Force case fan into 'high' mode.

I have a Dell Dimension C521 that started overheating on me. If I open it up and place a box fan facing into it, I can use it with no trouble. As this is probably bad for it, I would rather not do it. I am broke right now, so I can't really buy anything for it...

Is there a way to force the standard case fan that came in my computer to stay in the high mode? It doesn't seem to go into high except when I first turn the machine on.

I went into the BIOS and turned off the 'quiet mode' setting, but it still won't kick into high gear.

The fan plugs into the mother board.

 

Download SpeedFan.

It can change the speed of most case and CPU fans, but it depends if it supports your MB. It's worth a try though.

This is the SpeedFan Main page. change the little boxes with the percentage next to them, use this to monitor your temps too, report back what your temps are please.

http://www.ohodownloads.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/speedfan_20080108.jpg

WARNING Do not mess about with any of the settings in SpeedFan apart from the fan speed, and never, ever turn the fans off, this can permanantly damage your components!

 

I started by cleaning out all the dust. It made it so i can go a little longer before an overheat.

Speedfan doesn't seem to detect my fan. I looked through the configuration pages, and they don't even have a listing for my computer. (Pretty nice program, otherwise, though. I think I will keep it.)

My power supply does not have a plug for the fan to connect to, so I have to stick with it being plugged into the motherboard.

If I cut the plugs off and just direct wired my fan to my power supply, would that mess the whole thing up? Would it accomplish anything at all?

 

Or just buy something like this.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=34544

If you can find one with just one 3 pin fan connection then that will be fine too.

 

Oh! That's a much better idea than going bonkers with a pair of wire cutters! Thank you!