Noisy Power Supply Fan? Wrong!

G

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My Dimension 4500 is not as silent as it used to be, so I figured "noisy
power supply fan." Then I read a post in this group about running the
computer with the case open and listening carefully to determine the
source(s) of noise. Good idea! As it turned out, my PSU fan is actually
pretty quiet. The really noisy buggers are my two brand new Western Digital
hard drives, which emit a loud, high pitched hum.

The CPU fan hums also, but only when I place my ear right over the green
shroud. When I place my ear next to the grill outside the case, the hum is
much softer. My non-engineer guess is that the fan's own hum reverberates
inside the case, making it more noticeable when I run the computer with the
case closed.

Has anyone tried to replace the CPU fan? It looks pretty simple: Unplug it
from the motherboard and unhook it from the case. Is it really that easy?

Rocky

[As for the WDC's - 1200JB & 800JB - I'm going to have to conduct more
experiments before calling Western Digital. I'll run them outside the case,
with only the power connector. That will tell me whether it's the drives
themselves that make the noise.]
 
G

Guest

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

I have the 1200JB and mine's very quiet.

"Rocket J. Squirrel" <rocky@bullwinkle.com> wrote in message
news:f3232374927fb4f393074e4ea0a64622@news.teranews.com...
> My Dimension 4500 is not as silent as it used to be, so I figured "noisy
> power supply fan." Then I read a post in this group about running the
> computer with the case open and listening carefully to determine the
> source(s) of noise. Good idea! As it turned out, my PSU fan is actually
> pretty quiet. The really noisy buggers are my two brand new Western
Digital
> hard drives, which emit a loud, high pitched hum.
>
> The CPU fan hums also, but only when I place my ear right over the green
> shroud. When I place my ear next to the grill outside the case, the hum is
> much softer. My non-engineer guess is that the fan's own hum reverberates
> inside the case, making it more noticeable when I run the computer with
the
> case closed.
>
> Has anyone tried to replace the CPU fan? It looks pretty simple: Unplug it
> from the motherboard and unhook it from the case. Is it really that easy?
>
> Rocky
>
> [As for the WDC's - 1200JB & 800JB - I'm going to have to conduct more
> experiments before calling Western Digital. I'll run them outside the
case,
> with only the power connector. That will tell me whether it's the drives
> themselves that make the noise.]
>
 

dick

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Mar 31, 2004
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In my 4550, by far the noisiest component is the fan on the ATI video
card.

On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 04:42:19 GMT, "Rocket J. Squirrel"
<rocky@bullwinkle.com> wrote:

>My Dimension 4500 is not as silent as it used to be, so I figured "noisy
>power supply fan." Then I read a post in this group about running the
>computer with the case open and listening carefully to determine the
>source(s) of noise. Good idea! As it turned out, my PSU fan is actually
>pretty quiet. The really noisy buggers are my two brand new Western Digital
>hard drives, which emit a loud, high pitched hum.
 
G

Guest

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

The CPU fan is very easy to replace RJ. It literally is a matter of popping
out one and plugging in the new one. There are a number of manufacturers
supplying good fans.

Note that these folks carry sound dampening kits as well.
http://www.3dcool.com/

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/home.htm

Regards,
John O.

"Rocket J. Squirrel" <rocky@bullwinkle.com> wrote in message
news:f3232374927fb4f393074e4ea0a64622@news.teranews.com...
> My Dimension 4500 is not as silent as it used to be, so I figured "noisy
> power supply fan." Then I read a post in this group about running the
> computer with the case open and listening carefully to determine the
> source(s) of noise. Good idea! As it turned out, my PSU fan is actually
> pretty quiet. The really noisy buggers are my two brand new Western
Digital
> hard drives, which emit a loud, high pitched hum.
>
> The CPU fan hums also, but only when I place my ear right over the green
> shroud. When I place my ear next to the grill outside the case, the hum is
> much softer. My non-engineer guess is that the fan's own hum reverberates
> inside the case, making it more noticeable when I run the computer with
the
> case closed.
>
> Has anyone tried to replace the CPU fan? It looks pretty simple: Unplug it
> from the motherboard and unhook it from the case. Is it really that easy?
>
> Rocky
>
> [As for the WDC's - 1200JB & 800JB - I'm going to have to conduct more
> experiments before calling Western Digital. I'll run them outside the
case,
> with only the power connector. That will tell me whether it's the drives
> themselves that make the noise.]
>
 
G

Guest

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

Thanks for letting me know about your 1200JB, CapeGuy. I'll have to find out
which one of my drives is the noisy one.

