Noisy computer fan!

londonman81

I have a Dell Dimension 3000 and I have noticed that it has been very noisy lately.

It sounds like the fan is working extra hard - almost to the point of driving me crazy.

I'm assuming it is to do with the recent exceptional heat, but I've noticed that no one else's computer in the house is anywhere near as loud. They seem almost silent.

Does the fan activity increase according to the temperature?

And is there anything I can do about it?

Or could it be something completely different??

superscaper

It could be the fan just simply needs cleaning, or that the bearing has gone faulty and the fan needs to be replaced. Do you know which fan in your pc is making all the noise (eg psu fan, case fan, cpu fan, graphics card fan etc)

pennymakespounds

always thought i was brilliant doing daily routine on antivirus, adware etc etc on my 12 month old dell....... knew about noisy fans .. but never thought about it ...... but recently been aware that the machine was very noisy with fan going full time .

unplugged it all.. turned it upside down ... couldn't see the fan cover as it was thick with dust .
2 minutes ...... a toothbrush and a can of air spray .... cleared .. and never heard the machine since !!..

leesmithg

pennymakespounds wrote:

always thought i was brilliant doing daily routine on antivirus, adware etc etc on my 12 month old dell....... knew about noisy fans .. but never thought about it ...... but recently been aware that the machine was very noisy with fan going full time .

unplugged it all.. turned it upside down ... couldn't see the fan cover as it was thick with dust .
2 minutes ...... a toothbrush and a can of air spray .... cleared .. and never heard the machine since !!..

Just a damp slightly soapy cloth and yes an old toothbrush to get that mush dirt off.

However the air spray is not really needed they are expensive and you could buy a new fan for a couple of quid from PC world, infact 3 new fans for the cost of a tin of compressed air spray.

T4i

Dust or bearing going.

Clean it if possible and see if it clears the noise up, if it contiunes to be noisy then you may have to buy a new fan.

If its too hot to venture outside wolfman gave me this link and they are simply brilliant at online orders, the fans are not the cheapest but they will last and last and they are known for silence.

http://www.dorothybradbury.co.uk/

You will need to know what type of fan you currently have, so measure the squareness and depth.

Gibblestick

Most newish Dells have adaptive speed fans, so the hotter it gets, the harder the fan will work.
Often, just blowing away most of the dust from the inside of the case will be enough, paying particular attention to the fans. If not, try cleaning it out with a vaccuum. Use a hose with small attachment or even better, a hand held vac but be careful not to touch anything, just get as close as you can.

And get a fully airconditioned room (yeah right)

buglawton

My new fan just arrived from dorothybradbury, thx T4j for that tip, it is twice the depth of the old one, has 50mm hole spacing on it's housing for my Asrock motherboard, AMD cpu. Does run v. quietly - at least 6db reduction in noise. Now, no way do I own the proper screws to put this deep fan on so had to improvise out of the DIY box. Only other thing to note is there are 2 wires instead of the old fan's 3, not sure why.

Prior to finding this link I'd looked in vain for even the correct size of fan housing, never mind a quiet performer - and just £7.88 inc P&P.

T4i wrote: »

Dust or bearing going.

Clean it if possible and see if it clears the noise up, if it contiunes to be noisy then you may have to buy a new fan.

If its too hot to venture outside wolfman gave me this link and they are simply brilliant at online orders, the fans are not the cheapest but they will last and last and they are known for silence.

http://www.dorothybradbury.co.uk/

You will need to know what type of fan you currently have, so measure the squareness and depth.