Question about my PC..

I am posting this here since there is no clear topic forum for this ( I am going to make a suggestion for it also). My PC hums all the time. I can shut it down for 2 days, turn it on and it still hums. I have a feeling that it is the fan but why would it run at all times and how can i fix this?? It is so damn annoying.

Thanks

I have a 3-year old Dell Dimension 4100 and they were notorious for a loud fan until Dell changed it after a few months in production. The sound it makes is indeed a hum. The only way to fix it that I know of is to replace the fan. If it's still under warranty you could try complaining about it. Dell offered to send out free replacement fans to anybody who wanted them. I should have taken them up on it, but I guess I just got used to it.

Your processor fan will run CONSTANTLY from the instant you turn the power on til you shut it off...

Without it for even 5 seconds your processor can get hot enough to go boom if it's under heavy load.

Perhaps you've got too much hardware generally heating up inside your box, and your fan processor is having to work overtime to keep it cool. If it's only just started doing this, and used to be very quiet, I would look to either getting more fans on/in your case (make cutouts in the case to mount 80mm case fans), or replace your processor fan (the fan suddenly getting real loud is usually a sign it's going to die within a few weeks).

Hold a stiff object like a fresh pencil to the chassis of the fan and place your ear next to it. This should amplify the sound enough for you to determine the source. Try a few different locations to be certain.

BE WARNED: If the humming stops, so may have your fan.

Why PCs don't ship with RPM sensors I'll never understand.

yeah migth be time to replace a fan, however one thing to note, hard drives if they have any moisture in them or if it is cold will make that loud humming sound as well. also your cd/dvd drive can spin up pretty fast causing a loud humming..

but more than likely it is the fan. if you dont feel like running out and buying one right away you can Drop a little w-40 lubricant or lithium grease in the spindle area (behind the sticker) and that should give you another 3 - 6 months of (quiet) life..

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A lot of PC motherboards do have fan sensors on them... even the crappy ECS ones do these days

nowadays processors usually have built-in thermostats, and when they get above a set temperature your computer will freeze completely - mouse won't move, keyboard won't respond, usually the power button on the front won't work. So take the fan off if you want but you'll be lucky to get more than about a minute before the processor completely shuts down

Even my parents' PC (2 years old), which is an ECS motherboard and Duron 800Mhz processor, has an RPM sensor on the fan.

Oh how I hate that humming noise that becomes like a lawnmower engine in a couple of months.
Guess the reasons could be excess humidity or/and dust. Sometimes even u might have a cable on the fan! Yup it happened to me once, but I can assure you the sound is alarming enough so you won't mistake it for a humming sound =) If you want I guess you could take your fan out and clean it with a cotton swab? Just make sure u don' thave little strands of cotton hanging around, they could *gasp* burn.

Older hard drives usually make a lot of noise, but the noise is normally somewhat high pitched (at least mines were), but i guess that's just the way they were made.

Sounds like you (and everyone for this matter) might want to get an early start on spring cleaning. Whenever I clean a system I like to pull all the fans and hook them up to an old power supply one by one and give them a listen, any fans that sound "funny" get replaced no ifs, ands, or buts. After i'm familiar with what sounds to expect from the fans (and hook em back up of course) I unplug any Floppy, CD, or DVD drives and give the HDDs a listen, and finally hooking the CDs ect.. back up one by one giving them a listen as well.

Oh, when I want to clean the fan, I just buy a new one

I've killed too many fans sucking gunk off with the vacuum cleaner (the sucking air makes it spin WAY WAY too fast for its max capacity, and can burn it out, lmao).

I used to love trying to get the blades to spin as fast as I could untill I figured out how much faster cleaning goes if the blades don't move, then I learned to hold the blades as well while spirting it with an air compressor (or can-o-air depending on where I am)

I just thought it'd be neat to give it a try with the vacuum... didn't work too well

But yeah, I hold the blades still now where I need to. But usually I just buy a new fan.

hmmmmm, it would be kinda fun to stick vacuum hose up to a fan while it's still installed just to see how fast it can go.


I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHATEVER HAPPENS TO ANYONE WHO TRIES THIS !!!!!