[SOLVED] CPU Fan Error, everything else works fine

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Nate_30

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Nov 13, 2016
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As the title says, I'm encountering a strange issue. My PC has worked fine since I built it in late 2019, and this is it's first big issue. Seemingly overnight, the CPU fan has stopped functioning. I see it start to spin upon power up, then it just stops. Sometimes it tries one more time, but it always stops and never spins again unless I turn it off and on again, only to fail again. This causes the CPU Fan Error message to appear. I've tried cleaning the entire PC, I've replaced the fan itself, and I've tried resetting the BIOS settings. Nothing has worked. Other than this problem, the PC has no issues. Every other fan works, the lights are on, and the PC recognizes every component, except for the CPU fan. What should I do?

Specs:
CPU: Ryzen 7 3700x
CPU fan: Noctua NH-D15S chromax.Black
GPU: RTX 2080 TI
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32g (4x8)
Motherboard: ASUS Prime X470-Pro
 
Solution
Danra
Nate_30 said:
As the title says, I'm encountering a strange issue. My PC has worked fine since I built it in late 2019, and this is it's first big issue. Seemingly overnight, the CPU fan has stopped functioning. I see it start to spin upon power up, then it just stops. Sometimes it tries one more time, but it always stops and never spins again unless I turn it off and on again, only to fail again. This causes the CPU Fan Error message to appear. I've tried cleaning the entire PC, I've replaced the fan itself, and I've tried resetting the BIOS settings. Nothing has worked. Other than this problem, the PC has no issues. Every other fan works, the lights are on, and the PC recognizes every component, except for the CPU fan. What should I do?

Specs...
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Lutfij said:
Can you get into BIOS and check what BIOS version you're on at the time of writing? Version for Windows 10? You should ideally be on version21H1.
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BIOS version is 5603. Unfortunately I cannot check the windows version unless I can bypass the CPU fan error message, which I am hesitant to do due to potentially frying the CPU.
 
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DRagor said:
And? The replacement fan also does not work?

Dare to say you should have a CPU overheating if its fan is not working. And that is serious issue.
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Yes, I am aware that this is a big issue. I meant no other observable issues with any other components. Yes, replacing the fan didn't work. Same problem.
 
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DRagor said:
Ok, can you test CPU fan (old one and/or new one too) on different motherboard header? Need to find out if the fan itself works.
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DRagor said:
Ok, can you test CPU fan (old one and/or new one too) on different motherboard header? Need to find out if the fan itself works.
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Just checked, works fine when in a different header. Only doesn't work in the CPU fan board header and the optional fan header
 
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Nate_30 said:
Just checked, works fine when in a different header. Only doesn't work in the CPU fan board header and the optional fan header
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So that's actually interesting. Normally I would say header on mobo has failed. But, you say both CPU_FAN and OPT_FAN don't work? The chance of both headers failing at same time is very low. @rickypicky5 has a good call here - make sure the headers have not been disabled in BIOS.
 
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DRagor said:
So that's actually interesting. Normally I would say header on mobo has failed. But, you say both CPU_FAN and OPT_FAN don't work? The chance of both headers failing at same time is very low. @rickypicky5 has a good call here - make sure the headers have not been disabled in BIOS.
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How can I check? I haven't used the bios in months so I can't see how I could've accidentally disabled them.
 
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Nate_30 said:
How can I check? I haven't used the bios in months so I can't see how I could've accidentally disabled them.
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Memory that stores BIOS values can get corrupted just like any other memory.
Nate_30 said:
I've also discovered that the BIOS lists the CPU fan as N/A under "FAN Profile" and I can bypass the error by disabling "CPU fan speed lower limit"
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But does that make fan working again?
 
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DRagor said:
Memory that stores BIOS values can get corrupted just like any other memory.

But does that make fan working again?
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Ok, so where in the bios can I find the CPU fan headers? Haven't found it
And no, it doesn't fix the fan. Only used it to retrieve my windows version number then reset the bios to default
 
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Nate_30 said:
Ok, so where in the bios can I find the CPU fan headers? Haven't found it
And no, it doesn't fix the fan. Only used it to retrieve my windows version number then reset the bios to default
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Is your BIOS set to EZ mode or Advanced mode (top line has it). If EZ mode, bottom middle part of screen there's "QFan control" button. IF Advanced mode press F6. Please make a picture of QFan screen, post on imgur or other hosting site and share a link here.
 
