CPU fan quit working

Well, as you can guess from the title, my CPU fan is glitching up. when you turn on the comp, it stays on for a few seconds in BIOS, then goes off, a weird buzz starts comming out (a fan error warning i guess). It keeps loading windows, but I haven't let it run w/o the fan for more then 10 seconds. my problem is i have no idea how to fix it, im afraid to ruin it w/o the fan running. its a AMD (known to over heat easy) 64 bit (also know to overheat) 3000+ @ 1.8 Ghz, i havn't overclocked it, and there is 1 case fan that still runs fine, but it would be really crappy to loose a $150 processor, and a $120 motherboard, casue of a stupid fan, ive seen the video where the AMD chip w/o a heatsink or fan gets above 700 degrees. yea, it melts the chip and board = bad

Any Ideas??? safe ideas? - id rather take it to comp usa then do something risky

If this is how you feel then you should indeed take it somewhere to be looked at by a professional. It sounds like you might need to get the fan replaced. Definatly do NOT run the pc without the CPU fan.

yes you should just buy a replacement fan, measure the size or the fan unscrew it and buy another one thats the same size and screw down the new one in place of the old one plug it into the fan header on your motherboard and viola. A fan should cost you less than 10$ reguardless of size

Are you confident enough to open up your PC and have a look at the fan and see if it even spins?

If so, give it a look, it may well be something else. A lot of mobo's have Power control, depending on what your CPU is doing, depends on how fast the fan spins.

Also, you could just check that the power cable to the fan hasn't melted against the cpu or got jammed against the fan and stopped it spinning.

Would save you a lot of effort if it's just jammed.

If you are still unsure or not confident, then yes, go get it checked.

My 2 cents:

Dont go to Compusa. I've had better, much better experience with Best Buy Geek Squad.

Look inside the computer (dont touch anything w/o touching the power supply first, and dont wear socks on carpet at the same time you are working on it) and see if the heatsink 3 pin connector is firmly connected into your motherboard. Then check that something is not interfering with the fan's cables and blades and check for any signs of visible burns.

As a last resort, take it to Best Buy or Compusa. But before you do that, spend 10 bucks and get a new fan. It could just be that, because Compusa and Bestbuy charge 60 bucks for just a diag, and then they charge more to fix it.

Heh, i had a computer that never even had a fan, just a crappy heatsink. It crashed from day one but i was too lazy to take it back to the store.
I just cracked the case open and put a desktop fan against it, lol.

Running computer without cpu fan is big trouble. Looking at frying the mobo and anything else in there. See if you can find some one local who deals with computers never best buy or compusa they overprice everything and a local mom and pop computer repair place would be cheaper and better cause they know if they fix it they gots a customer for life.
I would also listen to everyone so far cept for the best buy compusa advice. You asking to be ripped off by them. Other than that good advice from everyone


Water cooling is your friend if you can afford it

If your heatsink (CPU Fan) is messed up, you can just go on Newegg or something and buy a same type of heatsink with the same dimensions that is known to work with your CPU, take your current one off, and replace it. If you don't want to open it up (which isn't really that hard by the way), just buy the heatsink and take it to some professional to do.

EDIT- Also, if your heatsink stops working, try opening up your computer and checking for dust. Many times dust will build up and stop the fan from working. Just blow it away with compressed air or wipe it off.

Personally, I would never use water cooling because one leak and the computer is dead. Also, since you only seem to have one other fan in the system, you might want to invest in another one (pretty cheap, maybe $3-5) or buy some thermal cooling stuff such as Arctic Silver 5.

I could not agree more....open you case and blow out all the dust...i accumulates on the sinks and on the fan blades real fast...also blow the dust out of your PS...it hides in there and will kill it overtime.

Best Buy or Comp USA? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Find yourself a small computer shop run by some person who looks like a good, authentic geek. If the shop is in someones dining room or guest room, fabulous. If the shop has lots of parts and half-open computers lying around, all the better. Tell the person there your problem. If they don't start enthusiastically giving you opinions about either hardware or software almost immediately, don't trust them, they might be an imitation geek. They should offer to replace your fan for $25 MAX.

I had a CPU fan go out and the so-called Geek Squad pros wanted over $100 to fix it. The little bearded gnome of a guy I found fixing PCs on his dining room table charged me $15 and was a hoot to talk to as well. I used the Yellow Pages. That computer is still working fine over a year later.

Another alternative is to find a smart teenage boy who really loves computers to help you out. The danger there is that you can expect him to want to soup up your machine. I love those teenage computer geniuses but they always want you to drop money to get the best equipment. You just know they REALLY want you to stick a dual chrome exhaust and ancy wheels on your PC. Fortunately I have an attractive teenage daughter, and so have acccess to smart teenage boys, lol.

--Nokomis (who knows just enough about hardware to know she doesn't know enough)

As a geek running a home-based business fixing computers, I'll second that.

~~ Andrew D.

Well, my comp has a plexy glass side so i can see in, second the fan starts up for the 1st 5 seconds of booting, so i can't think of why it would start up, then turn off. Yea, ive figgured that it's not worth toying with, 1 of the tech's at my school ( im friends w/ em all) said they had lots of extra fans lying around so, ill use one of those, i just hope its big, my comp fan is like 4 inches accross

Sounds like some sort of Power Fan Control option has kicked in. This could depend on settings you have in your Bios. It might well be normal and would be worth a look when your Tech friend comes by.

I have a similar option on my mobo. It spins up when it's needed to cool down the CPU and gradually increases or decreases in speed depending on the load of the CPU, to keep things as quiet as possible.

If it is switching off, a new fan may not help, as it may be a Bios setting and may either need a reset of the Bios, or the worst case, your sensors on your Mobo are duff and not working properly.

Anyway, hope your tech friend can get it working for you.

I have the same sort of thing on my motherboard. ASUS Cool n' Quiet it's called. However, even at 0% load and low temperatures, it never comes to a complete stop.

Gman877- Be sure your tech friend knows that the fan you're talking about is a heatsink (CPU Fan) and not a normal fan to attach anywhere on your computer.

Personally, I don't think this is any sort of power management settings. It's just the fan dying. The fan is probably loose from the motor. As the the speed increases, the fan pulls away from the motor, or it's just too fast and the motor starts spinning without any grip. The buzz could then be the sound of the motor spinning without any resistance.