It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates or
stops only to start again a few minutes later. I have a feeling its the fan
as I had a similar problem with a PC some years ago.

Is there an easy cure short of replacing the fan?

Wesley wrote:
It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates or
stops only to start again a few minutes later. I have a feeling its the fan
as I had a similar problem with a PC some years ago.

Is there an easy cure short of replacing the fan?


yep. Open her up, blow the crap out and one drop of light machine oil on
any bearings you can access.


--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.

Wesley wrote

It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates or stops only to start again a few minutes
later.

Thats normally something out of balance causing a
case resonance and hence the buzz if its not too loud.

I have a feeling its the fan as I had a similar problem with a PC some years ago.

It can be a fan out of balance with crud build up.

Is there an easy cure short of replacing the fan?

You could try blowing it out with compressed air, outside.

You should be able to feel where the vibration is coming from.

You should be able to put a bit of paper etc where the case resonates etc.

Wesley wrote:
It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates or
stops only to start again a few minutes later. I have a feeling its the fan
as I had a similar problem with a PC some years ago.

Is there an easy cure short of replacing the fan?


If it is just dirt, cleaning may help(air in a can etc...).
If the oscillation is due to bearing abrasion... replace it.

Fan failure is directly related to RPM and bearing type.
High RPM and sleeve bearing cause early failure.
Low RPM and ball bearings last longer. Get one of those if you want your
peace... assuming the heatsink can handle the heat with less airflow.

Depends which fan it is. If its the psu one then its a common problem as
tese seem to be made to seize or wobble by design. If its one either in the
side of a case or the processor one, then this is less common. From
experience its normally just something vibrating in sympathy with these,
like a screw or some cables touching the case.
Really it can be a pain as the usual thing is that when you take the side
off it goes away.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Wesley" wrote in message
...
It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates or
stops only to start again a few minutes later. I have a feeling its the
fan as I had a similar problem with a PC some years ago.

Is there an easy cure short of replacing the fan?

"Wesley" wrote in message
...
It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates or
stops only to start again a few minutes later. I have a feeling its the
fan as I had a similar problem with a PC some years ago.

Is there an easy cure short of replacing the fan?

As others have said, start by cleaning. Personally I carefully remove the
CPU fan and hoover the crap out of the heatsink. Many will tell you not to
use a hoover because of possible static discharge so it's your choice. That
might be enough for the fan to then run slowly again (I can tell how dirty
my PC is from the noise it makes) and go quiet.

If the CPU fan has actually gone, replace it. Hopefully you can find a
replacement fan from somewhere like "Quiet PC" which fits your heatsink.
Frustratingly some fan/heatsink combos seem to be designed to stop you
replacing the fan and you may have to replace the whole heatsink and fan but
at least they're not too expensive.

BTW, watch out for something which caught me. I recently fitted an Arctic
(the brand) heatsink/fan and it came "preloaded" with heatsink compound.
But the compound was not protected in any way and I didn't spot this so put
the heatsink to one side, heatsink compound side down of course, resulting
in a patch of compound on the table and no longer on the heatsink. I happen
to have heatsink compound anyway but I would have been buggered if I hadn't.

Paul DS.

On Wed, 4 Apr 2012 00:11:02 +0100, Wesley wrote:

It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates
or stops only to start again a few minutes later.

That might be a resonance. Noisey fans either quiet down after a
minute or two and stay quiet or never quiet down. By "touch" do you
mean gentle lay on of fingers or a light tap? Laying on of fingers
would point to a resonance. a tap to a noisey fan.

If it is one of the fans (PSU, CPU, Video card, case...) then the
only real cure is a replacement. A tiny, trace, drop of light machine
oil in the bearing, if you can get at it, might help for a while.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote

Noisey fans either quiet down after a minute
or two and stay quiet or never quiet down.

Not always. The power supply fan in one of my PCs
periodically does exhibit classic bearing growl for a
while and them it stops again for what can be days
or weeks. That PC is never off except when the
mains fails. I've been to lazy to replace the fan.

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Wed, 4 Apr 2012 00:11:02 +0100, Wesley wrote:

It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates
or stops only to start again a few minutes later.

That might be a resonance. Noisey fans either quiet down after a
minute or two and stay quiet or never quiet down. By "touch" do you
mean gentle lay on of fingers or a light tap? Laying on of fingers
would point to a resonance. a tap to a noisey fan.