Thanks for the info, J&P. I'll give those vendors a good look.

Rocky

"John and Pat" <jo@nospam.ca> wrote in message
news:g1aec.12156$R37.5561@read1.cgocable.net...
> The CPU fan is very easy to replace RJ. It literally is a matter of
popping
> out one and plugging in the new one. There are a number of manufacturers
> supplying good fans.
>
> Note that these folks carry sound dampening kits as well.
> http://www.3dcool.com/
>
> http://www.pcpowercooling.com/home.htm
>
> Regards,
> John O.
>
> "Rocket J. Squirrel" <rocky@bullwinkle.com> wrote in message
> news:f3232374927fb4f393074e4ea0a64622@news.teranews.com...
> > My Dimension 4500 is not as silent as it used to be, so I figured "noisy
> > power supply fan." Then I read a post in this group about running the
> > computer with the case open and listening carefully to determine the
> > source(s) of noise. Good idea! As it turned out, my PSU fan is actually
> > pretty quiet. The really noisy buggers are my two brand new Western
> Digital
> > hard drives, which emit a loud, high pitched hum.
> >
> > The CPU fan hums also, but only when I place my ear right over the green
> > shroud. When I place my ear next to the grill outside the case, the hum
is
> > much softer. My non-engineer guess is that the fan's own hum
reverberates
> > inside the case, making it more noticeable when I run the computer with
> the
> > case closed.
> >
> > Has anyone tried to replace the CPU fan? It looks pretty simple: Unplug
it
> > from the motherboard and unhook it from the case. Is it really that
easy?
> >
> > Rocky
> >
> > [As for the WDC's - 1200JB & 800JB - I'm going to have to conduct more
> > experiments before calling Western Digital. I'll run them outside the
> case,
> > with only the power connector. That will tell me whether it's the drives
> > themselves that make the noise.]
> >
>
>
 

Eugene

Distinguished
Mar 29, 2004
205
0
18,680
Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Rocket J. Squirrel wrote:

> My Dimension 4500 is not as silent as it used to be, so I figured "noisy
> power supply fan." Then I read a post in this group about running the
> computer with the case open and listening carefully to determine the
> source(s) of noise. Good idea! As it turned out, my PSU fan is actually
> pretty quiet. The really noisy buggers are my two brand new Western
> Digital hard drives, which emit a loud, high pitched hum.
>
> The CPU fan hums also, but only when I place my ear right over the green
> shroud. When I place my ear next to the grill outside the case, the hum is
> much softer. My non-engineer guess is that the fan's own hum reverberates
> inside the case, making it more noticeable when I run the computer with
> the case closed.
>
> Has anyone tried to replace the CPU fan? It looks pretty simple: Unplug it
> from the motherboard and unhook it from the case. Is it really that easy?
>
> Rocky
>
> [As for the WDC's - 1200JB & 800JB - I'm going to have to conduct more
> experiments before calling Western Digital. I'll run them outside the
> case, with only the power connector. That will tell me whether it's the
> drives themselves that make the noise.]
I've used this method many times prior to making a service call to determine
which fan to bring. Take a plain old ink pen with the removable plastic
cap with. Turn the pc off and stick the clip end of the cap in the fan.
Its just long and thin enough to fit through the slots in the fan grill but
the cap is big enough to prevent it from falling inside. Turn the pc on
for long enough to see see if its quieter with that fan stopped. If not
pen the case and stick the pen cap in a different fan and power on again to
check.
 
G

Guest

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

What a great idea!

Rocky

"Eugene" <nospam@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:Nmhec.5871$ci4.5478@fe1.columbus.rr.com...
> Rocket J. Squirrel wrote:
>
> > My Dimension 4500 is not as silent as it used to be, so I figured "noisy
> > power supply fan." Then I read a post in this group about running the
> > computer with the case open and listening carefully to determine the
> > source(s) of noise. Good idea! As it turned out, my PSU fan is actually
> > pretty quiet. The really noisy buggers are my two brand new Western
> > Digital hard drives, which emit a loud, high pitched hum.
> >
> > The CPU fan hums also, but only when I place my ear right over the green
> > shroud. When I place my ear next to the grill outside the case, the hum
is
> > much softer. My non-engineer guess is that the fan's own hum
reverberates
> > inside the case, making it more noticeable when I run the computer with
> > the case closed.
> >
> > Has anyone tried to replace the CPU fan? It looks pretty simple: Unplug
it
> > from the motherboard and unhook it from the case. Is it really that
easy?
> >
> > Rocky
> >
> > [As for the WDC's - 1200JB & 800JB - I'm going to have to conduct more
> > experiments before calling Western Digital. I'll run them outside the
> > case, with only the power connector. That will tell me whether it's the
> > drives themselves that make the noise.]
> I've used this method many times prior to making a service call to
determine
> which fan to bring. Take a plain old ink pen with the removable plastic
> cap with. Turn the pc off and stick the clip end of the cap in the fan.
> Its just long and thin enough to fit through the slots in the fan grill
but
> the cap is big enough to prevent it from falling inside. Turn the pc on
> for long enough to see see if its quieter with that fan stopped. If not
> pen the case and stick the pen cap in a different fan and power on again
to
> check.
>
 
