Dell XPS 8700 Rear exhaust fan I believe one of the pins on MB, checks for operation of fan, the allows PC to start. Safety feature. 1. Can that feature be disabled & still have PC start with non dell fan
That would be for the CPU fan. Many motherboards also have fan headers for system and/or case fans. Those typically do not have such a sensor that would prevent a computer from booting. Most fans designed for CPUs report RPM, so you probably don't have to disable that feature. But many after market fans are larger than OEM fans, so they can spin at a lower RPM and still provide as much or more cooling air. But that same motherboard sensor may sense the fan is not spinning fast enough, and sound an alarm or beep (if you have the necessary integrated motherboard/system speaker) or prevent the computer from booting. In your BIOS setup menu, there should be one or two monitoring settings for that CPU fan. One typically disables the monitoring, the other lets you change the threshold speed for which it alarms. Because you don't want your CPU overheating, I recommend you don't disable it. But if necessary, just change the speed threshold for a slower rotating fan. There typically is another setting to alarm when the CPU temperature hits some threshold. I have mine set at 65°C - which these days, is pretty conservative but if fine for me.
