jet engine

[bendova01]

well...at least thats wat my pc is beginning to sound like....
i don't think this is good but i just wanted to ask is it ok for my pc's PS to begin to sound like a jet engine (maybe not as loud but has that "special humm" to it. i know it my pc is freakin old. 6 year old compaq 5000 series, amd ATHLON (there is no other name for it it is just sthlon), ill just add this 256 mb l2 cache....
but just wondering is it ok for it to start to make more and more noise?

[Panama Red]

Probably a fan bearing going out. Shut your system down, unplug the power cord and see if you can spin the psu fan with a small screwdriver. If the blade is wobbly or you get a grinding noise replace the fan. You'll have to open the psu case to do so, so BE CAREFUL not to touch any of the components or connections. You can get a good zap from a psu. Should be able to unplug the fan cable connector, remove the fan fasteners and replace it with one of the same size.

[mikezel]

Yep, I had this problem in an old Dell of mine, and a replaced fan did the trick perfectly.

Just follow Panama Red's instructions, and you'll be fine.

mike

[Designer]

You guy's have been fortunate, not all PSU's have fan's with connectors, the one i'm modding has the wires soldered down. If your ones are soldered, youre gonna have to leave the PSU for a few days (to be on the safe side) and remove the board, de-solder the old fan's connections and solder the wires in for the new one.

Or you could bodge it a bit and just cut the wires off the old fan, put a bit of heatshrink tubing over the wires and solder the new fans wires to them, then insulate it with the heatshrink.

[tomster2300]

My computer is loud too and it heats my room up. (nice heater for the winter actually). I have the heatsink fan, the psu fan, and then an extra antec fan in the back. I also keep the side panel off. Should I just keep adding fans? The pc is out in the open on a stool and the cpu temp. is running at 109 degree F.

[Panama Red]

109F is about 43c. What cpu are we talking? That's kinda warm for an idling P4 or AMD. You may want to remove the heatsink, remove the thermal pad and residue and apply some Arctic Silver 5. What size rear exhaust fan? And I say exhaust cuz it needs to pull air out of the case. Case design has a lot to do with airflow, too. What case are you using? Is there provision for adding an inlet fan in the front and/or additonal exhaust fans in the back?

[Nickoli]

Also, it's not a good idea to keep the side panel off. It actually reduces airflow over components (unless you have a large house fan aimed at the side of your case :P )

Nickoli