fans running at full power

[publius10]

background on what i've done: so i've been recently having gpu troubles and so have been turning my pc on and off a lot and taking the gpu out/putting it back in. after one of these events, when i was ready to turn my pc on - it just wouldn't. the case is rather small so i thought maybe i knocked some wires out when putting the gpu in - checked all of them to make sure, still no power. unplugged psu, took out battery, wait a bit, plug everything back in - power.

however now i have a problem - my cpu, psu, and case fans are running at full blast, all the time. gpu fan is controlled by Afterburner so it's ok. the only difference in configuration is that the pc is plugged straight into the wall as opposed to a power strip (which, incidentally, is plugged into the same wall).

 

[Mark_1970]

you reset bios when taking out battery, you may just need to go back into bios and restore fan settings, sata etc

 

[Paperdoc]

Mark_1970 is right. Regarding he case fans (and maybe the CPU cooling fan), there are two items to check for each:
(a) They should be set for automatic control, which is usually the default but check anyway;
(b) IF you are using 3-pin fans that require Voltage Control Mode but your mobo ports are 4-pin, they may well have defaulted to PWM Mode for 4-pin fans. Look for a fan port setting to use DC Mode or Voltage Control Mode.

Per Mark_1970's post, you also should be checking any other BIOS settings you nay have customized before, because the reset you did (by removing the battery) will have altered them, too.

 

[publius10]

Mark_1970 is right. Regarding he case fans (and maybe the CPU cooling fan), there are two items to check for each:
(a) They should be set for automatic control, which is usually the default but check anyway;
(b) IF you are using 3-pin fans that require Voltage Control Mode but your mobo ports are 4-pin, they may well have defaulted to PWM Mode for 4-pin fans. Look for a fan port setting to use DC Mode or Voltage Control Mode.

Per Mark_1970's post, you also should be checking any other BIOS settings you nay have customized before, because the reset you did (by removing the battery) will have altered them, too.

ok well i've never changed any BIOS settings before, but looking at them, the only fan settings i see are under something called iQST Hardware Health Monitor... and there's nothing. no fans detected (i know this is for fans because there are 3 greyed-out slots for fans that just say N/A). also, i've removed the battery before, and it never had this effect.

 

[Paperdoc]

OK, you are not familiar with accessing the BIOS Setup screens and how to use them. We can help with that. Post here what you know about your motherboard - particularly the manufacturer and the complete model name. With that we can try to find the mobo manual and refer you to its instructions.

Also, and important question: do you know whether your fans are plugged into fan ports on your motherboard, or directly into a connector from the Power Supply Unit, or into some fan controller module that is part of your case? If you know, tell us for each fan (case vents and CPU cooler) how many wires come out of the fan to its connector.

By the way, "iQST Hardware Health Monitor" appears to be a third-party software utility for fan monitoring. I'm guessing, but many such software items need to be installed and sometimes configured before they can be used.

 

[publius10]

ok i'll tell you about the mobo when i get home tonight - off the top of my head ik that the case and cpu fans both plug directly into it - case has 3-pin connector, cpu has 4-pin.

this is a prebuilt/refurbished Lenovo system to which i've been adding/upgrading components as needed over the years, so i'm guessing the iQST program came with it - never bothered about it before, maybe like you say it was never setup to begin with.

 

[publius10]

mobo update - CPUID returns the following data
manufacturer - LENOVO
model - to be filled by O.E.M.
chipset - Intel P35/G33/G31 Rev. A2
southbridge - Intel 82801IR (ICH9R) Rev. 02
LCPIO - ITE

the layout is almost identical to this, except it says "Rev V0.21" instead of "Rev V1.0",

 

[Paperdoc]

Getting a detailed manual for that mobo is hard - there have been MANY mobos used in Lenovo machines. But I tried to use your photo to narrow it down.

First, getting into BIOS Setup. Many machines work this way: you turn on the machine and immediately hold down the "Del" key until the first screen of BIOS Setup shows. While doing that, watch the screen, especially the bottom, for a message about which key to use to Enter setup. Now, the Lenovo manual I found says they use the "F1" key, and NOT "Del", so maybe try that. It also says if you're using a USB-connected keyboard and that does not work, try again and don't just hold the key down - tap it repeatedly.

Once you get BIOS Setup on screen, there usually are on-screen prompts for changing to different screens or sections, for moving through the items, and for changing a setting for an item. Look for those, and look around for a place to examine the fan speeds and configuration. There should be separate settings for the CPU cooler system and the case ventilation system. I REALLY doubt that there is any option for 4-pin or PWM Mode fans - it is all likely assumed to be done by the older Voltage Control system for 3-pin fans. If you can find those settings, ensure that they are set for automatic control by the mobo, and not a fixed speed. IF you change any settings, look for the menu choice to SAVE before EXITing from Setup.

 

[publius10]

right, that's what i've been doing to get into bios - i've looked through all the settings and the only thing is the QST monitor i mentioned. also i installed speedfan to see if i could control it from the software side, but nope, doesn't detect any fans either.

 

[Paperdoc]

It's very odd that no software can detect the presence of the fans. Yet, if I understand correctly, those fans were under mobo speed control before and are still plugged into the same places.

MAYBE there is a poor connection of fan to mobo connector. That might fail to send the fan's speed signal to the mobo, and that might make the mobo feed full voltage to the "stalled" fan to force it to start up. Try this: for each fan, track its wires back to where its connector plugs into a mobo port. Carefully unplug it, then plug back in. Do this several times for each fan connector. Check to be sure you have not disturbed other connections. Close up and start the machine to see it that changed anything. The idea here is that the action of unplugging and reconnecting can cause the metal contacts to "scrub" each other and remove any minor traces of oxidation and dirt that might cause a bad connection.

 

[publius10]

hmm i see how that might work, but i can't even unplug them once - i know there's a little flap you have to press, but it doesn't seem to help. plus why would all 3 fans get bad connections at the same time? could it be a faulty psu?