G

Guest

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

Hi,

> I've used this method many times prior to making a service call to
determine
> which fan to bring. Take a plain old ink pen with the removable plastic
> cap with. Turn the pc off and stick the clip end of the cap in the fan.
> Its just long and thin enough to fit through the slots in the fan grill
but
> the cap is big enough to prevent it from falling inside. Turn the pc on
> for long enough to see see if its quieter with that fan stopped. If not
> pen the case and stick the pen cap in a different fan and power on again
to
> check.

For this kind of noise check I always put the PC to standby mode instead
of switching off because of two reasons:
1. its faster ;-)
2. turning on the PC while blocking the cpu fan may result in a bios
error message.

chris
 
G

Guest

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

> Thanks for the info, J&P. I'll give those vendors a good look.

You may want to measure the thickness of the fan (in addition to the
size of the fan) before you order it if you decide to order it from a
third party vendor. My Dell Dimension 4500 used to come with a 32mm
(thickness) case fan. I had a hard time to find any silent fan to
replace it (because that case fan was noisy from the get go). The
reason is that 32mm fan is not common, and I could not fit a commonly
available case fan (25mm?) into the fan housing that was designed for
32mm fan.

If you order it directly from Dell, you will not have this problem
because they will send you not only the fan but also the matching fan
housing (hence, you don't need to worry about if it is 32mm or not).
Because your PC is still under warranty, you are likely to take this
route anyway.

Jay Chan
 
G

Guest

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

Rocket J. Squirrel <rocky@bullwinkle.com> coughed up the following:

....[thwack]...


> I've yet to try a few tricks, like removing and reinserting the
> drives in the cage, redoing the screws, etc. to try to catch the
> source of stray vibrations. If that fails to help, I'm afraid I'm
> stuck with some harmonic that plays off the drives and the cage. Of
> course, Western Digital has been only to happy to exchange them...

What you really need here are things that may not be made.

In computer land, drives need to be /CLAMPED/ into place, not screwed.
And with clamping, you can always put a thin rubber gasket into place
between the drive and the cage. This would reduce the harmonics to
things that occur from drive->air->case and not the current drive->case
type.

Them harmonics are a pita.



> There are threads on the Dell Community Forum that claim the WD makes
> the noisiest drives of all the major makers, but that could just be
> sour grapes. (Seagate wins for quietest, or so they say.)
>
> BTW, I also have a mmmMMMmmmMMMmmm...but it's coming from the power
> supply.

Be careful here: It may /seem/ like /just/ the powersupply, when it is
really the powersupply beating against something else rythmic. Just a
thought.

....[thwack]...
 
G

Guest

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

S.Lewis <stew1960@bellsouth.net> coughed up the following:

> "Thomas G. Marshall"
> <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail.com> wrote in
> message news:Wxzgc.4041$2v.611@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
>> S.Lewis <stew1960@bellsouth.net> coughed up the following:

....[shred]...


>>> Those little thingy plastic quick release rails have nylon
>>> (rubberized) bushings upon which the HDD screws rest. It's not
>>> likely that the rails to drive fit is the noise. It may be the
>>> rails to drive cage contact areas, or even more likely, the plastic
>>> case "skin" vibrating on the snaps to the steel chassis.
>>
>> Of course! I'm not complaining where this is already a screw, I'm
>> complaining about where there used to be one and there isn't. There
>> isn't one from the drive to the chassis. It's not tight. That's the
>> whole point.
>>
>
>
> True, there is not, and there is "play" or "slack" in the fit of the
> drive rails in the cage. It's enough to make a man remove the drives
> and tap two small holes into the side of the drive cage where two
> small screws or large set screws could evenly hold the entire
> drive/rail assembly tight and virtually immobile.
>
> That said, any vibration might still transfer from the cage to
> chassis to external plastic panels.

Yep, and this is why I claim that HD's should be clamped into place
(with full bushings/gaskets) and not have a direct metal to metal
contact.