i have a small fan on my mother board that has begun to wobble and make an awful
noise. sometimes it's quiet, and sometimes i can make it stop by poking it with
a pen or turning the computer off an wiggle it for a while. sometimes i can also
make it stop spinning when poking it, thus rendering it silent. the fan is about
4cm in diameter and when it's not quiet it's driving me insane.
my question is, how important do you think this fan is for cooling the computer?
would it be safe to either see if i can remove it safely, cut the power to it,
or perhaps if there is a setting to turn it off? the fan is located in the
middle of the mobo, between the agp and the processor.
i also have two fans on my chassi, one that sucks and one that blows. would
those fans help circulate enough air to keep the temperature down inside the
computer without the mobo fan?
i can also mention that i bought my computer in parts, so it's not like a dell
or something where they might have put the extra fans on the chassi because it
was necessary. the fans just happened to be on the chassi i chose to go with the
mobo.
I would personally never remove a fan without replacing it, especially if it's
on the motherboard itself. Have you checked to see if you can tighten the
screwes that hold it in place? Those might have gotten loose, lending to
wobble. Also, a dirty fan can often become a noisy fan. Get some canned air
and spray the fan clean. Do the same with all your fans, while you are at it.
yeah, i've been thinking about going wild with a can of air in there, i should
try that too. the fan itself is screwed tightly to the board though, but if i
wiggle it it seems as if the actual fan part is too loose from the pin.
the fan is also outlined by these metal cooling thingies.
my friend has the same mobo, and he has been messing with it more than i have, i
think he tried to remove it but didn't succeed, so it doesn't seem like
replacing it is that easy.
well i'll try to pick upp a can of air tomorrow anyway...
from what you're saying, the fan is cooling down the north bridge, and chances
are it has it there for a reason, but were it me, i wold just try to pick up a
replacement or atleast a heatsink or watercooling (extreme method) but you say
you guys have no luck prying it off so i guess you can try the canned air and if
that doesnt work, unplug the fan dont cut the wires if you want to get rid of
the noise =/
As the others have mentioned, the fan is there for a reason other than to drive
you nuts. However, the bearings on it are shot. I would just replace it if I
were you. If it's under warranty, it will probably be easy for you to get a
replacement sent out if you describe the problem and ask them to just send the
fan. The same thing happened to my CPU fan and one of my PSU fans. The power
supply was more annoying since I had to RMA the whole thing, but the CPU was
easy. AMD just sent me a new heatsink and fan with no fuss.
Assuming the fans are shot (or simply noisy in the first place), replacing it is
a sound idea. Here are some popular northbridge fan replacement: Zalman
Northbridge cooler.
Most northbridge HSF are easy to remove (by taking the holders off the mounting
holes using a plier). However, if the HSF has been fixed on the motherboard with
an epoxy glue, things are much harder (you need to heat up the HSF and 'slice'
it off the board).
Regards.
p.s. Do you have a link to the motherboard you are using? Chances are there will
be pictures detailing how the northbridge HSF is attached.
the image i found on the official site
(http://www.abit.com.tw/common/windowprint.php?PICT_NAME=/upload/products/IS7-E_pic6.jpg)
shows another fan. they must've replaced it later in production. those bastards!
I'm still not very clear on the method used to mount that fan, but it seems to
me it does use some sort of pins/holders to fix itself to the motherboard. In
that case, you can try removing the pins by pinching the bottom tip (yes, the
tip that protrudes through the underside of the motherboard) with a plier. That
should allow you to push off the pins.
Better yet, e-mail the tech support at Abit and ask them how to remove the
northbridge HSF. Keep us informed!
i have a small fan on my mother board that has begun to wobble and make an awful noise. sometimes it's quiet, and sometimes i can make it stop by poking it with a pen or turning the computer off an wiggle it for a while. sometimes i can also make it stop spinning when poking it, thus rendering it silent. the fan is about 4cm in diameter and when it's not quiet it's driving me insane.
my question is, how important do you think this fan is for cooling the computer? would it be safe to either see if i can remove it safely, cut the power to it, or perhaps if there is a setting to turn it off? the fan is located in the middle of the mobo, between the agp and the processor.
i also have two fans on my chassi, one that sucks and one that blows. would those fans help circulate enough air to keep the temperature down inside the computer without the mobo fan?
i can also mention that i bought my computer in parts, so it's not like a dell or something where they might have put the extra fans on the chassi because it was necessary. the fans just happened to be on the chassi i chose to go with the mobo.
I would personally never remove a fan without replacing it, especially if it's on the motherboard itself. Have you checked to see if you can tighten the screwes that hold it in place? Those might have gotten loose, lending to wobble. Also, a dirty fan can often become a noisy fan. Get some canned air and spray the fan clean. Do the same with all your fans, while you are at it.
yeah, i've been thinking about going wild with a can of air in there, i should try that too. the fan itself is screwed tightly to the board though, but if i wiggle it it seems as if the actual fan part is too loose from the pin.
the fan is also outlined by these metal cooling thingies.
my friend has the same mobo, and he has been messing with it more than i have, i think he tried to remove it but didn't succeed, so it doesn't seem like replacing it is that easy.
well i'll try to pick upp a can of air tomorrow anyway...
from what you're saying, the fan is cooling down the north bridge, and chances are it has it there for a reason, but were it me, i wold just try to pick up a replacement or atleast a heatsink or watercooling (extreme method) but you say you guys have no luck prying it off so i guess you can try the canned air and if that doesnt work, unplug the fan dont cut the wires if you want to get rid of the noise =/
As the others have mentioned, the fan is there for a reason other than to drive you nuts. However, the bearings on it are shot. I would just replace it if I were you. If it's under warranty, it will probably be easy for you to get a replacement sent out if you describe the problem and ask them to just send the fan. The same thing happened to my CPU fan and one of my PSU fans. The power supply was more annoying since I had to RMA the whole thing, but the CPU was easy. AMD just sent me a new heatsink and fan with no fuss.
Assuming the fans are shot (or simply noisy in the first place), replacing it is a sound idea. Here are some popular northbridge fan replacement: Zalman Northbridge cooler.
Most northbridge HSF are easy to remove (by taking the holders off the mounting holes using a plier). However, if the HSF has been fixed on the motherboard with an epoxy glue, things are much harder (you need to heat up the HSF and 'slice' it off the board).
Regards.
p.s. Do you have a link to the motherboard you are using? Chances are there will be pictures detailing how the northbridge HSF is attached.
abit is7-e is the model
i don't know what kind of images you mean, enchanter, but i found some at http://www.hwlab.com/board_usage.php?action=view&code=261&page=5&searchflag=&keyword=
the heatsink looks a little higher than mine, but it's probably because of the close-ups.
the image i found on the official site (http://www.abit.com.tw/common/windowprint.php?PICT_NAME=/upload/products/IS7-E_pic6.jpg) shows another fan. they must've replaced it later in production. those bastards!
I'm still not very clear on the method used to mount that fan, but it seems to me it does use some sort of pins/holders to fix itself to the motherboard. In that case, you can try removing the pins by pinching the bottom tip (yes, the tip that protrudes through the underside of the motherboard) with a plier. That should allow you to push off the pins.
Better yet, e-mail the tech support at Abit and ask them how to remove the northbridge HSF. Keep us informed!
Regards.