to fit into the tight space
- Relatively Quiet (hard to judge from description in the web page)
- 0.6W or lower power consumption.

Thanks for the confirmation that I can simply cut the wires and solder
them together to get around with the little problem of incompatible
plugs.

Well if you have no aversion to soldering, that opens up a
LOT more possibilities as it's not hard at all to find "any"
fan with those dimensions then simply solder on a 20 cent ~
47-120 Ohm 2W resistor onto the + power lead.

I figure the space is around 17mm. Therefore, a 15mm fan should have a
little clearance left. Worse comes to worse, I can file the edge of
the fan to fit.

Jay Chan

If you really wanted to get fancy (and don't have anything
sitting on top of the switch), you could cut out a hole on
top, mount the fan to the casing, and put a filter on top.
Having the fan draw in outside air would certainly result in
lower temps per same (or even lower) RPM, noise.

There are a ton of fans out there though, most significant
might be if you wanted to purchase anything else, somewhere,
as shipping a single fan can/is often more costly than the
fan itself.