Fan not working

The big fan that sucks air into my computer went kaput today after working only intermittently the past 3 days however the fan over the cpu does work as well as the outlet fan;

Computer is:
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
3.00 GHz, 2.00 GB Ram
running
Windows XP (home ed.) Service Pack 3

I do a lot of graphics in a Photoshop-type program and make a lot of use of my image viewer and internet- NO gaming.

How big a deal is this?

 

Ok step 1. Unplug your computer. Step 2. Unhook the fan that is currently not working. Step 3. Unhook your CPU fan. Step 4. Hook the non working fan up to where you unplugged the CPU fan. (This will determine if the fan itself is bad or if it is the socket that you plug the fan into is bad) If the fan doesn't work then I'd say your fan is indeed KAPUT !! Note.... do not leave the CPU fan unhooked for a length of time as this may damage your CPU. I have heard that most CPU's have protection from that but why take the chance. As for how big a deal it is---well I'd rate it right up there as priority #1 as one would like to keep things cool especially if you're gaming.

 

DO NOT unhook your CPU fan!!!!!!!!!!!

Disconnect your output fan and plug the faulty fan into it to check to see if it is working or not.

 

...or plug the fan into one of the various connectors on the harness if you have them. I assume you have several hard drives and a front fan sucking air in over them will keep them cooler.

 

Hard to say, without any temperature readings from your computer. But, to be on the safe side, you should replace it. Fans can be purchased for less than $10.

 

Buy a new fan for like $1.99 or return it to the place you bought it from

 

You mean return the old one? I doubt that's an option. Why would you suggest that?

 

I have no intention of unhooking my cpu fan- I recently replaced one on my husband's machine after much searching on the web on how to do it- saw an interesting video of a cpu running without a fan hooked up- it blew up in seconds!
I don't know if I'm technically competent enough ( or brave enough ) to try any of this...I was really wondering how long I could put it of.
I think it's still o.k. as I'm not doing anything labor intensive with this machine...temperatures are:
33 degrees Celsius for the cpu
34 degrees Celsius for the hd
25 degrees Celsius for the sys
BUT those reading come from the readout at the front of the machine which are suspect; they indicate that both fans are running when one clearly isn't. I only want to put this off for a day or so at most since it's Dec.31st today ( holidays)

and thank you for those of you how replied

 

If those temperatures are accurate, you have nothing to worry about. Was that readout at the front of the machine a feature on the machine when new? Why do you think they are "suspect"? Those temps are almost unbelievably low, if that's what you mean. What make and model is that computer?

You could download and install SpeedFan. It monitors temperatures.

 

Yup on speedfan as a second opinion. If you don't feel hot air coming out then I wouldn't worry too much. The temps are somewhat low, maybe just do a touch test on your HD to see what it feels like, 34C should feel like skin. Since it's your front fan that's out then the HDD's will feel a lot hotter than that! Trust me, touching a HDD when it's at 50C is not pleasant.

 

Hence my warning " Not to leave the CPU fan unhooked" ! Yeah a CPU will fry in a matter of seconds--I was just merely suggesting an option of a known fan connector working to see if the fan was indeed bad. This could have been been determined in a matter of a couple seconds just buy switching the connectors real quick while the unit was powerd up (being extra careful of course). I'm pretty confident in saying that the couple of seconds it would have taken to do this would not have caused any CPU damage. Reckon this kind of troubleshootin comes from me workin on cars as well as computers--I just sorta combine the two for the best possible experience :-D

 

But, your previous post did not clearly state how quickly overheating can happen. You simply said, "do not leave the CPU fan unhooked for a length of time as this may damage your CPU." What is "a length of time"? Leaving that to someone's interpretation creates a very risky scenario.

Besides, the original post merely has a case fan failure. There are much safer ways to do some fan testing than what you advised.

 

I think you will be ok for a couple of days without an intake fan. If you are really worried, remove the fan and use a small houshold fan to blow air into the intake.

I would replace the fan if it is dead. If the fan uses the same type of power connection as your CD/DVD drive, with the computer off, swap the power connections of the CD and fan. Boot the computer. If the CD works, and the fan does not, you can pretty safely say RIP fan. If the CD does not have power and the fan works, you may have bigger issues. But most likely it is a dead fan.

If the fan is plugged into the motherboard, see if there is another motherboard power header that is not being used. Again, with the computer off, unplug the fan and plug it into the other header, if available. Boot up and see if the fan works.