Knackered CPU fan?

Jimothy · 12 Apr 2009 at 22:01

Well, title says it all really. Today, I was busying away in LotRO when I was hit by a massive decrease in FPS, literally down to 4-5 from an average of 70-80. I quickly log out and fire up my mobo monitoring program. CPU fan displays no RPMs and the temp is increasing steadily upto a point of around 80 degrees

eek:!) ... Pop open the case and the CPU fan has stopped spinning. I gave it a quick tap and it starts up again, not ideal but it'll do for now.

I've noticed that if I leave desktop running, the fan will stop and temps will idle away at 30 degrees. But apart from that, it seems to intermittently stop when I really don't want it to - IE, gaming. So, a problem with the fan or with the mobo? I'm not really sure.

RJC · 12 Apr 2009 at 23:39

What cpu cooler are you using, it could well be the fan.
Is the old fan easly removable and strap on a spare fan to test.

Jimothy · 13 Apr 2009 at 11:26

I'm using a stock Intel cooler, running a 1.8GhZ Dual Core. Since I have no spare one, I guess I'll be shelling out for one of the Akasa fans!

Citizen · 13 Apr 2009 at 11:33

Knackered my cpu fan this morning while trying to clean it with a small brush. One of the fan blades snapped off. Fortuantely, it works ok again but now i've got a very slight basey noise. I've just placed an order for a cheap replacement ( it's a socket 478)....can't stand this noise. Strangely, the cpu temp is lower than before.

FaceplantSi · 13 Apr 2009 at 13:46

You could tey plugging your CPU fan into a different mobo header and see if the monitoring prog shows that as running - that might show if it's a mobo issue, but far more likely to be the fan itself - they do need an initial boost to start up so if the fan is getting old and gunked up it's entirely poss that it simply can't get past it's start up inertia. Check in your BIOS too as some will allow auto throttling of the fan depending on temp - you could try disabling that so to keep the fan running 100% all the time.

All of those measure should only ever be 'stop-gap' tho and I would suggest you replace the stock Intel cooler as they are pretty poor really.