CPU Fan Died, Why No Warning?

[DarrellS]

My CPU fan died on my Coolermaster Hyper212. I would not have known but I checked my temps and they were a little high. Not high enough to sound any alarms but higher than usual. I looked inside the case and could not tell if the fan was spinning so I removed the side cover and sure nuf, it had stopped spinning. I went to Fry's and bought a new fan and replaced it and everything is back to normal.

My question is, why didn't I get any kind of warning that the fan had frozen up and stopped working? I have BIOS set to warn me when temps are too high or the fans stop working but I got no warnings at all (I understand that it didn't get hot enough for a temp warning but I thought I would've gotten a fan failure warning). I thought the PC would have shut down if the CPU fan froze up.

[redwudz]

Your BIOS should have given you a warning if the CPU fan stopped, if it was set for that. Try this with your new CPU fan. Put your finger in the center of the fan (Not the blades) and stop it and see if you get a warning buzzer.

If not:

Is your system speaker hooked up? You would be hearing the BIOS beep when the system boots.

Do you have warnings for other fans, like the system fan, set? Try stopping one of those.

You didn't get a overtemp buzzer after the fan had failed? You must have a very good CPU cooler or you have the warning temp set too high. Most times the CPU will overheat without a fan within a couple of minutes with any sort of load and the CPU/motherboard will ramp down the multiplier to keep the CPU from overheating. It may still keep running, but at a much slower speed.

I'm assuming you have a three or four wire CPU fan. The first two wires are power and ground (White or red and black), the third is a tachometer output, (Yellow most times) and a forth, if you have it, is for a PWM (Pulse Width Modulated) fan control. (Maybe blue) You might also want to check that you have the CPU fan plugged into the CPU fan socket, not one of the system fan sockets. But that should be obvious. Probably the tachometer lead is the one used to check the fan operation. Usually yellow in color.

You should be getting the CPU fan RPM reading in BIOS most times, depending on the BIOS. You could also try using a aftermarket CPU monitoring program that would alert you on overtemp or fan failure. Maybe Speedfan or similar.

You could also try the freeware HWMonitor program to check your temps and fan speeds. http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php If it doesn't show CPU fan speed, then maybe there is a problem with the MB.

[DarrellS]

I went into BIOS and everything was turned off. I lost a power supply a month ago and it must've reset my BIOS when it started failing. I'll have to go back in and set everything again. I did have it overclocked to 3.2 for a while but I decided to unclock it before the first of the year. I probably won't clock it now but I'll set it to optimized settings.

I assume the reason it wasn't too hot was because the CPU speed was down to 1.6 instead of 2.4 (although I did a couple of H264 encodes this week). I also have two front intakes, a 120mm side intake, a rear exhaust and a top 120mm exhaust fan.

Oh, and the onboard speaker does work. I'll try your fan trick to test it once I reset BIOS but I'm sure it will probably work now.

[redwudz]

With a good enough CPU cooler, good case fans and not being OC'd, it probably didn't get to warm. A stock cooler and an OC will heat them up really fast.

I had a PC that the cooler bracket broke and it would shut down completely in about ten seconds. The cooler was just contacting about 10% of the CPU. Luckily the MB protected the CPU so no damage. The buzzer would come on about the same time as the PC shut down. I was oblivious and restarted it several times before it dawned on me the cooler might be loose. Newer CPUs and MBs have good overtemp protection.

Odd that the BIOS reset with a PS failure. I would assume the BIOS is keeping correct time and BIOS settings or I would be suspicious that the BIOS backup battery is dead.

[DarrellS]

There's something with the Gigabyte boards that causes the BIOS settings to reset to safe levels when there is a problem with the system. When I was experimenting with overclocks, it kept happening all the time until I got it set to good overclock. It would run at 3.6 but 3.2 was the most stable clock. I kept having problems right before the PS went out which is why I took the overclock off.

I tried your trick with the fan and the beeper went off. What has me bumfuzzled is the new fan is supposed to be 2000rpm and I have BIOS set for the fan to run full speed but it only runs at 938rpm.

[budz]

What's the model number of your Gigabyte mobo?

[DarrellS]

what's the model number of your gigabyte mobo?

ga-ep35-ds3p bios f6

[redwudz]

There are other fan controls that may have been activated when you installed the motherboard drivers. Cool and Quiet is one used with AMD CPUs. It regulates the CPU fan speed. Intel MBs have a similar program.

