Please help, my PC heat sink/fan is making strange noise's

[TG.]

Could anyone please help with this, my problem is sometimes when i go on to certain websites the fan on my PC seems to start going faster to the point were i think it's going to explode, well at least that's what it sounds like as it gets louder and louder, it never used to be like this and only seems to be happening the last few months, i've just logged on to MSN and it started then, i'm just about at the end of my theter with it as it's driving me up the bloody wall, so any help from here to put it right would be greatly appreciated, many thanks in advance

 

[awp]

Switch off and try blowing dust out of the fan - sounds like the fan (power supply) is on the way out.

 

[oldgit]

It could be a dust thing. Worth trying a good clean anyway.
I've had a similar problem and it was the bearings in the fan that wore out. Rattled like crazy. Nice new fan fixed it.

 

[jgs001]

It sounds like a heat problem causing the CPU temp to go up more than normal under load, the auto temp control on the Mobo is triggering the fan. Worth having a look at something like Motherboard monitor. It will keep an eye on your PC temperatures and can be set to trigger alerts and shutdown if need be. It's also worth, particularly if you keep the PC on the floor, opening it up and giving it a real good hoover at least every 3 months to remove all the dust that gets in there. I used to dismount the fan from the heat sink and clean between the heat sink fins, and remove the power supply and clean that out once every 6 months too ( but you need to be extra careful if you decide to clean the power supply due to the large capacitors in there ).

 

[TG.]

Thanks for the replies, the PC is about 18 months old now, what i can't understand it does run fairly quite it's just when i go on certain websites that the fan seems to take off :shrug:

 

[jgs001]

It sounds like there's something there, flash maybe, that's utilising the CPU harder, therefore it gets hotter, the mobo detects this and spins up the cooling fans. If you start the task manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) go to the performance tab, then visit the website, watch the graphs for CPU usage. I would expect that the CPU usage will peak.

 

[TG.]

It sounds like there's something there, flash maybe, that's utilising the CPU harder

Sorry i don't follow not really computer literate :shake:, whats the "flash" thats utilising the CPU

 

[jgs001]

flash is a web programming language (sort of) that's used to make moving graphics etc and other things in web pages. Things like that rely on the CPU of the computer running the web browser to execture (as it's downloaded to the PC to view) and it sounds like this is pushing the CPU utilisation up, therefore the temp goes up and the fan comes on. The fan coming on may well be that heat dissipation is lower than when new, this is normally down to dust, so the air isn't flowing properly through the case, heat sink or both. Last time I cleaned out the PC I bought the idle temperature down by 8 degrees C.

 

[TG.]

flash is a web programming language (sort of) that's used to make moving graphics etc and other things in web pages. Things like that rely on the CPU of the computer running the web browser to execture (as it's downloaded to the PC to view) and it sounds like this is pushing the CPU utilisation up, therefore the temp goes up and the fan comes on. The fan coming on may well be that heat dissipation is lower than when new, this is normally down to dust, so the air isn't flowing properly through the case, heat sink or both. Last time I cleaned out the PC I bought the idle temperature down by 8 degrees C.

Excellent, thank you for that, it makes sense as it seems to happen when viewing photos or videos, so do i just take the side off and run the vacuum around it, or is that to crude and do i need something more specialised.

 

[PsiFox]

Excellent, thank you for that, it makes sense as it seems to happen when viewing photos or videos, so do i just take the side off and run the vacuum around it, or is that to crude and do i need something more specialised.

no hoover. Buy a can of air with a small palstic tube and blow it around.

It could be the cpu developing more heat, but if there is even a small amount of dust on the fan blades, then it is suffcient over time to unbalance and wear out the bearing, thus making a noise at higher revolutions.

 

[siejones]

If you have a decent graphics card don't rule out the fan on that as they are notorius for getting louder over time. Everytime your graphics card is pushed it will spin it faster.

Open up your PC lye it on it's side and power it up. Do what ever you think you need to do get it noisy then have a look and listen to identifty which one it is. These fans arn't very powerful and I have before now just put my finger on them to stop them one at a time to identify which.

So it's either:

a) your CPU fan (I have never had a noisy one). If it is power off and replace it ASAP. They rarely fail completely but it's just not worth the risk for the cost of these things. Modern CPU's are completely dependant on cooling. They used to say running an old Athlon without a fan for even a second would burn it out.

b) Power supply fan. Just replace your power supply. It's not worth messing about trying to replace the internal fan. Be careful to match wattage and make sure it has enough cables for your drives e.t.c

c) Graphics card fan. You will have a difficult time trying to replace the fan/s for this. I myself have just put up with the noise on my previous graphics cards with no disasterous consequences and they kept on going.

d) Fan on one of the chips of on the motherbard (can't remember which type of chip they cool). I have had a noisy one of these but I never bothered to replace it. It should be a standard sized fan you can get from ebuyer or something if you really want to.

After identifying which is you will find there are many sites that will help you replace whatever you need to so print these out before going ahead.