PC fan making loud noise?

toby2111

Hi,
Earlier today turned on my pretty old PC,but the fan at the back right side,which normally makes a quiet enough noise, revved up sounding like it was gonna take off!!Every time I turn it on it kicks in,a loud whirring noise and no signal pops up on screen.Is this a major prob?Are fans dear to replace?Thanks in advance

Lump

They're cheap to replace, it might just need cleaning.

toby2111

Thanks lump,
Should I try take it off and clean it myself or should I drop it into a PC repair place?Its making a really loud noise,I'm afraid its gona blow up!!!

Chaos Marine

Fans aren't that difficult to clean. Simply open the side of your tower or take off the upper section if it's a flat desk top, push a finger in between the fan blades... Of course you make certain it's turned off or better yet, unplugged, get some canned air and give it quick, single second bursts to dislodge the dust and scrape it away with your finger. Why you put your finger in there is to stop the fan from turning too fast and damage the ball bearings. If it's a case mounted fan and not a fan on the motherboard, you can use your vacuum cleaner on it but again, make sure you don't let the fans turn too fast.

[Edit] Do not take it into some place to have it repaired, you'll be gouged silly for something that's as easy as opening a fridge.

toby2111

Thanks Chaos,
Its a flat Dell PC were the case lifts up from the back.I had a look and its a DC Brushless fan(wotever that means) with a plastic casing around it.Should I just screw off this casing and give it a good cleaning?Thanks

Chaos Marine

Disconnect the power connector before you remove it. It'll only go on the one way so don't worry about it not fitting back on. It might be a little stiff coming off or going back on. Don't worry about that, just jiggle it without stressing the cables too much. If you pull in one way too much, it could cause one of the pins to loosen. Whether or not you need to pull it out to clean it is dependant on where in the machine it is.

toby2111

Its at back right hand of PC.i'll give it a go and see,thanks!

Knasher

Sorry, you say no signal pops up on the screen, as in you monitor doesn't even turn on?

If this is the case then I'd bet that there is nothing actually wrong with the fan. Unfortunately this is bad news because I'd be betting that your not even getting to the POST screen and that your fans are spinning full hilt because you aren't even at the stage where your computer can determine the necessary speed for the fan so just goes at full speed in order to ensure that the CPU doesn't get damaged. (From what I remember Dell don't have actual fans on their CPUs but instead have a large fan at the back which ducts air onto the CPUs heatsink.) This would indicate a much more serious problem with your computer.

Again if I remember correctly there are 4 numbered LEDs on the back of the case which change color during boot (from orange to green) in order to diagnose problems, what color are these?

Hopefully I'm wrong about all this, just have a feeling that it is a little bit more serious than bearings running out on your fan. Telling us the color of the lights and also what model of computer you have will tell us more. Also I think Dell stopped doing POST beep codes, but if you hear and beeping sounds tell us as well.

toby2111

Hi knasher,
Its a Dell t7570.It was making beeping noises and wouldnt turn on.This happened a few times but when I opened the casing,rooted around a bit,this seemed to fix it and noises stopped.Now it refuses to turn on at all,no signal on screen and the on light at the front stays orange instead of green.There doesnt seem to be 4 LED lights at the back.I've a bad feeling it could be knackered,wot you reckon?

Knasher

If you can remember what the beep code was then take a look at this http://www.nullamatix.com/dell-diagnostic-beep-code-troublshooting-chart/ and see if you can figure out what was causing the code.

Also how comfortable are you inside a computer, because there is a very good chance that you have suffered a hardware failure so you may end up replacing some components.

Also always a good idea to try reseating all your RAM modules and your PCI cards, could be caused by a component comming loose and if so it would be an easy fix.

Skerries

the solid orange light normally means you need a new power supply especially if the fan is spinning up
are you sure it is the fan and not the power supply?
what throws me is that it is beeping as well, have a look for your model of pc and beep codes on google as i keep getting laptops for t7570
but if it is in warranty http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/warranty/warranty_information then get it replaced otherwise off to ebay with you

toby2111

Sorry about delay in getting back folks,was away for a few days.it used to make beeping sounds occasionally,can't remember the sequence of them.now,it makes no beeping sounds,it just starts up then the fan kicks in and sounds like it's gonna blow up!orange light on at front.I know zilch about computers so all that advice that knasher gave above is double Dutch to me unfortunately!think my only option is to leave it into a pc repair centre?