Changing Fans on PC

[bntrong]

I'm in the IT department mainly dealing with software integration but I have a problem with a PC and its fan...It's making a lot of rumbling noises so the IT executive asked me to change the fan....Not a hardware guy so don't really know if its just a simple pull it from where ever it's plugged in and replace or what...Can you hardware guys help me out...
thanks

 

[Laffalot]

Hi,

Which fan ?.

There are usually 2 but sometimes 3 main fans.

The obvious one is the one at the back of the PC. This is a fan for the power supply. If its this then power down the PC take the supply apart and go get another one.

They are not all standard size but they do tend to be 12v. Make sure the one you get will fit and has the right type of power connector. All the ones i have seen have a connector but some may be soldered onto the board.

If its the CPU fan then again your going to need to take the PC apart and remove the fan. Fan size and shape depend upon the heatsink they're attached to and the amount of heat they have to remove (processor dependent).

If its an old motherboard\processor then its likely to have 2 pin connector or may fit inline with a power lead to the HDD or floppy.

Modern boards have 3 pins power and a sense wire.

In both cases its best to replace like with like that way you can't go wrong.

Although your not supposed to, I took my fans apart when they made a noise. Cleaned them up, applied a little graphite lube and they're still working 10 months on.

Any Help, Yes/No let me know

Regards

________________________________________
Is not a fool a wise man in his own eyes - Proverbs

 

[edfair]

If you have the opportunity, get ballbearing fan as replacement.
If you have a power supply fan soldered in to the board , cut the leads and solder together or use wire nuts.
If you have to use a smaller than original cpu fan, you can center the fan over the heatsink and only use 2 screws to hold it in place.
Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[paparazi]

Non of the fans are particullarly difficult to change, just get the same or similar size and rating.
you may well need to use a soldering iron if connectors require soldering.
Be careful if you go into the power supply!! there is a ressidual current retained within capacitors, so be careful.
Determine which is noisey first, you may need to run the PC with it's sides removed and PC running to do this.
None of the fans should take more than half an hour to change given some basic DIY skills. Martin

 

[neomagic]

All are good recommendations however your not a hardware person and I don't recommend that you take a power supply appart unless you know how to solder, because you don't want to CUT wires on a power supply (Fire Risk...bad...bad)a lot of us dead head tech's have done this but usually it's only a temp fix until we could get a new one. It's best to just replace the PWR supply. The easiest one to check is the CPU fan (I think). Look at the fan and listen to it. If it's bad it will be very noisey and appear to be running very slow or wabbling and would warrent replacement. Out of curiosity does this machine have a removeable Hard drive caddy system? Older caddy's used bushing style bearings to cool the drive and they wore out quickly. If the hard drive is 5400 rpm or less just disconnect it, it don't need the fan most of the time unless the PC is really packed on the inside and your having random errors indicating an overheating problem. GL