Ball bearings rattling problem in the fan...

  • Thread starter Thread starter RayLopez99
  • Start date Start date
R

RayLopez99

Little ball bearings making a rattling sound, like a cicada...comes
and goes, seems to be worse on cold days, and a mild slap on the cover
seems to make it stop sometimes. Does this problem ever go away?
Probably not. Does it get worse with age? That's my question. If
so, I might be tempted to replace the fan, but there's so many screws
and cables I have to adjust to do it, that I rather just ask here
first.

RL
 
Little ball bearings making a rattling sound, like a cicada...comes
and goes, seems to be worse on cold days, and a mild slap on the cover
seems to make it stop sometimes. Does this problem ever go away?
Probably not. Does it get worse with age? That's my question. If
so, I might be tempted to replace the fan, but there's so many screws
and cables I have to adjust to do it, that I rather just ask here
first.

RL
Click to expand...

I'm an expert on that. The cookie-crumble breaks -- or no fun for the
lazy. Good part about it is you'll feel better once you do. Also
read the reviews and get a good fan for replacement.
 
I'm an expert on that. The cookie-crumble breaks -- or no fun for the
lazy.  Good part about it is you'll feel better once you do.  Also
read the reviews and get a good fan for replacement.
Click to expand...


OK thanks--I'll probably get a cheap fan though since this is an XP
machine that is on its last legs...if it runs another 3-5 years I'll
be happy.

And as bad luck would have it, as I type this the cicada sound has
become "permanent". Before it would go away, but today, despite my
usual tricks, it is not staying quiet. Maybe something broke in the
ball-bearing race / sleeve part. I actually have too many fans in
this tower, and as it does not appear to require that many fans I just
might throw away the offending fan and not even replace it.

RL
 
RayLopez99 said:
Little ball bearings making a rattling sound, like a cicada...comes
and goes, seems to be worse on cold days, and a mild slap on the cover
seems to make it stop sometimes. Does this problem ever go away?
Probably not. Does it get worse with age? That's my question. If
so, I might be tempted to replace the fan, but there's so many screws
and cables I have to adjust to do it, that I rather just ask here
first.
Click to expand...

Nobody has ever proved that fan ball bearings fail under Windows. ;)

Ball bearings usually start whining when they become worn. Could
your fan have a bad thrust washer? Sometimes just pulling or pushing
on the fan hub makes the noise go away.
 
RayLopez99 wrote:
Click to expand...
Ball bearings usually start whining when they become worn.   Could
your fan have a bad thrust washer?  Sometimes just pulling or pushing
on the fan hub makes the noise go away.
Click to expand...

thanks. The sound did go away...at least for today. I don't want to
make too many vibrations at my desk...sound might come back. I'll
keep your fan hub hint in mind next time.

Do you have a favorite way of making your PC super quiet? That might
be a subject for a separate thread... I know about hints like: "use
non-aluminum cases", "sound proof foam" but are there super quiet
(titanium?) fans? For my power supply it's so quiet i swear the fan
is not spinning fast enough...but I don't have an overheating problem
(I monitor the chip temperature) so it must be working.

RL
 
RayLopez99 said:
On Mar 23, 10:29 pm, "larry moe 'n curly" <[email protected]>
wrote:

thanks. The sound did go away...at least for today. I don't want to
make too many vibrations at my desk...sound might come back. I'll
keep your fan hub hint in mind next time.

Do you have a favorite way of making your PC super quiet?
Click to expand...

Model airplane engines!

Or the recommendations at www.SilentPCReview.com. ;) (articles,
forums).
 
RayLopez99 said:
Little ball bearings making a rattling sound, like a cicada...comes
and goes, seems to be worse on cold days, and a mild slap on the cover
seems to make it stop sometimes. Does this problem ever go away?
Probably not. Does it get worse with age? That's my question. If
so, I might be tempted to replace the fan, but there's so many screws
and cables I have to adjust to do it, that I rather just ask here
first.

RL
Click to expand...

Oh, you've deifinitely got something loose.
 
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