Geeky guys are so sexy, or: Why I spent all night on my knees under my desk (RL)

[thistlechaser]

Last night I was innocently playing FFXI when my computer started making a noise. A bad noise. It sounded like a very angry dustbuster. Loud, too (I heard it a room away through a closed door). Only thing I could think of that would make a sound like that inside a computer would be the fan (??? I'm no hardware person) and since I have long hair and a cat, I could see how it would get tangled in there and stop spinning.

So for one of the first times ever in my life, I opened the case. I touched almost nothing (just poked the fan with my finger to see if it would spin freely, which it did), I closed the case. Nothing worked. GAH! See? See? That's why I never open it up!

A few rebootings(? it seemed to be making rebooting noises but the screen stayed dark) and eventually it seemed to boot totally up, but the horrible noise was still there. Hours under my desk checking things and connections and prodding at stuff. Eventually I gave up, turned it off, and went to bed.

Thankfully I'm reading an amazing book and reading is all I wanted to do, so yay! No game/computer to distract me! I read for hours and gave myself quite a nice case of eyestrain and a horrible headache. :P

Woke up this morning and turned the computer on. Hey, sometimes things just fix themselves for no reason, right? Nope. Bad noise, screen blank. I got back on my knees and unplugged everything and took it off to someone who could hopefully help.

Knowing no where else to go, I went to see the Geek Squad (fix-it people in Best Buy). The guy said noises like that were caused by dust in the fan and that I should just buy a can of air and spray it around in there. He showed me, hooked it up to his monitor, and it worked! How very odd... (As a side note, OMG, geeky guys are so hot! They all had really short/neat hair, most had glasses, those skinny ties, just typical geek-look. Mmmm. Keep your muscle men, I'll take a smart geek anytime -- way big bonus that they can fix my computer!)

So anyway, I Iugged the computer and the can of air home, hooked it up, and it booted! Pictures! On my screen! ...then the noise happened again. Bah. Unhooked it, sprayed air all around inside it, put it back together. Noise is gone (for now?).

So tell me, hardware people, does that make any sort of sense? That dust in your fan could cause horrible, horrible noises?

Comments

[citizenbleys.livejournal.com]

Dust seems like a stretch, especially as the fan was turning. Did you actually try powering on the PC while it was open so you could visually confirm that the CPU fan was moving? On the other hand, if it was caused by dust, that would explain why it worked when you got it to the tech shop--dust inside the case would be relocated/dislodged in transit.

Still, even if the fan wasn't turning at all, I don't understand why that would keep your PC from POSTing at all. Normally it'd POST, maybe even load the OS, but then shut itself down when the CPU started to overheat.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

It sounds like it was starting to POST, though, and since most of her attempts were after she'd had it on for hours, it had already overheated. I'd say it's definitely a fan problem of some sort, though I'm a bit dubious about the dust thing myself. I have dust producing birds of many species and my fans don't have that problem.

I'd personally be prepared to buy a new fan, Thistle, because I suspect you're going to continue to have problems.

[citizenbleys.livejournal.com]

I've had good luck with Zalman, but they're a pain in the ass to install. Better to get it professionally done unless you're exceptionally comfortable installing and removing your own hardware. The CNPS9700 is ace, but I'm still running its larger cousin, the 9500.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info! I was totally ready to pay for some repair, but the guy sent me off without collecting any money (other than the can of air). If it keeps happening (hopefully not!) I'll see about replacing them. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Did you actually try powering on the PC while it was open so you could visually confirm that the CPU fan was moving?

Eh, no. I didn't want to electrocute myself! I unplugged every single thing connected to it before I opened it up.

It's not made the noise since yesterday afternoon, so maybe (oddly) the air did work. *crosses fingers*

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

In the future, all you need unplug is the power cable

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

My computer fan did that, and canned air fixed it. Now I keep a can on the desk all the time. It seems to need re-cleaning every few weeks to run smoothly. Of course I share the studio with numerous cats, so I might be cleaning much more often than "normal" people...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Huh, good to know! Thanks!

[kelen.livejournal.com]

The fans can get so dusty that they become unbalanced. Once they are unbalanced they can start making knocking noises, or other hideous sounds.

Not that I'm sure this is your issue, but airing it out never hurts. You might also leave the case open, and put the PC in an open space. IE: Not beneath your desk, or any confined area. If it's over heating this will help it.

(*Eyes her ugly temp pc which is totally open for the same reasons..*)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info! I'm keeping the air close at hand, and if it keeps happening (especially if it's warm in here) I'll look into keeping the case open.

[phoenix-leandra.livejournal.com]

Make sure you take the can to all fans. There's probably multiple fans in your system. One toward the back of the case. Maybe one on top of the CPU heat sink if it's a good system. Possibly a small one on your graphics card. And last but not least maybe one or two on the box at the top back that connects to all the wires running around in case (your power supply). If you're still having nasty noises and it's not originating from any of the fans, the next possible things may be your hard drive (sometimes if working parts in there break down, it can inhibit the disk spinning and make ugly noises) or your CD-ROM if there was anything in the drive. So take an CD/DVDs out of the drive. See if it goes away. If it looks to be the hard drive, if it'll run, back stuff up immediately. If your system still won't boot, take it back to geek squad and hopefully they can recover what's on it.

Sorry for huge list. And I totally agree. Geek guys are AWESOME!! :D

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

If you are going to do those things for the love of god keep the air can vertical! Often times with them if you turn them horizontal they shoot out this watery bubbly stuff and I'm pretty sure liquids + computer = bad.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Thanks for the info! I had known I needed to keep it vertical, but I was only guessing as to why. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

No need to apologize, thanks for listing them all! :D

[citizenbleys.livejournal.com]

Women who like geek guys must be an American thing. They sure as hell don't exist in New Brunswick =0

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if it's too common or not... but geek guys = win for me!

[doxxxicle.livejournal.com]

/geekpreen

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'd hit on you, but then Ni would hit on me! <3

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

I'm a geeky guy! ... Probably the only reason Thistle still puts up with me >.>

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Silly! I "put up with you" because you're a nice, funny guy! :) <3

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

A likely story!

(How is it that people always figure out I'm nice?! Damn transparent sarcasm!)

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

Noise because of dust is possible, but if it's new, sudden, and loud, it's probably something else in the fan motor that's gotten in there and become wedged. Maybe a bearing?

I think as long as the fan is still turning and blowing air, all is well. If you can get the noise to go away with blowing dust out, great. If it comes back, or doesn't actually go away, it's likely still not hurting anything, but it's probably easy and cheap to replace if it annoys you. If the fan is separate, you can probably find a similar one at Frys, and if it's inside the power supply, replace the whole power supply (usually not more than $20)

And yes, geeks are hot.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it seems like it's gone now (no noise since yesterday afternoon!), hopefully if it comes back the air will work to fix it.

Thanks for the info!

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

oh also, sometimes when I'm vaccuuming, I like to take the hose out and vaccuum out the dust from the fans. Fans that blow air in will usually build up dust around the outside, and hitting them with air can force more dust in. (Not that it's a huge deal, since it's pulling in dust the whole time it's running, but getting it with the vaccuum is slightly nicer than having it end up in your room.

If the fan blows air out instead, you probably won't see dust outside of it, but in that case you may find dust around other air holes, or around the floppy drive in front, etc.