[SOLVED] Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler. Fan 1 doesn't spin, only wobbles/twitches, but spins when touched?

[lee1127]

This has been an on/off issue since I got the cooler years ago, but since it fixed itself I didn't bother RMA'ing the cooler. However, recently when I've shined my torch into the case I've noticed that the circular fan in the middle is not spinning, only kind of twitching. If I open the case and give it a slight poke with my finger it spins as it should, and sometimes it's spinning on startup.

Any ideas on how to fix this? I'm pretty sure the power cables are correctly plugged in the Fan power plug (it's got a Y-split for the power, included with the heatsink, so that might be a problem?). Thanks for any advice!

Image of the cooler: http://www.guru3d.com/miraserver/images/2009/noctua-nh-d14/topper.jpg

My specs:

- Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 Motherboard
- AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
Processor 3.40 GHz
- 1 TB Harddrive (Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 SCSI Disk Device)
- 8 GB of RAM (4x2 GB Modules - Corsair XMS3 DDR3 TW3X4G1333C9A 1333 MHz)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 (2GB) Graphics Card
- LG GH24NS90.AUAA50B 24x SATA Bare Internal DVD Rewriter
- Corsair Enthusiast TX750 V2 Power Supply (750W)
- OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

 

[Y0GI]

How old is it? I believe that Noctua's warranty is for 3 years.

Yogi

 

[frank the tank]

sounds like the middle fan isnt getting enough voltage, the one thing that sucks with noctuas fans is they have a high startup voltage. if you can go into your fan control utility and adjust the minimum speed up until the fan can reliably start up.

hope this helps

 

[Yingda Wang]

Yes, i had the same issue with my gpu fan. It doesnt spin unless i put some force on it. My solution was to just leave a heavy metal blob on the fan.( yeah that worked). But it is probably a bad fan.
Good thing u can swap the fan out and get a new fan.

 

[terry4536]

This has been an on/off issue since I got the cooler years ago, but since it fixed itself I didn't bother RMA'ing the cooler. However, recently when I've shined my torch into the case I've noticed that the circular fan in the middle is not spinning, only kind of twitching. If I open the case and give it a slight poke with my finger it spins as it should, and sometimes it's spinning on startup.

Any ideas on how to fix this? I'm pretty sure the power cables are correctly plugged in the Fan power plug (it's got a Y-split for the power, included with the heatsink, so that might be a problem?). Thanks for any advice!

Image of the cooler: http://www.guru3d.com/miraserver/images/2009/noctua-nh-d14/topper.jpg

My specs:

- Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 Motherboard
- AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
Processor 3.40 GHz
- 1 TB Harddrive (Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 SCSI Disk Device)
- 8 GB of RAM (4x2 GB Modules - Corsair XMS3 DDR3 TW3X4G1333C9A 1333 MHz)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 (2GB) Graphics Card
- LG GH24NS90.AUAA50B 24x SATA Bare Internal DVD Rewriter
- Corsair Enthusiast TX750 V2 Power Supply (750W)
- OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

As someone already said, it sounds like you have the power set too low. How are you controlling the voltage?
If you are controlling it from your motherboard or using a controller, just increase the volt percentage. If you are using the in line Noctua adapter, remove it.

I've never had a problem with Noctua fans, but you may have a bad fan as well.

 

[lee1127]

I can't change the power connector (MoBo only has one CPU fan socket, so I need the Y-splitter), and it's been just over 3 years since I got this cooler.

When I go into my BIOS I can change the fan speed, units are PWM. The default is +0.75. How high is safe with PWM? I fried my CPU once so I don't like playing with BIOS unless it's necessary >_<.

 

[terry4536]

I can't change the power connector (MoBo only has one CPU fan socket, so I need the Y-splitter), and it's been just over 3 years since I got this cooler.

When I go into my BIOS I can change the fan speed, units are PWM. The default is +0.75. How high is safe with PWM? I fried my CPU once so I don't like playing with BIOS unless it's necessary >_<.

You are fine on warranty coverage. The Noctua warranty is six years. You should have a Y in the accessory bag. Noctua is very good about replacing stuff. All you have to do is show that you own the cooler (an invoice or even photo of your cooler). Just go to their website and contact customer service.

The fan voltage range is 0 to 12 Volts. First refer to your manual. If that is the default, I'm guessing that the " +0.75" is a factor of 12V. Try inputting 1.00, that should be 12V. If that doesn't work, try inputting 12 Volts. PWM is Pulse Width Modulation. That is the method to control the RPM of 4-pin fans.

 

[lee1127]

I can't change the power connector (MoBo only has one CPU fan socket, so I need the Y-splitter), and it's been just over 3 years since I got this cooler.

When I go into my BIOS I can change the fan speed, units are PWM. The default is +0.75. How high is safe with PWM? I fried my CPU once so I don't like playing with BIOS unless it's necessary >_<.

You are fine on warranty coverage. The Noctua warranty is six years. You should have a Y in the accessory bag. Noctua is very good about replacing stuff. All you have to do is show that you own the cooler (an invoice or even photo of your cooler). Just go to their website and contact customer service.

The fan voltage range is 0 to 12 Volts. First refer to your manual. If that is the default, I'm guessing that the " +0.75" is a factor of 12V. Try inputting 1.00, that should be 12V. If that doesn't work, try inputting 12 Volts. PWM is Pulse Width Modulation. That is the method to control the RPM of 4-pin fans.

Problem is that I can't test it as it's working fine atm, just doesn't some times, no idea what it depends on :S

And sorry, I meant I had the Y splitter; I meant that I 'needed' to use it as there's no other option, with only one fan outlet on the mobo.

So anyways, next time it doesn't work I'll try to put the PWM up to 1.00 as you say, and see if it works.