What do you recommend (chipset fan issues)

Hello,
Apparently, the chipset fan on the motherboard decided to make squealing noise. It makes them mainly when powered up for 10-15 seconds than stops. I started monitoring the fans using motherboard probe utility. All started last night and at 4 am I woke up to the squealing noise of the fan. I took the pc to the shop and the technician cleaned the dust and lubricated the bearings a bit. He said that the problem was no critical, and that if I noticed the squeal to try to dust off a bit more, and if the problem persists come for a replacement.
Now, I'm a bit anal retentive, so you could help with your advices.
I have now the mobo probe working with history log for temperatures, voltages and fan speeds. I'll see what happens in the evening.
The question is: what could happen if the chipset fan ceased working for a short or long period? Will the chipset only heat up and the pc eventually get stuck? Now, I'm talking about worst case scenario. Obviously, if in the following couple of days I hear the noises, I'll take it for a full fan replacement.
I must add the case is fanned with another 2 120mm fans plus fans on graphic card, cpu and power supply.
So what say thou?
Thank you for your advice.
Mrk

 

Hi,

I will try to help you as much as I can with my total minimum knowledge of hardware. First I need to know which chipset? Northbridge or southbridge (I assume its northbridge). Northbridge controls the processor, ram, pci, agp, l2 cache. Southbridge controls IO stuffs (eg. sound, usb, ide, etc etc). So if it is overheated, the chip will damage (I bet you know what happened when the chipset is damaged). Even though ur casing has 2 120mm fan, the chipset needs its own cooling too. Hope I am steering you to the right direction. My advise is to get a replacement fan as soon as possible for your chipset. Thanks.

Regards,
Liw

 

I would recomend a replacement fan fairly soon. a fan is cheaper to replace than what it is cooling.

 

Hi,
Thanks guys.
I'm only 4 months into 2 year warranty btw.
And the fan is working ... I am now also logging its history. Last 8 hours since the dust cleaning it runs persistently at 5500 rpm. I did have similar problem with an older machine - I thought it was cold bearings or so - but I ignored the noise, since it would usually cease after 20-30 sec. That other machine is running for more than a year since rather flawlessly. Now, of course, this does not mean it's a golden rule for recklessness.
Furthermore, I forgot to mention the mobo has an emergency switch-off that powers off the comp if critical temp is reached - in mobo case it's 87 degrees C, I set the threshold at 77.
Mrk

 

You posted about this problem before and my first recommendation was to replace the fan:

Any noisy fan is a fan that is about to fail. $10 to $15 is all they cost. I keep spares around the house because they are so cheap. I also use LED fans because it is easy to see that they are spinning. I replace the fans in network switches with LED fans for this very reason.

Antec makes some great fans:

http://www.antec.com/us/pro_cooling.html

Pick the size you need and order two; one as a replacement, and one as a spare.

 

Hi,
Thanks.
In the first thread I did not know what the problem was, in full.
Do you recommend buying spare fans for other parts too?
Mrk

 

Hi,
Just ran memtest - no errors.
Mrk

 

It's good to have them around if you want to reduce down time in the event of a failure. It is also a good idea to have as many in the chassis as possible. With most modern motherboards, they will turn them on as they need them and increase the RPM as needed as well, so noise should not be an issue. 120 mm fans in general are the quietest, and most efficient chassis fans, so if your chassis allows you the option of a 120, then use it instead of an 80. CPU fans are often 60mm. Some chassis even have 92mm fans, but these are rare. So measure your old fans first. I believe the measurement is taken from screw hole center to screw hole center.

 

Memtest Rocks! Keep that puppy handy. It helped me once on a problem with my home PC. I had just replaced the graphics card and the system would crash randomly afterward. I swore up and down with ATI that it was the graphics card because the system only crashed when I was playing games. Then one day my system crashed while I was copying a very large number of files from one disk to the other. I ran Memtest and sure enough one of my RAMBUS modules was bad. Somehow I must have zapped it during the card swap, I do not know, because I was properly grounded. I ordered four new sticks of RAM and the problem never came back.

 

Hi,
Yup I do have 2 120mm fans, one front one back.
And like I said, memtest turned no errors - that's a good thing, of course. This means, just some dust stuck there
Mrk

 

if ur chipset fan is failing, i recommend u simply replace it. u can get cheap heatsink/fans for around $10 or just the standalone (40mm) case fan for $5.