Fan

How do I know if the fan in my tower is OK, working correctly, etc. Thanks

 

If you're lucky, your mainboard BIOS will have a screen that tells the rpm of the fans.

Otherwise, I use a stick of inscense to create some smoke. The power supply fan should be blowing out the back. On the front, you should see the smoke being drawn into the case.

This will hold true for most computers with one fan. If a second fan is located below the power supply, (like most of my Dell and Gateway tower computers) it is used to draw in fresh air directly over the cpu.

Also, I blow out the dust from each computer once a year. I open the case and blow the dust through the power supply and off the cpu heatsink.

Two warnings: DONT USE A VACUUM (Static), and don't hold the canned air upside down. It will let out the subzero liquid propellent, and *might* cause damage, or at least attract condensation.

Make that three warnings... don't use compressed shop air, like I did, and get rusty water particles blown into your system!

 

Fan below the power supply should be blowing out of the case. This causes the cool air from the front of the PC to be drawn across the cpu and out the back (bottom front to top rear, heat rises). If it is blowing in, then you'd have some nasty airflow problems with the only escape being the PSU.

 

Look at it, if it's reasonably Quiet & Fan Blades are Spinning and air blow from it, it's a safe bet it working

Why do you ask?
Having Temperature problems?

Your PC may have several fans, case/cpu/chipset or even video card

Sometimes fans or even the whole PC need some cleaning every now & then.
If one has a fan the squeaks, sometimes a drop of oil will fix that.