I have a Digimate Cube PC with two samll extraction fans at the rear.
Unfortunatly one has almost died and is making a hell of a racket. Without
cutting the wires as there is no socket (this is hardwired) are there
settings I can use to disable it (using XP Professional)
It's very unlikely that XP can turn off the fan, and it might be a bad
idea even if it could. Cooling is difficult enough in these small
custom system designs, if it would've ran ran within parameters the
manufacturer considered acceptable I'm sure they would've cut cost and
noise production by omitting that fan in the first place.
What you might do is lube the fan with high-quality lubricating oil.
Thicker synthetic varieties are best but anything will do in a pinch,
with very light oil or WD-40 types of penetrants being the worst
choices. Just a drop on the shaft will do, too much and it'll run out
over time.
If you've waited too long and the fan has too much wear on the
bearings, oiling it will only be a short-term solution. How short a
term depends on how badly it's worn and other factors like imbalance
and heat. You might crimp on another fan after cutting those wires,
or solder the new and old fan wires together (and of course insulating
them afterwards), or choose a replacement fan with wire-solder-points
accessible when it's label is removed (so you can solder the old wire
to the new fan PCB with no additional insulation or crimping needed
afterwards), or remove the whole board and solder from underneith,
which is more risky but aesthetically preferred.
Of course I'm assuming that the system is no longer under warranty...
if it is, it may not be your problem, though if you have soldering
experience and the tools it might be just as easy to repair as backup
data/pack/ship/setup a replacement. Considering that and also doing
without the system in the interim, I'd probably replace it myself.
If you don't have the inclination to do it yourself you may know
someone that can fix it in a matter of minutes, providing you have a
replacement fan on-hand.
Dave
