Why is my fan going crazy?

[hiya_bol]

Why is my fan going crazy?  This is the question that's been bugging me for the last week and I haven't tried to do anything about it UNTIL TONIGHT and now I'm stumped..

Just all of a sudden last week the CPU fan started going full-on continuously, and I can't figure out what changes have been made to make this happen.  I have run all the virus, Spybot + MS update stuff to make sure there's nothing dodgy going on.  We got a message saying low on memory, so I've got rid of all the junk from the C Drive, removed the virtual memory allocation from this partition, compressed the old files, and defrag'd the partition.

I then ran a probe thingy which tracks fan rpm and temperatures, and took the cover off the computer.  Over a period of 5-10 mins the fan speed then dropped to maintain same CPU temperature.  So I guess either the CPU is running too hot for some reason, or the temperature controller is not working properly.  When I put the cover back on the PC the fan speed went crazy again..  Freaky.

There was some dust in there so I got the Dyson in the nooks + crannies and hoovered up all the dust around the fans/ case/ CPU/ board etc just to see if this would help, but made no difference.

I don't understand what would have changed suddenly to make this happen  .  Can anybody help me please?  Cheers.

[Reenie]

I think it's just an age foible HD, We had to get another fan when ours went funny after about two years. It indeed went fast for no reason, then very slow. Pat also got the work super strength vacuum, also on blow just to be sure. Lots of dust and fluff, but no fan improvement. Getting a second helped.

[hiya_bol]

??  Do you mean like the fan all of a sudden doesn't move air around properly any more?  It is turning round quickly enough, don't understand why it would stop working as a cooling device though..??..??!!?..//..   

[Reenie]

That was exactly the problem, maybe wear and tear?

[hiya_bol]

I would expect wear & tear on a fan to be more gradual... . .  ?? ?   ..  .  ?? ? ?    
I think the age foible thing is catching up with me.

[Baz]

HD, I bought my P4 computer six months ago and the fan often runs at erratic speeds - sometimes it seems to be going crazy !... I have'nt taken any action yet as everything seems to be working fine !

[Shell]

My fan speeds up at times and it happens when I'm viewing youtube type sites for some reason

[Domo Kun]

My fan stopped cutting in recently and I thought my laptop was going to melt one evening, too hot to touch even! then it shut itself down.

I unplugged it over night, and then for a period of a few weeks, the fan was running fast all the time.


It has settled down now.

I'm going to buy a new laptop though, went looking the other day. going to use my discount card at Pcworld/Dixons I think. :-)

[Cod]

What processor and cpu fan do you have h_d?  Some built-in cpu temperature monitor / fan controllers are notoriously crap.  I used to use almost all Asus components when building new systems as I liked their gear.  First thing I'd get rid of was their cpu / fan program because it let them down. 

Also, the fan can stop working effectively if dirty or if the TIM (thermal interface material) starts to decompose.  I cleaned the old paste off mine and replaced it a couple of days ago, only built the machine about 6 months ago.  If you bought a factory-built pc, the TIM can sometimes be the problem as they use thermal interface pads which are rubbish.

Can you check if the processor is working extra when the fan is going full pelt?  (Ctrl-Alt-Del on a home Windows machine).

[hiya_bol]

Thanks for the tips hogia.
Yeah it is a machine I built 2-3 yrs ago from ASUS motherboard and other bits, now it seems to be past its best and several things are starting to not work too well any more  .
Processor is Intel P4 3.0 GHz, fan is Intel too.  How would I get rid of Asus CPU/ fan program, and what could I replace it with?
No the processor at the moment seems to be idle when fan is going full on. 
I'll try to get some more thermal paste and replace it.

[Cod]

Always worth a try.  In my opinion, the best thermal paste is Arctic Silver 5.  Clean the old stuff off with Akasa TIMClean.

iirc, you can uninstall the cpu monitor in Add/Remove Programs in Windows.  I rarely bother with replacing it and go into the bios on reboot if I need a basic indicator of the temp.  There's a few good (and free) cpu monitors on that internet.

[hiya_bol]

Just been down the local computer shop.  They didn't have any thermal paste and in fact we get limited range of stuff here, but I did get a Zalman CPU cooler kit.  It is really heavy and has blue flashing things so must be worth the money..  Seems to come with fan controller software too- I'll give it a whirl (pun intended) tonight.

Thanks again for the tips.

[Gribbie]

I like blue flashy things 

[Domo Kun]

Just been down the local computer shop.  They didn't have any thermal paste and in fact we get limited range of stuff here, but I did get a Zalman CPU cooler kit.  It is really heavy and has blue flashing things so must be worth the money..  Seems to come with fan controller software too- I'll give it a whirl (pun intended) tonight.

Thanks again for the tips.

If its got blue flashy things, and it doesnt do the job better than anything else ever, I'll eat my furry hat.

[hiya_bol]

Fan replaced and all fixed thanks.  It was a total pain though- had to take out the motherboard to get some screws underneath it etc.  The new fan doesn't have auto speed control- it's got this manual dial thing.  And you can't see the blue flashy things cos they are inside the computer .

The paste on the old fan had dried out and was only partly working, so I probably would have been best using the old fan and just re-greasing it.  Never mind I'll know next time.