Fan spinning waaaaay too fast.

[moonguppie]

I am currently working on a user's Dell Optiplex GX520 with a fan that sounds like a hairdryer. There were no processes running that would overwhelm the processor causing a heat build-up, nor were there any signs of excessive heat. I do not see any damage on the board and I do not smell any burnt smell.

A little knowledge is dangerous.

 

[epod69]

Is there maybe a bios setting that could be possible set that turns the processor fan at full speed at all times? I would check if you haven't already what the fan controller settings are set to.

 

[moonguppie]

So I put it back together, and looked through the bios settings. I thought there might be a fan setting in there too, but no. The remained at a normal, quiet speed during that time and it's still running quiet now. I'm letting it run with Defrag to see if letting a process run will cause the fan to speed up after awhile. So I'm still baffled but at least it's quiet now.

A little knowledge is dangerous.

 

[epod69]

Hey again,
You have to realize too that when you are using you computer for heavy processing power active tasks such as games that the cpu fan speed will eventual start kicking on at higher speeds once the cpu starts getting hot to cool it off.

BTW, I don't think that doing a disk defrag is necessarily going to be using much processing power either.

What I would do is take the processor heat sink off and clean off the processor and heatsink. Then put on new thermal paste and reseat the cpu heatsink. That will help cool off the processor a little better. One thing I have also came across on some motherboards is that the cpu temperature sensor seems to be off and thinks the processor is a lot hotter then it actually is, which then makes the cpu fan full blast constantly and even worse, the computer will keep restarting because of a restart setting if a certain temperature is reached.

Can you monitor the processor temperature?

Jesse

 

[kmcferrin]

I had similar issues with a pair of HP DX5150 PCs that I received recently. I had two different problems:

On one of the the CPU fan wasn't screwed on all the way, which caused the CPU to not be cooled efficiently. So the BIOS saw the temp rising and spun up the fan to compensate. Just turning the screws on the heatsink mounts a tad tighter actually fixed the problem.

On the other one the CPU was practically swimming in heatsink compound, which tends to cause it to act more like an insulator than a thermal conductor. After cleaning off the factory applied goop I put on some Arctic Silver and everything worked fine.

I think that was probably a fairly common issue on the DX5150 models because they were putting the Athlon 64 CPUs into a case that was originally designed around a Pentium 3 or early Pentium 4 CPU. Also, when I have had replacement CPUs or fans arrive from HP the instructions enclosed usually say to use the entire syringe full of heatsink compound instead of just a thin layer (why, I'll never know, but it tends to support my belief that they smother the CPUs with too much compound). The new models (DC5750) don't seem to have this problem, as the cases have MUCH improved air flow.

 

[wahnula]

Another tack would be to get something like this:

http://www.xpcgear.com/ener9afatr2s.html

this is an old model and there are others and better, this has (2) fan controllers and (2) temp probes that you can place wherever you wish to get an accurate idea of actual temps and adjust your fan(s) accordingly. I hate noise and now could not imagine life before I grasped control of my fans.

Tony

 

[johnbullas]

In passing, the CPU fans on some of these Dells are shrounded in a plastic trumpet and sound a lot quieter when cleaned of all the encrusting dust and debris, a colleague of mine even lubricates the fan bearings with a very small amount of machine oil (3 in 1 oil) but I am not brave enough to try that but it made one even quieter (and no it didn't kill it)

-

===================================
Transportation Research Consultant
Winchester UK

 

[moonguppie]

Thanks for the responses. This is a computer for one of our companie's user, so the most strenuous activities are generating reports with Access or moving information to or from a network drive.

So, I opened it up and everything looked fine. There seemed to be a decent amount of thermal paste on the processor. I snapped it back together and let it run for two work shifts and no fan issues. I did run Dells diagnostic tool and didn't find anything. I also upgraded the bios too.

It seems to have gone away as quickly as it came. We have a low budget here at my job so I'm sure I have to recycle this machine to another user and use them as a test user.

Thanks again.

A little knowledge is dangerous.

 

[ArizonaGeek]

I have a Dell Optiplex GX280 that spins the fan like that once in a while. It is so random we never really had a chance to troubleshoot it. My guessing is that there wasn't enough air flow for the fan to properly cool the CPU so the fan gets going in a high speed mode and then the BIOS never releases the fan until you shut it off. There might be a BIOS update on Dells website for your particular PC that might fix something. Our GX280 has only done it a couple of times over the last 6 or so months and hasn't done it since I clear some room behind the PC.

See if increasing space around the PC to allow more airflow helps and then see if there is a BIOS update to the PC. None of which can hurt even if this doesn't fix the problem.

Cheers
Rob