Dimension 8400 fan goes nuts

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Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Why are you looking for "an official Dell response" in a public newsgroup
that is not at all connected to Dell?

Ted Zieglar

"dhsa" <dhsa.1jwcjo@news.computerbanter.com> wrote in message
news:dhsa.1jwcjo@news.computerbanter.com...
>
> Do we have an official Dell response to this problem. What is the
> official cause? We've had all kinds of posts saying heat sink, cpu,
> etc. Do we all agree on one common cause? or is it still up in the air?
>
>
> --
> dhsa
 
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Hi everyone,

It's been 2 weeks since I've installed the Zalman 7700Cu into my Dimension
8400.

Again the results are trully amazing! My 300GB external hard-drive makes
more noise than my whole pc! I cant believe I used to have that hairdryer
sounding pc in my room! I even had to leave it on during the night
sometimes so that my downloads wouldnt get cut off! As you can imagine I
had nightmares about mechwarrior vacuum cleaners, jet engines, etc... 😉
Insane stuff.

Well, regarding the cause for the loud fan problem, I'm still 100%
convinced that the heatsink is real deal.

However, my friend just got a dimension 8400 a week ago(specs:3,4Gz, 2GBs
Ram, 250 HD, 256MB 6800GTO, etc) and so far, his machine has behaved as
you would expect of something designed for human beings. It's quite
silent.

His Dell heatsink is precisely the same as the one I replaced, as is the
Delta fan and the motherboard.

This means that a high spec Dimension 8400 can be silent from factory. So
now I have seen and heard with my own ears 2 different cases of the same
machine, one healthy and one faulty.

So if yours isn't silent, believe me there's something wrong and probably
it isn't the fan.

Like I mentioned in my previous post,
(http://www.lecodesign.co.uk/zalman/index.html) when I replaced the Dell
heatsink with the Zalman 7700Cu, I've kept the same Delta fan plugged into
my system. To my surprise, what once was extremely loud, now is remarkably
quiet, even when I push it to the limits rendering animations in Maya,
watching a film, browsing the web, photoshopping some textures, etc all at
the same time.

Therefore in my experience, there was nothing wrong with either fan or
motherboard (power management settings, etc).

It was just a faulty heatsink.
 
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I'm not actually waiting for a Dell technician to come here and give me
a reply. Especially since I can't get a reply from them on their own
message boards (http://tinyurl.com/56v3x). I have gotten more replies
on this message board, then on Dell's own message boards.

What I meant was, did anyone else has had this problem, and called
Dell, and had Dell know what was wrong and fixed it. What I'm wondering
is if we have a consensus on the cause and repair of the problem. . I
did give Dell a call once about this problem, and they told me it was a
corrupt operating system, so I don't call them anymore.

(By the way, just got hit by fanblower this morning, the first one in 2
months)


--
dhsa
 
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Hi, I am not very knowledgable about computers so I didn't really
understand what the root cause of the fan problem actually turned out
to be or if it was even determined.

I just replaced the system board in my 8400 and when I turn it on I
get the same results as posted here.... fan increasing speed, not
getting through boot up etc.

What should I look at first, second, etc. Any clarification would be
greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"bdhrm" <fazzina404@bellsouth-dot-net.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:XF0Qe.160578$iZ4.11592@fe08.news.easynews.com...
> Hi, I am not very knowledgable about computers so I didn't really
> understand what the root cause of the fan problem actually turned out
> to be or if it was even determined.
>
> I just replaced the system board in my 8400 and when I turn it on I
> get the same results as posted here.... fan increasing speed, not
> getting through boot up etc.
>
> What should I look at first, second, etc. Any clarification would be
> greatly appreciated. Thanks.
>


Is the machine no longer under warranty?


Stew
 
My initial problem (fan run away) was just after I used a vacuum to blow out the dust. After reading all the posts I removed and replaced the cooling tower. When I applied power the unit came up without the high speed fan, as soon as I moved the unit the system shut down. I added additional heat sync silicone, problem resolved.
 
I had the same problem with my 8400, fan sounded like a shop vac, but I believe I found the solution. The plastic clips that holds the heat sinc in place FLUSH against the processor had gotten hot and warped a little allowing a tiny space between the plates. Heat was not getting to the sinc to be disapated, so the bios was reading a hot processor and was autmatically trying to compensate by speeding up the fan. I removed the heat sinc and cleaned off the two plates with alcohol then evenly smeared a coat of NTE Thermal Compound (PN NTE303) on both surfaces. Reinstalled the sinc and she's been running quiet ever since early 2009. I know I'm a little late with this but I hope it helps somebody.
 
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