Ugh. Well as some people (particularly Ben, who had to help me with this quite a bit xD) remember, back in July when we first moved into our new apartment, my newer computer bit the dust due to a hard drive failure. It's been sitting uselessly on the floor of our computer room ever since. (mostly because when I get a new computer, I intend to steal all the memory from the defunct one first). As a result, I've been using my old computer for the past few months - the trusty ol' HP Pavillion I got as a high school graduation present back in spring 2001.
Well, bah. It started making funny noises today, so I rebooted it. Upon rebooting, however, a happy little message that read, "CPU fan has failed! HAVE COMPUTER SERVICED IMMEDIATELY. System will shut down in 5 seconds..." And then the system did shut down, and it's been giving me that happy message ever since.
Luckily, I have the laptop Lindsey and I got right before my surgery in September, so that will be my home for the next month or so, until mid-January when we can finally get me a new computer. This is just a warning however... I hate using the laptop. Absolutely hate it. So don't be surprised if you don't see as much of me. (heh, I say that, I probably won't go anywhere :P But oh well).
Unless anyone knows how I can fix a fan without spending a shit ton of money. I'm not about to sink money into that old computer; I'll stick it's second hard drive in Lindsey's comp to get my files off and be done with it. But if I can get the fan to work for juuuust a little longer, and anyone knows how, I'll be grateful!
Oh computer, how you mock me...
Re: Oh computer, how you mock me...
First off, CPU fans really aren't expensive (well, the cheap ones aren't, anyway 
). The problem there is that if you order it online, the p&p will almost certainly be more than the cost of the fan.
So, on to trying to fix it. First off, is it just the computer getting confused? Turn it on with the side panel off and have a look, does it spin? If it does, that's moved the problem, but you won't toast your processor chip. If it's not spinning, try to give it a little flick (but get your fingers back out quickly, some fans can really hurt if you get your finger caught in them) in case it's just got stuck.
If that doesn't persuade it to move, take it out of the computer entirely. It's entirely possible that the bearings are clogged up with dust and fine hair (I wonder, do you have any small pets that might shed the odd hair occasionally?
), and removing that will give it some more life. If the fan is dusty, try and blow / clean the dust off first, then turn it over and see what's sticking out around the centre boss of the fan. Using a needle (or straightened out thin paperclip, if there's room) fish around in the gap between the frame and the boss, see if you pull any hair/dust clumps out.
Plug it in again and see if it works.
If that doesn't fix it, then I think the chances of that fan working again are slim (taking it apart to clean rarely results in one that works when you put it back together, in my experience), so you need to find a replacement fan - computer shops might have suitable fans in computers that are being thrown out, or freecycle, or a reasonably local computer geek who could get one to you (I think transatlantic shipping is a bit over the top for this, else I'd send one myself ).
I tried to grab you on MSN, but you ignored me *emotear*, but let m know if any of this works out for you.
). The problem there is that if you order it online, the p&p will almost certainly be more than the cost of the fan.So, on to trying to fix it. First off, is it just the computer getting confused? Turn it on with the side panel off and have a look, does it spin? If it does, that's moved the problem, but you won't toast your processor chip. If it's not spinning, try to give it a little flick (but get your fingers back out quickly, some fans can really hurt if you get your finger caught in them) in case it's just got stuck.
If that doesn't persuade it to move, take it out of the computer entirely. It's entirely possible that the bearings are clogged up with dust and fine hair (I wonder, do you have any small pets that might shed the odd hair occasionally?
), and removing that will give it some more life. If the fan is dusty, try and blow / clean the dust off first, then turn it over and see what's sticking out around the centre boss of the fan. Using a needle (or straightened out thin paperclip, if there's room) fish around in the gap between the frame and the boss, see if you pull any hair/dust clumps out.Plug it in again and see if it works.
If that doesn't fix it, then I think the chances of that fan working again are slim (taking it apart to clean rarely results in one that works when you put it back together, in my experience), so you need to find a replacement fan - computer shops might have suitable fans in computers that are being thrown out, or freecycle, or a reasonably local computer geek who could get one to you (I think transatlantic shipping is a bit over the top for this, else I'd send one myself
).I tried to grab you on MSN, but you ignored me *emotear*, but let m know if any of this works out for you.
Many thanks to EofS for the avatar and signature images.
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