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DRagor said:
Is your BIOS set to EZ mode or Advanced mode (top line has it). If EZ mode, bottom middle part of screen there's "QFan control" button. IF Advanced mode press F6. Please make a picture of QFan screen, post on imgur or other hosting site and share a link here.
Click to expand...
BIOS images have been approved and are above
 
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DRagor said:
Ok then. Connect fan to CPU_FAN header. Leave the case open so you can watch the fan live. Go to the QFan control. Select CPU FAN. Switch to DC mode. Drag the speed to the Full speed. Click apply. What's the fan reaction?
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Nothing happens, same thing. Tries to start spinning upon power up, stops after a second, boots to CPU Fan Error. Nothing happened when I did what you said, no reaction at all.
 
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DRagor said:
Not good. That's about all that this board can change how fans work. This starts looking like fan header failure. Either electrical one or caused by BIOS corruption. Corrupted BIOS can be fixed by reflashing BIOS which could be your next move.
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How would I go about reflashing my bios? And how could an electrical issue happen to my board? Could it be because of the PSU going bad on top of the board?
 
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Motherboard has enough components that can fail on its own and cause any kind of electrical problem. PSU has nothing to do with this issue.
Reflashing is done the same way as updating the BIOS - the only difference is you use the BIOS file for the current version instead of next version.
 
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Nate_30 said:
As the title says, I'm encountering a strange issue. My PC has worked fine since I built it in late 2019, and this is it's first big issue. Seemingly overnight, the CPU fan has stopped functioning. I see it start to spin upon power up, then it just stops. Sometimes it tries one more time, but it always stops and never spins again unless I turn it off and on again, only to fail again. This causes the CPU Fan Error message to appear. I've tried cleaning the entire PC, I've replaced the fan itself, and I've tried resetting the BIOS settings. Nothing has worked. Other than this problem, the PC has no issues. Every other fan works, the lights are on, and the PC recognizes every component, except for the CPU fan. What should I do?

Specs:
CPU: Ryzen 7 3700x
CPU fan: Noctua NH-D15S chromax.Black
GPU: RTX 2080 TI
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32g (4x8)
Motherboard: ASUS Prime X470-Pro
Click to expand...

Before getting too involved try free things first. May be it is the fan header, try plugging a known good fan into the fan header that the CPU is using. If the good fan fails to turn the header is bad. Try your old CPU fan in a known good header and see if it works, the old fan may still be good. If the CPU fan header is bad try a different fan header, go into BIOS under fan settings and for the new header that the CPU fan is now using, turn the fan speed up to 80% or something you are comfortable with. While you are in BIOS, check to see if the original fan header for the CPU has been turned off. If the power cable for the CPU fan is too short to reach a different header, you can buy an extension for very little.
 
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Solution
Danra said:
Before getting too involved try free things first. May be it is the fan header, try plugging a known good fan into the fan header that the CPU is using. If the good fan fails to turn the header is bad. Try your old CPU fan in a known good header and see if it works, the old fan may still be good. If the CPU fan header is bad try a different fan header, go into BIOS under fan settings and for the new header that the CPU fan is now using, turn the fan speed up to 80% or something you are comfortable with. While you are in BIOS, check to see if the original fan header for the CPU has been turned off. If the power cable for the CPU fan is too short to reach a different header, you can buy an extension for very little.
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Thank you very much for this suggestion, however I have a few questions. If something does go wrong with the fan in the future should I plug in the CPU fan into another header, will it still give me the same warnings and alerts that the main CPU fan header would have? Can I set the same fan curve for it in a header different from the dedicated fan header? Are there any other unforseen consequences from using an alternate header for the CPU fan that I'm not thinking of? Will I have to disable the CPU fan error triggers in order to bypass the error should I use a different header? Is there truly no way that the PSU is responsible for somehow shorting out these headers, and that it could do more damage to others? Thank you
 
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