CPU Fan drives me crazy! Not natural!

[adamone11]

Hi, I just made some new installs to my system, and then, 2 days later the fan on top of the heatsink started making a really annoying sound, almost like your CD-ROM drive was stalling. I opened 'er up, and dusted it off. When it slows down a little it stops making the sound. I think it's rocking back and forth, but I don't know how to fix it. I'm thinking of cleaning it more in depth so the fan blades are balanced. Right now, I have my microtower (mATX) tipped over on its side--pretty hilarious, but the noise is gone.

Oh, another thing: this really shouldn't be a problem (it's a pretty large leap) but my ps is only 90 watts, and I have a 500mhz k6/2, a 30gb 75GXP, an 8gb 5200 Maxtor, 2 sticks of 128 mb pc100 cl3 ram, a CD-R, a CD-ROM drive, a 3com 3c905btx-nm PCI card, and integrated 4mb Rage Pro, integrated sound. I'm thinking I may be taxing the ps a little, but the sound doesn't just stop when the HDD's power down. Plus, since I don't want to blow anymore money on a new ps (mATX at that) for this piece of junk, replacing the ps is not an option.

Anyone think a simple new fan would be the solution? I removed it and the fan was kinda loosely attached to the motor at first; it could wobble, and indeed, I think that's part of the problem. I'd rather not send it back to IBM (still under warranty though...) because of shipping maybe or other complications. I bought it through bestbuy, so you'd think I could call them up... Anyone know the kind of hassle I'd have to go through to get a new fan from bestbuy if my comp was still under warranty?

I live in Dallas, TX (UNT), and might be willing to trade a stick of 64mb ram for a new fan if it works and is semi-quality.

Thanks,
Adamone11

 

[dowxp]

the power spply should be fine. but, just complain to best buy and they'll refund it.

 

[adamone11]

errr... I bought the system through bestbuy. The only warranty that still applies comes from bestbuy, and the fan has a still barcode on it (like everything else inside). They won't need me to send it in for testing or confirmation that it's bad, right?

 

[mstudd]

I had a similar problem with a K62-500 fan in a friends computer.
I just bought a cheap Coolermaster heatsink and fan and fitted it with some thermal paste.
You can buy these heatsinks for next to nothing and it will save you all the warranty hassles.

 

[larrymoencurly]

I had that happen with the Delta fans that AMD provided with retail boxed K6-2/500s. AMD sent new fans, but then I found that peeling up the label and applying a drop of 3-in-1 oil also worked. But almost all the Deltas vibrated badly.