Graphics card fan making odd noises

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:44 pm

This is nothing to do with Oolite, but as you're all such a helpful bunch I thought I'd post this question here.

In the last week or so, the fan on my graphics card (Nvidia GeForce 5200) has started making funny noises, like it's labouring. It will start whirring loudly pretty much spontaneously, and stop after a few minutes.

I've googled it, and it sounds like that fan's on its last legs (to be fair, I got it 2nd hand off Ebay last year) but it might benefit from being oiled. Does that sound likely, and if so, where's the right place to put the oil?

reills · Post by **reills** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:47 pm

Personally, I would not oil the fan. Besides Oolite, I am also a clock collector (nothing real expensive mind you). Anywho, it's sacrilege to oil the clock works as it becomes a dust magnet. The oil dust mix becomes gunk that will most surely bind the fan. I would replace the fan or disconnect it and find an external one to take its place.

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 5:34 am

Thanks for the advice, I've got my eyes on a replacement.

One other thing - does the state of the fan suggest the rest of the card is on its last legs too? There's little point replacing the fan if the rest of the card is likely to die soon...

Frame · Post by **Frame** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 6:17 am

lolwhites wrote:
Thanks for the advice, I've got my eyes on a replacement.

One other thing - does the state of the fan suggest the rest of the card is on its last legs too? There's little point replacing the fan if the rest of the card is likely to die soon...

naa i have had brand new cards come with a faulty fan... a replacement is the best way to go...

The bigger a fan you can mount, the better

...

Especiallly if you would want to overclock... that ofcourse would shorten the lifespan of your card unless you have a fridge full of liquid oxygen standing next to it, and hooked up via a eloborant pipeline system.

Selezen · Post by **Selezen** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 1:03 pm

Don't oil the fan. Not unless you want oil splashes all around the inside of your computer. Things that rotate spray oil everywhere.

The fan dying is not a sign of the GFX card dying - make sure you replace the fan as quickly as possible. If the fan fails, your GPU could overheat and burn out. At the very least you will find a drop in performance and at the worst you'll have that burning silicon smell that heralds the death of a friend.

Arexack_Heretic · Post by **Arexack_Heretic** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 2:15 pm

I always panic when I smell that distinctive smell of smoldering circuitboard. ...brr

It must be a funny sight: me sniffing around in horror, poking my nose in the PC-fan.

reills · Post by **reills** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:15 pm

All electronics run on magic smoke. Let the smoke out, and things stop working. Fans are mechanical beasts, they wear out. Electronics (solid state anywho) will most often die in the very beginning or last a LONG tome (so long as you don't overheat them toooo much).

Captain Hesperus · Post by **Captain Hesperus** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:52 pm

reills wrote:
All electronics run on magic smoke. Let the smoke out, and things stop working.

I always thought it was guinea pigs. It would certainly explain the odd rustling sounds and occasional peculiar smells that emenated from the big black box, under the table....

Captain Hesperus

davcefai · Post by **davcefai** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:23 pm

It is best to replace the fan. It's a DIY job and they don't cost much.

However you can, if necessary, grease a fan which is still managing to rotate. You want to use either the grease used to lubricate video recorders or I have had excellent results using "Ceramic Grease" which I bought from a model shop.

In emergency (=weekend, late in the evening, it's raining heavily etc) a drop of oil works wonders.

In either case, remove the fan, peel back the metallised paper sticker, apply the lubricant and then push the blades back and forth to move the spindle so that the lubricant can penetrate.

In the 486 days when a CPU fan cost about US $ 15 I could get another 18 months from a greased fan.

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:02 pm

Thanks for the advice people. Of course, no sooner had I bought a new fan than the old one stopped making funny noises

davcefai · Post by **davcefai** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:20 pm

Which often means that it has stopped spinning

TGHC · Post by **TGHC** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 9:39 pm

It's a female fan then

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 12:54 pm

TGHC wrote:
It's a female fan then

Or a feline one.

*cat · Post by *cat » Sun Jun 10, 2007 8:44 am

Some of the graphics *fanatics* (of the "image heavy thread" variety not only make funny noise, but use strange words! (shaders, ray tracing... some word I'd never heard of; can't remeber it now!)
Good luck with the fan. When I was a technician at an art college, had a regular job of replacing groaning fans - had to catch them before they seized up entirely, causing the computers to crash mid-photoshop project ("what do you mean 'is it saved'?")

Charlie · Post by **Charlie** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 6:16 pm

Hi,
if you're happy to do a little dismantling:
0 )-Damn good clean - hoover, baby wipes, fingers crossed
-No go-
1 )-Take to bits...
Usually requires removing the heatsink first, but some fans will unsrew without doing that.
2 )-Turn fan over - most have a sticker on the back - peel off.
3 )-Probably a little circlip holding the fan in place - pop out with something small + pointy ( Watch carefully for where the little bu**er lands )
4 )-Pull fan out of housing & be ready to clean an amazing amount of crud out of it. Be thorough - BABYWIPES!
5 )-Reassemble, fingers crossed.
-No go-
6 )-Take to bits ( again

)
7 )-Find a soft pencil & try to draw on the shaft of the fan - Graphite makes a fairly good DRY lubricant - if you're into that kind of thing.
8 )-See 5 )
-No go-
Bu**er!
9 )-New fan / Gfx card...

Tips:
GFX cards are delicate so don't do this:

Charlie wrote:
Oookaaay... another update.
.
Ok - I'm angry now. Nothing will prevent me from
seeing the fruit of my loins burst forth in all its glory!
.
Out with the Dremmel again:

'I love the smell of burning fiberglass in the morning...'

Oh-yes! I did it allright. I cut about a 1/4 of an inch off
the end of my brand-new GFX card!
Not content with that, I then set about the AGP riser
with further reckless abandon, chopping of the end of
the AGP slot & then some of the offending PCB too!

And...
It all fits! Good God in Heaven, it fits! Thank the maker!
.
Well, the butchered + bleeding AGP card + riser were
transferred to my older PC...
I flicked the power switch, and...

I'll tell you next time.

If you have to remove the heatsink make sure you have some thermal goo. Most older GFX cards are easy to separate from their heatsink - at most a couple of screws, usually just springy plastic retainer thingies.

For all you parents out there:
Is there anything babywipes can't do?

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Graphics card fan making odd noises

Graphics card fan making odd noises

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