Chipset Fan Meltdown

[Macsen]

When I started my PC this morning I got the message 'Chipset fan below threshold!' I can see two big fans turning in there but not the little one.

 

Is it still safe to run my PC? I don't need to play any videogames between now and Christmas, a long as I can still use the PC to run simple programs like Word that don't heat it up too much I'm fine.

[sparhawk]

What happens if some of us says yes you can, and then your CPU gets killed?

 

You might open your PC and put a normal fan outside it, but I can't gurantee that this will save your CPU.

[Macsen]

Well, my CPU temperature is at 38 degrees, and my MB temperature at 30.

 

I won't blame anyone if my CPU melts. I'm in a desperae rush to get a magazine edited and published before Christmas so I'm just looking for an excuse to continue without a fan.

[oDDity]

Yes, I think it is. If it overheats it'll just turn off, so save your work constantly.

[OrbWeaver]

Just keep an eye on the CPU temp - if it goes above 65 - 70 C, get ready to shut down.

[Macsen]

Hmmm, I managed to fix it by just opening up my PC and poking all the fans. I thought this PC fixing lark was supposed to be difficult. Maybe there was too much dust congealed in there.

 

Thanks for the advice, guys. Temp down to 27 celsius. My room is like a fridge this time of year anyway.

[sparhawk]

You probably could by some compressed air (sp?) and blow the fan with it. this should remove dust, collected in the axle or where it might block the fan. This compressed air you usually can get in a photoshop, because this is also used to clean cameras.

[Dram]

holy fuck man...37 decress C ??????!!!!

 

my one runs at ~45-50 ambient, though it is quite warm here atm..

[OrbWeaver]

I had a homebuilt Athlon system which ran at 64 ambient, and over 70 when under load.

[Macsen]

I have about five fans in there though, all blowing away merrily. Theres a little window in the side so I can keep track of them all. I've thought about putting some hay down and keeping a guinea pig in there, but I'm afraid it'd gnaw the wires.

[Ishtvan]

38 C sounds really low; are you sure your thermalcouple is making good contact to the CPU? Or is it an on-chip temp sensor? Some readouts are not correct either, and this is documented in some places (mine is about 15 C over), you might want to search for your type of CPU and temperature offset or something to see if it has such a problem.

 

Other than that yeah, if the fan started spinning at the right RPM again after you poked it, cleaning the crap out of it might be a good call. Or you could try to replace that fan, but that's probably going to be a delicate operation.

[Macsen]

38 C sounds really low; are you sure your thermalcouple is making good contact to the CPU? Or is it an on-chip temp sensor?

 

The fan is stuck to the chip itself. To be honest I really have no idea what goes on in there.

[Mr Retarded]

The mysterious ball of light might be causing the problem. Could it have got stuck in the fan?

[Ishtvan]

Argh, I meant to write thermocouple.. just thought I'd nitpick myself before someone else did.

 

Yeah don't worry about it then, as long as you got the fan going okay again.

[TrevP]

Haha, I have to manually poke my video card fan to start it. I couldnt figure out why my computer would constantly BSOD during 3d games for ages

[Dram]

gah, so your cpu is not the problem, its the small fan?

[obscurus]

You should be able to run it safely with the chipset fan off, provided you have sufficient other fans to blow air over the chipset fan heatsink. I would remove the fan from the chipset heat sink, so that the other fans can disperse more air over the chipset. Most motherboard chipsets fans are sort of redundant, they are more of a safety feature than anything else.

 

I would suggest, if you have the money, to replace the CPU heatsink-fan with a Zalman CNPS-7000 or similar, and replace the Northbridge cooler with a passive Zalman heat sink. The Zalman CPU flower works to blow air over the passive northbridge cooler, thus negating the need for any extra active cooling on the northbridge. Alternatively, you might be able to replace the northbridge cooler with another 20mm fan - try at a computer market or Ebay. Have a look at the Zalman website, or one of the other aftermarket cooling solution manufacturers' website.

 

Getting rid of active northbridge cooling is the best thing you can do to reduce noise levels in your computer - those little 20mm fans make a huge racket, and don't contribute much to cooling. They get choked up with dust very quickly, and are usually the first fans to fail.

 

 

Your temperatures look fine, BTW, so I wouldn't stress at all. The MB is just chucking a wally because it can't detect a functional fan on the Northbridge. You should be able to disable the fan in BIOS, that will get rid of the warning.

 

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for your computer shiting itself as a result of you following my advice. Seek professional guidance if you are at all unsure of what to do, as I don't provide any warranties!

Edited December 14, 2005 by obscurus