What does it mean if the fan in my computer is making noise? Do I need a working fan in my computer?

[applegrove]

[struggle4progress]

1. what kind of noise?

a quiet whirring?
or sort of more like somebody running a broomstick along the bannisters?

is there an odor like somebody cooking up a frying pan full of rubber bands?
or is there mebbe smoke coming out of the computer vents?

one of my computer fans once started making some loud awful clickety-clickety racket once and i ignored it as long as i could, which was months and months and months, but it never got better so finally i just gave up and bought a new fan and replaced it, which took surprisingly little time

i dunno if you need a computer fan. some geeky people will tell you heat is the enemy of semiconductor circuits -- but if your computer is in a refrigerated room kept at -20C mebbe it doesn't matter. on the other hand, one of my computers sometimes starts acting weird if the internal temps get too high and then i turn up the fans and it behaves itself again

[applegrove]

3. I've opened up the back of my computer to add usb outlets. Would I be able to change a fan?

[struggle4progress]

9. you can probably do it easily. but you may want to google your computer make/model

a bit first -- because a few manufacturers may still use proprietary fan wirings. you'll have a fan on the cpu, plus probably one or two on the case

the case fan sizes are likely to be standard, i think; you'll also need to know how many pins your failing fan has. the case fan probably connects to a set of pins on the mobo, with a standard connector -- although it's also possible it connects directly to the psu, in which situation the fan wires probably go to some standard connector on a set of wires running out of the psu

if it's a failing cpu fan, you may have to look at it a bit harder to know how to proceed: designs can vary somewhat

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I do believe you need a working fan.

Sometimes they are just noisy...

I'm not sure how you can tell if the computer overheats, though...

:shrug:

[sgsmith]

4. Yes, you need a working fan

The airflow created is critical to keeping the components (ie stuff, doo-dads, or other non-technical terms) working.

Having said that, it's amazing how much dust and other debris gets sucked into a desktop computer by said working fans. Get a can of compressed air, take the computer outside, open the case up, and blow all the crud out. You can blow the dust off the fans and if they make noise, that will further identify what's going wrong.

[applegrove]

5. Good idea. My computer is almost 10 years old so I imagine there is lots of dust in there.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. I had a client who insisted on smoking herb while working.

By the time I got to it the inside of the case was, um, resin city. You could have scraped it off the components and gotten high for a week. I never did convince him to blow his smoke in a different direction, and I had to replace his fans on a regular basis.

True story. :headbang:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

6. There's more than one fan inside the case.

There's the CPU fan, which is vital, and there may be one or more case fans, which are less critical but still needed. Then there's the fan inside the power supply- if that one gives out thus goeth the power supply, and possibly the motherboard if the supply starts overheating without shutting down.

[Swede]

8. Yes you need the fan. They are easy to change and are generic

Well,usually generic. Just take it out and bring it to your local computer geek shop.

[Major Nikon]

10. Often it's the fan in the power supply

Sometimes it makes noise if there's too many dingleberries in there. Take a can of compressed air and blow all the dust out. It might quiet down, but even if it doesn't you've performed a worthwhile chore.