For a few days, my PSU has been noisy. First, I thought it was my CPU fan, but
no, it's teh PSU. The noise comes and goes every now and then. Is it possible
to put some oil or grease on moving parts? I'd kinda like to keep it for
another year or so. Otherwise, the system is old and I'll have to buy another
computer.
If it is a sleeve bearing fan, yes it may respond well to
lubrication. If a ball bearing fan, trying to lube it
should only be considered an emergency attempt to keep it
running for the few days it takes to get another fan
installed.
To lube it, use thick oil, never thin, not sewing machine or
other light oil. Many will argue about this but aren't
using any valid reasoning other than that they had a limited
success (instead of a better result). So in an emergency if
light oil is all you had, certainly it's better than nothing
but even a drop of used oil off your car's dipstick is
better than very light oil unless you car desperately needed
an oil change.
Likely the fan bearing is sealed at the moment, of you have
access to it from the rear of the system it is easier to
just take off the sticker, the rubber plug, and tilt the
system upwards to cause the drop or two to run into the
bearing. If there is a wire grill guard it might be
removable carefully, without taking system apart, but if a
stamped-in-metal grill you may have to pull the PSU out,
take off the cover, and remove the fan which is obviously a
LOT more work.
Unfortunately it also seems to be the case that more often a
junk sleeve bearing fan is in a PSU with such a stamped in
metal grill, but we can't see yours. Be sure you unplug the
PSU from AC wall outlet several minutes before doing
anything more with it.
You can just replace the fan instead. Typical rear exhaust
fan is 80mm diameter by 25mm thick, or smaller for mATX PSU.
Some of the interior (bottom of PSU) fans are different
sizes, you'll have to meaure yours unless you mention the
model and someone knows which size(s) it needs. If you
replace the fan, note whether it has a connector to the PSU
board or if the wires are directly soldered to the board and
if a connector, try to find a fan with same connector else
you'll have to solder or crimp (hopefully no worse joining
method than either of these) the new fan onto the old leads
after stripping them back to bare wire. It's not a hard job
if you've fiddled with wire before.
