I have a year old Dell XPS 400 and now about once a week there will be a loud hum coming from what sounds like the fan in the front of the computer. Weve cleaned all the dust out and it still dose it anyone know if this is bad or what the hell it is
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I have a year old Dell XPS 400 and now about once a week there will be a loud hum coming from what sounds like the fan in the front of the computer. Weve cleaned all the dust out and it still dose it anyone know if this is bad or what the hell it is
Its possible the ball bearings on the case fans you have are going out. It will make alot of racket when that starts happening.
Only other thing that would be likely is your hdd, but you would be noticing other things happening as well if your hdd was starting to go out and make enough noise that you could hear it. Its more likely that one of your fans is starting to die, which isnt all that uncommon, especially if they use cheap fans.
You are talking at best, $15 to replace the fan, and thats including shipping.
kool man thanks i can get pretty loud but it dosnt effect the preformance of the computer looks like im in the market for a new fan
The company I work for has almost nothing but Dell computers, and they order new computers from Dell, and we end up having to replace the fans more then anything else.Quote:
Originally Posted by JPR
I guess they are just putting shitty fans in their cases, although I cant imagine they save that much from doing so considering how cheap fans are to begin with.
about how much would it cost for a local repair shop to put it in i dont wana fuck it up
No clue, depends on how much they want to rape you for, tbh.
Its pretty hard to fuck up putting in a new fan. I know it can be intimidating to do work on a PC if you dont have alot of experience, but installing new fans really has little to do with the actual main parts of the PC. You could have that fan completely stop working and 9 times out of 10 you wouldnt even know.
Id open the case and take a look inside, find the fan, and trace the power cord it uses to where it plugs in at. Unplug it, unscrew the fan from the case, screw in the new one, and plug the power cable back in. Total it should be about 5 minutes worth of work, max.
If you have any questions about it let me know, and Ill see if I cant find the schematics for your computer and show you exactly what I am talking about with pictures. =)
thanks man
ok it started making the sound again so i opened it up to see whats doing it. Its coming from a box at the top of the back of the computer that the main power cord from the wall outlet goes into is there a fan in there
That would be your powersupply, and yes there is a fan in there.
If that is going out, you will need to just replace the powersupply.
That will run you anywhere from $30-150 depending on what quality you want to get, and how powerful it needs to be to run your system.
On the side of the powersupply, and hopefully the side that is easily visable by you, it should have a label on it. If you can find out how man watts that powersupply is, I can find you some links to some quality replacements for it.
If/When the powersupply goes out, depending on the quality, it will either stop working because it detects the fan is dead, or it will keep running and you will run the risk of overheating and possible powersurges when something inside does fail to heat, so its in your best interest to replace the powersupply, if the noise is indeed coming from there.
As far as how long you would have until it needed to be replaced, its a crap shoot to be honest, it could not go out until you get a new computer, or it could go out five seconds from now, so whenever you get a chance I would replace it.
ok ty it was hot back there when i turned off the computer and took the pannel off and i can see the lable
its going to have to wait until after chistmass apperntly were on a budget. Is it going to hurt the computer if i keep running it the noise dosnt start all the time but sometimes about 5hrs after the computers on and its like a low loud hum i dont know if its the fan or not
ya man if you would take a computer apart to dust it you can replace a fan with your eyes closed :)
also i think your best bet would be just to take it into a shop and get it checked out so you can find out all the problems to see if you can run the computer till xmas.
I would say that you shouldnt run into problems as long as you dont keep the computer running 24/7. If you want to play it safe, if you start hearing the noise, then you can shut it off.Quote:
Originally Posted by JPR
Also, you may want to look into a program to show you what the computer is running at temp wise inside, they are pretty easy to find, here is the one I use:
SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer
Its possible, depending on the model XPS, that they have the fans set to run at a slower RPM if the computer isnt running hot, and that they "boost" up to a higher or max RPM when the computer starts getting too warm. The best way to tell is to take down the temp of teh different spots in the computer via that program when it starts making the noise, to see what its running at.
Another possibility is the fan on your video card.
a fan on my video card ill have to look at that and when it makes the noise we shut it down and we also shut it down at night
definitely the bearing(s), try splashing some lubricant in there, if not maybe replace fan