Angry the Clown Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 In what seems like a bizarre state of timing, my Dell seems to be telling me to hurry along with my plans to go and build a new PC as since the other night it's been making a rather awful din. One of the fans seems to be chugging along; clearly it's trying very hard to do something. There's a big bit of green plastic hiding something inside the casing, and my noisy culprit appears to be behind there. Is there any easy way to remove that green shield? It's directly beneath the PSU. The fan seems to be ok, but it may just be a little loose and rattling against a part of the casing. Daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnemaEms Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Dan, Every Dell I have worked on (many of them), I have been able to remove the green plastic shield. Everyone I have removed easily pops out. I believe they are just hooked in by simple tabs. -Dean- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnemaEms Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Oh, what model is it? -Dean- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry the Clown Posted February 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Old Dimension 8100 P4 model. I tried pulling back those tabs, but it's still being stuck for some reason. I don't really want to force it off in fear of catching anything that sits beneath it. What IS beneath it anyway? Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnemaEms Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Your P4 is beneath it. I think there are two sets of tabs. One set that connects to the case itself and another set that connect to the heatsync of the P4. -Dean- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 I think its the fan on the motherboard controller, but I might be wrong. As long as you lift it straight off it should be ok; its basic job is to duct heat to the outside. At home I've got some software that speaks to the BIOS about fan speeds and internal temperatures. I've forgotten its name, but it sits nicely in the tray and tells me if things are all ok or not. I'll post what it is and where to download it tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry the Clown Posted February 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 So there's a danger it could be the heatsync fan having problems? If it is, how dangerous is it to keep running the PC do you fellas think? Again I don't think anything is dead, but something behind there certainly seems to be on its last legs as you can hear it struggle now and again. I'll have another go at trying to take the shield off again in a little while. The only tabs I can visibly get to are the two that connect to the back of the case. Dan PS: Iain, when I build the new PC in a couple of weeks you may hear cries of help coming your way. :green: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Originally posted by Daniel Brecher@Feb 16 2004, 02:08 PM So there's a danger it could be the heatsync fan having problems? If it is, how dangerous is it to keep running the PC do you fellas think? Fortunately, the P4 is normally pretty good at temperature management, and will shut down (or just crash Windows if you're unlucky) well before the point of permanent damage. Those infamous videos of an Athlon melting itself were done with the temperature monitoring broken, its not normal. Its probable all you need to do is force that green cover off and replace the fan with a nice shiny new quiet one; a bearing or something is probably causing a rattle in it. PS: Iain, when I build the new PC in a couple of weeks you may hear cries of help coming your way. :green: No problem - schedule it for a weekend and I'll even come round and do it, bag of discs in tow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry the Clown Posted February 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Right well I finally got the green shield off with my Hulk like strength. The main fan at the back was loose as I knew, and I was able to fix it back into place properly, but still the noise persists. I don't know if it's that fan showing its age then (it's still working), or it?s the heatsync making the noise. Daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Well, the program I run on my box is the rather sensibly named SpeedFan. It'll automagically detect what you're running on, and you get nice graphs of fanspeeds and temperatures, along with a nice display of the CPU temp in the taskbar when minimised. Highly recommended for anyone vaguely paranoid about their PC's reliability, I can tell you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted February 16, 2004 Report Share Posted February 16, 2004 Originally posted by Daniel Brecher@Feb 16 2004, 10:25 AM Right well I finally got the green shield off with my Hulk like strength. The main fan at the back was loose as I knew, and I was able to fix it back into place properly, but still the noise persists. I don't know if it's that fan showing its age then (it's still working), or it?s the heatsync making the noise. Daniel Stop each fan until your find the one that is causing the noise and the replace it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 Funny you should mention fan speed and CPU temp. I made a little skin for Sysmetrix available here: http://www.lcvg.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2767 -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 If you're going to replace the fan, I highly recommend a Vantech Stealth fan, I bought one for an external SCSI enclosure and it went from annoyingly loud to barely audible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 17, 2004 Report Share Posted February 17, 2004 I forgot, I got some stuff, including a very quiet power supply from these guys: http://www.quietpc.com/uk/ They're a British company, I believe. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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