ridiculously loud fan - bad vibrations in emachines C1641

[hupjack]

So I was handed this e-machines pc
http://www.emachines.com/support/support_info.html?prodName=C1641 and asked
to fix it for a friend of a friend. This would be the 2nd time. (they have
a house full of kids, who undoubtedly aren't exercising much restraint as to
what websites they go to). The computer was laden with viri the first time
I re-imaged it, and I assumed this time it would be no different.

Well, when I turned the machine on this time, either my ears are playing
tricks on me, or it's running remarkably louder than the last time I
received it. The fan seems like it's going at full tilt, and I can feel
what seems like an unhealthy amount of vibration through the cables and
chassis when this thing is just idling. I looked to BIOS, and there doesn't
appear to be a hardware monitor built in. Without a BIOS temperature
readout or fan speeds, so I installed Motherboard Monitor.

Here's a pic of what I found.
http://homepage.mac.com/elipman/.cv/elipman/Public/mbm.bmp-link.bmp

During install it said something about the Elite ECS K7S5A being
blacklisted, while asking me about checking a couple possibly problematic
addresses. It then had me select my board from the supported list. The
board inside this emachine is silk screened as a L7VMM 1.0. It looked like
the MBM profile was for version 1.3 or higher.. OR maybe the >=1.3 was
saying it supports up to rev 1.3 ?!?

regardless I must have not configured MBM quite right, because that case
temp of -55C sounds a wee bit low.

I also just popped off the fan and heatsink and vacuumed the dust bunnies
out of them. The heatsink doesn't appear to have an ounce of copper on it,
and the fan is a cooler master EFB0621HHA. Are these emachines and included
cooling solutions just loud chatter boxes? I mean, I wouldn't expect it to
be silent for $499 or whatever these things cost, but this one is pretty
loud.

In any case, if MBM is reporting anything correctly, it definitely looks
like the chip is staying pretty cool, and that the fan is roaring away
pretty high in RPM world. Is this something that I should expect the
motherboard to be running at a lower speed? Or is this not a variable speed
fan?

I might have managed to quiet things down closer to normal by tightening
down the mother board screws which had apparently loosened up a bit. Never
thought about putting locktite on motherboard screws, but this machine might
need it, if I stay with the heatsink and fan its got right now. It's
definitely still generating lots of vibration. I'm not looking to spend
money on a new heatsink and fan unnecessarily, but I don't want to spend all
this time re-imaging the computer and laying down applications, if the
hardware is fubar..

1) Is this a single speed fan, that spins at 5000 rpm and nothing else?
2) Was my MBM test at all valuable? How did I end up with -55C case temp?
3) Should I be worried about this thing? Might the mobo be bad, keeping
the fan at top speed? or are these desktop processor fans all like that and
this is just a loud fan / heatsink / rickety case combo?

your suggestions are much appreciated.

Thanks,
Ethan

 

[Al Smith]

1) Is this a single speed fan, that spins at 5000 rpm and nothing else?

2) Was my MBM test at all valuable? How did I end up with -55C case temp?
3) Should I be worried about this thing? Might the mobo be bad, keeping
the fan at top speed? or are these desktop processor fans all like that and
this is just a loud fan / heatsink / rickety case combo?

your suggestions are much appreciated.

Sounds to me as if the bearing on the CPU fan is going.

 

[JAD]

as I read, I couldn't help to think ' allot of info over an emachines
cooler' ;^)- E for Economy my fellow grouper. Your probably right in
saying its louder over time, some are 'loudest at the gitgo. You said
you cleaned it out so I assume its still loud after your labors. did
you try a drop of oil on the bearing (hopefully it has bearings)? If
its stock cooler, the fan is 5 bucks. What CPU?

 

[hupjack]

agreed, that was a lot of effort for the economy pc..
I'm totally down to replace the fan.. I guess partially I was
concerned that the fan going at full tilt could be indicative of the
mobo being jacked. But I'm thinking all processor fans just run at
their full 5000 rpm or whatever, unless you have a speed control.

CPU is an AMD 1600+
So I guess a replacement fan or a lube job attempt is in order.

 

[hupjack]

agreed.. time spent was excessive for the economy machine. I'm
perfectly happy to replace the fan.

What I was more concerned about was whether the fan is supposed to run
at full tilt or if it running full speed was indicative of a problem
with the mobo, or if processor fans all just run full speed, unless you
install a seperate rpm controll, and the half decent fans are still
quiet at 5000 rpm.

 

[Ruel Smith]

Sounds like the bearing on some fan is going. Are you sure it´s the CPU fan?
I only saw one fan listed in MBM, but isn´t there a case fan in the back at
all?

You could replace the fan for probably $5, but for long term peace of mind,
I´d get the owner to replace the whole HSF combo with a nice Zalman copper
unit with a much slower running fan for a few bucks more.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-118-102&depa=0

 

[Robbie McFerren]

While you are at it replace the power supply. -5 is dead and -12 is as good
as dead.

 

[kony]

agreed.. time spent was excessive for the economy machine. I'm
perfectly happy to replace the fan.

What I was more concerned about was whether the fan is supposed to run
at full tilt or if it running full speed was indicative of a problem
with the mobo, or if processor fans all just run full speed, unless you
install a seperate rpm controll, and the half decent fans are still
quiet at 5000 rpm.

The typical thin fan will wear out from running at 5000 RPM.
Therefore, even if noise weren't an issue it is better to
use a thicker, lower RPM fan. If the fan is the stock one
with ball-bearings, it may not respond as well to lubing,
might get even louder or only quieter for a brief period.

It is not unusual for the fan to run at a fixed single
speed, the majority of motherboards ever made do so. Only a
select few in the past years and more new(er) boards vary
the fan speed per temp.

 

[doS]

That program isnt worth a crap on an emachine.

While you are at it replace the power supply. -5 is dead and -12 is as good
as dead.
as

 

[doS]

That program isnt worth a crap on that machine.your monitor figures are
wrong.

 

[hupjack]

I figured as much..

so what should I use / how do I get the correct measurements, so I know
how the current heat sink is doing.. etc. etc..?

 

[doS]

I figured as much..

so what should I use / how do I get the correct measurements, so I
know how the current heat sink is doing.. etc. etc..?

you would need a temp probe, mate.

 

[kony]

I figured as much..

so what should I use / how do I get the correct measurements, so I know
how the current heat sink is doing.. etc. etc..?

You might Google search for "mbprobe131b9.zip".
Don't know for certain that it'll do the job, but I had it
in an archive for the board... back when I had a few, don't
have any K7S5A at present, thank goodness.

Likewise, I'd expect any newer version of MBProbe to work
too, but I've no idea of what configuration changes might be
needed.

 

[Bob Adkins]

your suggestions are much appreciated.

Unplug the fans 1 at a time until you find the noisy one and replace it.
Fans are 5 bucks apiece, not even worth a 300 word post.

-- Bob

 

[hupjack]

for heaven's sake... I GET it.. I already admitted once that I was
stupidly verbose. and I Also explained that my concern was really that
I had a mobo problem keeping the fan floored to the max.

kony was already kind enough to respond and confirm my suspition that
fixed speed processor fans are the norm

thanks kony.

 

[Bob Adkins]

for heaven's sake... I GET it.. I already admitted once that I was
stupidly verbose. and I Also explained that my concern was really that
I had a mobo problem keeping the fan floored to the max.

kony was already kind enough to respond and confirm my suspition that
fixed speed processor fans are the norm

thanks kony.

Kewl. Glad you're fixed up.

-- Bob