You might try something CPU intensive and see if the fan speed picks up. This benchmark program should run the CPU at 100% for a minute or two and the fan should go to full speed: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/286517-HD-x264-CPU-benchmark-compare-different-CPUs...-the-same-file You could also monitor the temps and fans speeds with HWMonitor while running the test.

You can also select fan control settings in BIOS, but see if the MB automatic programs work first, as they generally lower fan noise and ramp up the fan speed when needed.

I understand what you say about the MB resetting the BIOS when you OC, but it's odd that the BIOS reset with a PS problem, but maybe that's normal. I haven't had a PS fail in quite a while.

EDIT: Yes, that's one of those energy saver MBs. They may have several settings to regulate both the CPU speeds, (Through a multiplier setting) along with controlling fan speed. Really no problem if it works correctly and the CPU can run at maximum speed when performing CPU intensive functions. It should also ramp up the CPU fan speed when needed. You might check in 'Control Panel' and see what your PC power settings are adjusted to. Not sure where that's at any more in XP, but should be easy to find. If you want max performance, you might want to make some adjustments there.
.

[DarrellS]

I ran Prime95 and the fan speed would not increase.

I pulled the packaging out of the trashcan and the front next to the part # and the price says it is 2000rpm, 79.14cfm and 30dBA but the inside paperwork says it's 950rpm, 40cfm and 19dBA. Screwed by Fry's again. That was the worst fan they had in the store. Quiet though.

[budz]

What fan is that? CM R4 fan? Set the cpu smart fan control in the mobo bios to disabled. Then the fan will run at full speed. I have all of mine disabled since I overclock my Q9550 Yorkfield, E8400 & E6300 Wolfdale's.

[DarrellS]

What fan is that? CM R4 fan? Set the cpu smart fan control in the mobo bios to disabled. Then the fan will run at full speed. I have all of mine disabled since I overclock my Q9550 Yorkfield, E8400 & E6300 Wolfdale's.

No, it was a cheap ass fan that the Fry's salesman talked me into getting. I took the old Coolermaster fan with me to show him what I wanted and explained that it was a replacement for my Coolermaster Hyper212 but he gave me this POS.

I have the Smart Fan Control Method Disabled in BIOS to force CPU fan to always run at full speed but the POS fan they sold me only runs at 950rpm instead of the 2000rpm that was stated on the front of the package.

I guess I'll have to pull it out and take it back in the morning. A lot of time and trouble for a $6.00 fan. I would've been better off buying a new Hyper212 for $28 when I was there. The fan that came off my Hyper212 was a A12025-20RB-3BN-F1 with an rpm of 2000, 70CFM airflow and 19dBA noise level. I assume it's this one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103061

Maybe I'll just order it. I could probably use another stick of memory anyway.

[budz]

^^^If you really want a good cpu fan then get a 120mm Scythe S-Flex "F or G" series. It moves lots of air but it's expensive. Newegg carries the "F" series for 20.00 but they don't have the "G" series. I use them on my CM Hyper cpu coolers and CM GeminII S cpu coolers and all the builds that I do as well.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/scsf63cfms12.html

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/scsf75cfms12.html

If you can find those fans locally better yet then no shipping charges.

Another fan to consider is the CM R4 series which Newegg carries but it's Green or Red LED. Specs 90cfm which is good. I have 2 of them but there not in use yet. I got them dirt cheap when xoide.com was going out of business.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103062

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103063

I believe Amazon carries the smoke clear model for $9.99.

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-120mm-Case-R4-C2R-20AC-GP/dp/B0026ZPFDE/ref=sr_1_4...6739601&sr=1-4

Those CM R4 fans are good if you're looking for something inexpensive & does move air well. SVC.com also carries the Scythe S-Flex series and the CM R4 fans that have 90cfm.

[DarrellS]

I just bought a Link Depot fan. It had better stats than everything else they had. I've never had any problems with Link Depot fans.

I finally found the CoolerMaster fans. They were off in the corner by themselves away from the rest of the fans but all they had were 1200rpm fans.

I took a piece of foam and covered the hole in the front of my case. That should keep the hair and dust out of the fan to make it last longer. The last fan was only about a year old.

[TBoneit]

Since the CPU was running at the proper temperature I wouldn't have fiddled with it.

YMMV

[DarrellS]

Since the CPU was running at the proper temperature I wouldn't have fiddled with it.

YMMV

I live in Arizona and it is going to get hot. I'd rather have a fan that is twice as efficient as the one that Fry's sold me. If I decide to overclock again, I'll need a better fan. One reason that the Hyper212 is rated high is because of the airflow.