Could be a loose screw somewhere or an internal card or even cable
connectors touching the motherboard or fan. If there's no loose screws on
the outside of the case, I'd take the side panel off, then wait until the
noise starts again and try gently touching everything inside with the (non
metal) handle of a screwdriver until it stopped again. Always worth trying
before jumping in and replacing the fan. Sometimes even just taking the side
panel off and putting it back on again can cure it.

On 04/04/2012 00:11, Wesley wrote:
It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates or
stops only to start again a few minutes later. I have a feeling its the fan
as I had a similar problem with a PC some years ago.

Is there an easy cure short of replacing the fan?


As others have said, it's a slight imbalance which is causing the casing
to resonate. If you want a quick fix without any dismantling, cleaning,
lubricating, etc. try applying some damping to the casing at the point
where you have to touch it to stop the noise. A dollop of plastitac
(sp?) or similar may do the trick. The extra mass will change the
resonant frequency so that it's less likely to be excited by the fan,
and the damping will reduce the amplitude if it *does* still resonate.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

"Roger Mills" wrote in message
...
On 04/04/2012 00:11, Wesley wrote:
It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates or
stops only to start again a few minutes later. I have a feeling its the
fan
as I had a similar problem with a PC some years ago.

Is there an easy cure short of replacing the fan?


As others have said, it's a slight imbalance which is causing the casing
to resonate. If you want a quick fix without any dismantling, cleaning,
lubricating, etc. try applying some damping to the casing at the point
where you have to touch it to stop the noise. A dollop of plastitac (sp?)
or similar may do the trick. The extra mass will change the resonant
frequency so that it's less likely to be excited by the fan, and the
damping will reduce the amplitude if it *does* still resonate.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

The extra mass will change the
resonant frequency so that it's less likely to be excited by the fan, and
the damping will reduce the amplitude if it *does* still resonate.

Good idea! Never thought of that!

In message , The Natural Philosopher
writes
Wesley wrote:
It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it
abates or stops only to start again a few minutes later. I have a
feeling its the fan as I had a similar problem with a PC some years ago.
Is there an easy cure short of replacing the fan?
yep. Open her up, blow the crap out and one drop of light machine oil
on any bearings you can access.


May be the smaller fan on the graphics card.
--
hugh

On Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:18:38 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Wesley wrote:
It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates or
stops only to start again a few minutes later. I have a feeling its the fan
as I had a similar problem with a PC some years ago.

Is there an easy cure short of replacing the fan?


yep. Open her up, blow the crap out and one drop of light machine oil on
any bearings you can access.

I would avoid machine oil (and definitely 'WD-40"!) in favour of clock
or even watch oil. Machine oil tends to become too gummy over time.

--
Frank Erskine

Frank Erskine :
On Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:18:38 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Wesley wrote:
It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates or
stops only to start again a few minutes later. I have a feeling its
the fan
as I had a similar problem with a PC some years ago.

Is there an easy cure short of replacing the fan?


yep. Open her up, blow the crap out and one drop of light machine oil on
any bearings you can access.

I would avoid machine oil (and definitely 'WD-40"!) in favour of clock
or even watch oil. Machine oil tends to become too gummy over time.

Powdered graphite would be my choice.

--
Mike Barnes

Mike Barnes wrote:
Frank Erskine :
On Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:18:38 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Wesley wrote:
It starts a few minutes after bootup. If I touch the casing it abates or
stops only to start again a few minutes later. I have a feeling its
the fan
as I had a similar problem with a PC some years ago.

Is there an easy cure short of replacing the fan?


yep. Open her up, blow the crap out and one drop of light machine oil on
any bearings you can access.
I would avoid machine oil (and definitely 'WD-40"!) in favour of clock
or even watch oil. Machine oil tends to become too gummy over time.

Powdered graphite would be my choice.

not good around circuit boards AT ALL.


--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.

On Fri, 06 Apr 2012 11:43:34 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Powdered graphite would be my choice.

not good around circuit boards AT ALL.

Agreed. Some of the "denial" bombs use in Gulf War I were essentially
powdered graphite, air burst over grid switching centers and
substations with open transformers etc...

Not sure how a sintered bearing would take to graphite either. It
would block the pores up so any remaining residual oil wouldn't be
able to get at the bearing surafces.

--
Cheers
Dave.