Question CPU fan error - what are the steps to resolve

[AMcDermott]

I have a “CPU fan error - press F1” coming up. I went into the bios and the fan appeared not to be functional.

The CPU temp was rising from ~75C to 150C while I was looking at the bios, and it powered itself off I assume for safety/hardware protection.

I had this error appear about a year ago, but it went away overnight without any action taken.

What should I do here? Get new thermal glue & reseat the fan? Or a new fan altogether? Is there a step by step troubleshooting guide on this?

 

[logainofhades]

Make sure the fan is spinning, first and foremost. Could be as simple as a wire is in the way, and the fan can't spin, or clogged with dust to the point the fan cannot spin. New thermal paste will not fix a fan error.

 

[AMcDermott]

Make sure the fan is spinning, first and foremost. Could be as simple as a wire is in the way, and the fan can't spin, or clogged with dust to the point the fan cannot spin. New thermal paste will not fix a fan error.

Thanks logainofhades. I cleaned off some dust and checked the wire seating. Whatever it was, it's working fine now.

 

[BouncyCarnivore]

I have recently built a b450 tomahawk (msi) gaming pc with an amd ryzen 7 2700x processor which I installed the stock wraith prism cooler/ fan and it boots just fine however there’s a message saying “CPU fan error, please check” so I check the fan and behold it is not spinning, and I have it installed into the correct cpu header, is there anyway to fix this? Or should I buy a new cpu fan?

 

[BouncyCarnivore]

It sounds like the fan is dead but to test it try connecting the CPU fan to the chassis header as that has power to it as well.
If it spins then the CPU header isn't supplying power for some reason.

If your wires from the CPU fan aren't long enough to reach the chassis header you can try testing the CPU fan removed from the CPU.

TAKE EXTREME CARE THOUGH!

Plug a chassis fan into the chassis header to check it spins and is providing power.
Unplug this chassis fan.
Dismantle the CPU fan from the cooler housing.
You will now have NO CPU COOLING so before you switch the PC on have access to either the rear power supply switch or the mains switch so that you can turn it off instantly.
I have done this in the past and everything is fine if you do it with caution.
The CPU shuts down when it overheats but you are doing it manually well before that stage.
Connect the CPU fan to the chassis fan header and turn the PC on for 1 second then IMMEDIATELY switch the PC off.
The chassis header should power the CPU fan and turn it so if it doesn't it is the fan that's dead.

I would use this as a last resort and just try a new CPU cooler first.

Andy

Thank you!!

 

[evongugg]

You risk burning out the CPU by following that.
I would connect the CPU fan to to a Molex connector with an adaptor and go in the bios and turn off CPU fan monitoring.
Then monitor the temperature.
If that doesn't work, you may have to replace the motherboard.
You could buy a 4 pin fan extension wire and plug it into the Chassis fan header also.
You still will need to disable CPU fan monitoring in the bios and monitor the temperature.

Amazon.com: CRJ 4-Pin Molex to 4 x 3/4-Pin PC Case Fan Sleeved Adapter Cable: Computers & Accessories

Buy CRJ 4-Pin Molex to 4 x 3/4-Pin PC Case Fan Sleeved Adapter Cable: Case Fans - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

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[BouncyCarnivore]

You risk burning out the CPU by following that.
I would connect the CPU fan to to a Molex connector with an adaptor and go in the bios and turn off CPU fan monitoring.
Then monitor the temperature.
If that doesn't work, you may have to replace the motherboard.
You could buy a 4 pin fan extension wire and plug it into the Chassis fan header also.
You still will need to disable CPU fan monitoring in the bios and monitor the temperature.

Amazon.com: CRJ 4-Pin Molex to 4 x 3/4-Pin PC Case Fan Sleeved Adapter Cable: Computers & Accessories

Buy CRJ 4-Pin Molex to 4 x 3/4-Pin PC Case Fan Sleeved Adapter Cable: Case Fans - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

The motherboard is brand new out of the box, hasn’t been around any static, the cpu cooling fan is also brand new, it turns on and has led’s but the fan will not spin