Fan service

[davidn]

I'm rather pleased to see that America follows some of the traditions of great British weather after all. There was a Flag Day carnival planned in the field next to the school down the road from us today, and after a full week of constant and often quite uncomfortable sun, when we woke up this morning it was raining in buckets.

We also have a further diagnosis on the computer. I tried running it with the case off this morning and noticed that the CPU fan, filthy as it was, wasn't even making any attempt to turn at all, which strikes me as a fairly large problem. (However, it should also be recorded that having a Vornado fan going full belter right next to it cools the CPU down to a steady and very comfortable 15 degrees, even if it tends to drive you mad after five minutes). So the computer is now out on my desk, and the planned walk to the carnival was replaced with a trip along the road to find a socket 939 processor fan.

I had planned to ask the Japanese man down at the local electronics shop who had saved me the last time I touched the innards of a computer, but his shop was closed, and a search of the bigger office and consumer electronics places only turned up one brand of fan, which was the wrong size. I'm going to have to go out again and ask him tomorrow - my major worry just now, without an alternative to test on, is that it isn't actually a problem with the fan and it's instead not getting any power from the motherboard, in which case (as that's the only available set of pins for a fan) it looks like the entire board will have to come out. But I've got a lifetime warranty on that, apparently.

On the way back from down the road, we walked through the soggy field where the carnival was meant to be. It contained, in total, one shabby caravan that contained a safety demonstration house owned by the fire brigade. It was all rather tragic.

Comments

[kaedeko.livejournal.com]

In any case, processor fans can be hooked directly up to the power supply with a small adapter that can be bought online. Actually, it is the recommended method since speed control (as performed by the motherboard) may make the fan quieter but spinning up and down and up and down again has a way of making the fan's ultimate fate come up much sooner than one would expect. This is further complicated by the fact that sometimes, motherboards simply aren't able to handle the power drain of a fan and the circuit burns out entirely. Go figure.

[davidn]

Maybe I'll ask about that too, then, because it would certainly solve both possible causes of the problem at once. There certainly isn't anything obvious wrong with the fan, but I'm not sure how to test it short of jamming two paperclips up its sockets and holding a battery to it. Which sounds slightly fatal.

[starfishchris.livejournal.com]

Are you quite sure your CPU is at 15 degrees? (Is it really that cold there right now?) I'd adjust that upwards at least 10 degrees, for when you finally fix the fan and so you don't consider 55 degrees a healthy temperature...