Fan is loud, weather is hot, what to do?

[Jaydon]

First off, I am deaf, so I don't hear the noise, my wife and kids do. We do not have A/C in this room.

We have a Dell 3000 with a 3.0 CPU w/ H/T. It is less than a year old.

So with the hot weather here in eastern Pennsylvania, my wife and kids are telling me that the computer is "really loud!" So i am assuming it is the fan running hard to keep the computer cool. So I am the designated fix-it guy.

I don't know that much about the inside of a case.

We discussed putting A/C in the room. But I thought about asking some ?s 1st.

Is the noise normal? Meaning is the computer getting cooled enough, and the fan just runs harder and louder b/c of the hot weather? It does it on idle, and we basically just use it to surf the web, no games or anything.

So if we keep it on all night, it runs loud all night. I am shutting it off at night now, though.

I want to protect this computer, it was my b/day present from last year.

Any help or info greatly appreciated. Our last computer was a 1996 dell w/ a 166 MHz processor, kinda puny in comparison. They never said anything about noise on that one. This noise just started this summer or late spring.

Addition: I just felt the case, and it is buzzing pretty good. I just now thought it might be dusty inside, and dust might be clogging the vents. I cleaned everything pretty good, though, before setting up this computer.

So is it possible it is getting cooled enough and the fan just makes noise because it is spinning faster and harder? I know it sounds elementary, but...some people equate noise with a malfunction of some sort.

[CaptainMoustache]

ask if it sounds like a jet engine, if it does it may be the fan is just spinning faster to cool. If it's more of a grinding sound though it may be a bearing going south. If you haven't isolated the fan that's doing it yet, have someone in the room while you stop each fan seperatly, find the noisy fan then replace it, dust it, etc. Although you may be able to get dell to replace it by either sending you the fan, or having a tech come by and do it.

[calypso]

From what I have seen of the Dells they tend to be pretty quiet. If you google your "Dell 3000 loud fan" it comes up with results similar to your problem. From what it looks like to me it is the case fan. I would try air dusting it out. If it is still under warranty complaining to Dell isn't a bad idea either.

-calypso

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Jaydon Is the noise normal? Meaning is the computer getting cooled enough, and the fan just runs harder and louder b/c of the hot weather?

Yes, that's normal if the case uses thermally controlled fans.

Originally Posted by Jaydon Any help or info greatly appreciated. Our last computer was a 1996 dell w/ a 166 MHz processor, kinda puny in comparison. They never said anything about noise on that one. This noise just started this summer or late spring.

Older, slower processors ran cooler than the processors we use today and didn't need high RPM fans to help keep them cool. That's why the older DELL wasn't as noisy.

Originally Posted by Jaydon Addition: I just felt the case, and it is buzzing pretty good. I just now thought it might be dusty inside, and dust might be clogging the vents. I cleaned everything pretty good, though, before setting up this computer.

Since you've had it awhile I think it's time to open the case and see if it's time to clean it out. If the CPU heatsink has a lot of dust it's not cooling properly and the CPU heatsink fan may be working overtime to help keep the CPU temps down. Check all the openings in the lower front of the case to be sure cool air can get in. And check the air vents on the power supply too. Some power supplies use thermally controlled fans and if the vents are clogged there is no air getting into the power supply and it's heating up and the fan is going into high gear.

Originally Posted by Jaydon So is it possible it is getting cooled enough and the fan just makes noise because it is spinning faster and harder?

Yes, it's possible and it is summer so it's hotter in general...but see if the computer needs to be cleaned out too.

Cricket

[Jaydon]

Thanks for all the responses, CaptainMoustache, calypso, and Cricket. It gives me something to work with, for starters.