processor cooling fan wont come on

[rogerbrener]

I have a dell Dimension 4600c desktop running windows XP. The Processor cooling fan won't come on. I got it to work one time by doing a disk cleanup but now it is back to not working. It let me know the fan is okay but I don't know what else to check. Is it a Registry problem or what and how do I go about trouble shooting it. Thankyou for anyones help. rogerbrener@yahoo.com

 

[moody89]

The speed of rotation of the fan is controlled by the motherboard depending on the temperature of the CPU. It could be that under very little load the fan is running so slow you can't notice it or are you definitely sure it never comes on even at load? Obviously it's not recommended to run your system without a properly functioning CPU fan. You can also check the connection and ensure the fan is properly connected to the motherboard header. Also make sure that there's no dust or anything else in the fan. I've seen some cases where it's so dusty around the fans that they literally can no longer rotate. Post back and let us know.

 

[rogerbrener]

Everything is connected and clean. Like I said it did work once after doing a disk cleanup. The computer keeps shutting down after it gets to hot, showing fan failure on the screen. There must be some kind of error in the memory??. Is there a way to go into the computer and check for problems were it is supposed to signal the fan to come on. Thankyou

 

[moody89]

A simple way to check whether it's a hardware issue or something within Windows that's causing it not to spin is to see if it spins when you first turn on the computer (maybe boot into the BIOS if you need more time). If it spins at first but then stops spinning when you boot into Windows then its likely to be a software issue. If it never spins, even when you first turn on the computer then it's either a faulty fan or a faulty header on the motherboard.

 

[rogerbrener]

Got it fixed. Thanks for the help. It just needed a new fan.