CPU Fan

[russ_shiplet]

I recently purchased a Dell 2350 with a 2.2 GHZ Pentium 4 CPU. I noticed yesterday that the CPU fan coming out of the back of the case was surging. It was go normal for a minute, then surge or increase in speed for a couple of seconds and then back down and back up again. I suspect that the fan is bad but I'm also concerned that the CPU may be running hot causing it to surge back and forth. I have contacted Dell and they are sending me a replacement fan. Is there somewhere I can check the CPU temp or investigate to see if I have a power to the motherboard problem? I am currently running Windows XP and had no programs running at the time other than my cable modem in the background.

Thanks for any help you can send my way.

[Centurion]

Hi Russ ---- I am not familiar with the dell that your are running - but most of the motherboards out there have been running diagnostic programs for a number of years on them. Mine has a section in the bios - devoted to speed of fan in rpm, as well as temps of the case enviroment and the cpu temp.

Now the get this info - we need to look up your machine and see if the MB stores this info in bios.

or whether you can see it in the opsys.

I have not fired up XP in a couple of months - but open your control panel - look for something like "system" pop that open - and see if there is a tab for it there.

I cannot remember but - I know I found it when I had my box running it. As well sissoft sandra and a couple more diagnostic tools run feelers into the enviroment for you and will give you a quicker read out of these things.

PS welcome to the shop - and hope it helps !

Centurion

[fshanda]

It could also have a fan speed controller in there somewhere. When the case heats up the fan kicks it on high speed. I have ThermalTake 7s that have this built into the HSF setup. It will only run on high speed when needed.

But you may also have a problem so better safe than sorry. Best to check it out.

[Centurion]

Yeh your right fshanda - I had a customers Dell box here over the winter - with a noisy fan - and it was ramping up and down like a banshee all the time. a celery 667 or so - not a lotta heat - passive heatsink on it! but it looked it over for three days before I tossed it back to the customer.

Centurion
from dell -


2. Added "Series" to the system model string in setup.
3. We now log CMOS checksum errors in the event log.
4. Added F2=System Setup and F12=Boot Menu to system splash screen.
5. System no longer resets upon memory error. System now halts.

"Edit for drunken sailor talk" oh boy this was funny!



Fixes and Enhancements



4. Added F2=System Setup and F12=Boot Menu to system splash screen.
5. System no longer resets upon memory error. System now halts.

[russ_shiplet]

Thanks for your help. I received the replacement fan today and it seems to be working fine. I also checked out sissoft sandra and downloaded it for future monitoring.

Thanks again,
Russ

[Hickman]

If the cpu wasn't getting hot, I wouldn't worry about it. There is a setting in bios that can shut the pc off if the cpu temp gets over a certain temp.