CPU Fan Stuck on Maximum

I just got a Thermaltake Polo735 which comes with a speed controller.
Initially the controler slowed the fan down a little but it was
intermitant. Now the fan is stuck on full speed - and is bloody noisy.
The fan was originaly attached diectly to the PSU. I have made a
slight mod and have it now connected the the fan pins on the
motherboard. The fan controler still makes no diffrence with the fan
stuck on full speed. Does it just sound like a flakey fan and should I
send the fan back for a replacement? Does any one have experience with
refunds(in Australia)?

Justin

Perhaps the fan controller simply went out. 99.9% of CPU fans will slow
down given lower voltage. The chances of a bad fan not slowing down,
or stopping due to lower voltage from the motherboard are very low.

In any case, I would first check the temps of the CPU.
Perhaps the thing is so hot, in the BIOS worldview, there is no other speed.
And speaking of the BIOS.... does it have, and have you used the settings
in the BIOS for some measure of control of the CPU fan?

I suppose it could be the motherboard but most boards I've seen with
a blown fan header lose all voltage on the connector.


On 7 Nov 2004 15:33:48 -0800, (Justin) wrote:

I just got a Thermaltake Polo735 which comes with a speed controller.
Initially the controler slowed the fan down a little but it was
intermitant. Now the fan is stuck on full speed - and is bloody noisy.
The fan was originaly attached diectly to the PSU. I have made a
slight mod and have it now connected the the fan pins on the
motherboard. The fan controler still makes no diffrence with the fan
stuck on full speed. Does it just sound like a flakey fan and should I
send the fan back for a replacement? Does any one have experience with
refunds(in Australia)?

Justin
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Initialy the fan controller made a diffrence - slowing things down,
but not anymore. The fan came with 2 different dial controlers and
both have no efect now.

The CPU temp is comming up as 41 to about 45 degrees C.

Maybe the actual mechanism in the fan going to the controler is
shorting and keeping the fan on maxium?

If I enable the CPU "smart fan control" in the bios this seems to clow
things down a little - though the bios says if it is over 40 it will
put the fan on maximum. The fan is now running at 4440 RPM.

I don't think it is the motherboard as the fan is on max even when
connected directly to the power supply and not via the motherboars.

Justin

(Overlord) wrote in message ...
Perhaps the fan controller simply went out. 99.9% of CPU fans will slow
down given lower voltage. The chances of a bad fan not slowing down,
or stopping due to lower voltage from the motherboard are very low.

In any case, I would first check the temps of the CPU.
Perhaps the thing is so hot, in the BIOS worldview, there is no other speed.
And speaking of the BIOS.... does it have, and have you used the settings
in the BIOS for some measure of control of the CPU fan?

I suppose it could be the motherboard but most boards I've seen with
a blown fan header lose all voltage on the connector.


On 7 Nov 2004 15:33:48 -0800, (Justin) wrote:

I just got a Thermaltake Polo735 which comes with a speed controller.
Initially the controler slowed the fan down a little but it was
intermitant. Now the fan is stuck on full speed - and is bloody noisy.
The fan was originaly attached diectly to the PSU. I have made a
slight mod and have it now connected the the fan pins on the
motherboard. The fan controler still makes no diffrence with the fan
stuck on full speed. Does it just sound like a flakey fan and should I
send the fan back for a replacement? Does any one have experience with
refunds(in Australia)?

Justin
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admin@localhost
abuse@localhost
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I suspect the fan controller crapped out.

Since the CPU temp is above it's max fan speed, connected to the
MB, the controller would be the only thing slowing it down, and it's not.

More likely the external fan controller has shorted out across the pot.

MB vs PS is as follows;

Since the controller is shorted (tuner cleaner might - Might fix it),
the only controlling influence on the fan is the MB. And since the
CPU temps are so high, the MB isn't even trying to slow the fan.

The standard connection to the PS is Going to run the fan at full speed.
The PS is feeding the fan 12 volts. When connected to the MB (with the
temps lower), the MB slows the fan by cutting the voltage going to it.

Pull the fan controller and put a meter across it. it's shorted and not
dropping the supply voltage to the fan. You can use tuner cleaner on/in
it to possibly dislodge whatever is in it shorting it, or replace it. Depending
on what is shorting it, you might possibly rewire it to make it work.

Or, you can replace the fan with a quieter fan that will still run flat out.

Or, replace the fan with a higher airflow fan. When the higher airflow cools
the CPU below 40°C, the MB will finally slow the fan by cutting it's voltage back.

Pull the heatsink, clean CPU and HS, carefully reapply thermal paste and
reinstall the HS/fan. Better heat transfer to the heatsink will cool the CPU
better and possibly drop the temps below the BIOS limit of 40°C so the MB
will once again drop the fan voltage/speeds. Better case airflow will also
help lower the CPU temps.

If you just don't want to do these......
You can hook the fan to the PS lines but crosswire them to produce 7 volts
going to the CPU fan. It's not really reccommended for a CPU fan but if your
sanity is in the balance......
On the standard 4pin molex connector from the PS, the 2 black inner wires are
grounds. The yellow wire is +12volts and the red wire is +5volts.
Your ran sucks the yellow wire and a black ground for +12volts because the
difference between +12 and 0 is +12volts.
If you swap the wires on the connector for the fan so it sucks at the yellow and
red wire, you will be running the fan at +7volts; the difference between
+12 and +5 = +7volts.

However it's not reccommended as some fans require the +12volt kick to start
them spinning and your fan may not initially start at all. Also your present fan/
HS/thermal paste is already struggling and still can't get below the 40°C limit.
If the fan runs on +7volts from the PS, the temps aren't going anywhere but up.

Quieter but very risky; your choice.


On 9 Nov 2004 18:27:41 -0800, (Justin) wrote:

Initialy the fan controller made a diffrence - slowing things down,
but not anymore. The fan came with 2 different dial controlers and
both have no efect now.

The CPU temp is comming up as 41 to about 45 degrees C.

Maybe the actual mechanism in the fan going to the controler is
shorting and keeping the fan on maxium?

If I enable the CPU "smart fan control" in the bios this seems to clow
things down a little - though the bios says if it is over 40 it will
put the fan on maximum. The fan is now running at 4440 RPM.

I don't think it is the motherboard as the fan is on max even when
connected directly to the power supply and not via the motherboars.

Justin

(Overlord) wrote in message ...
Perhaps the fan controller simply went out. 99.9% of CPU fans will slow
down given lower voltage. The chances of a bad fan not slowing down,
or stopping due to lower voltage from the motherboard are very low.

In any case, I would first check the temps of the CPU.
Perhaps the thing is so hot, in the BIOS worldview, there is no other speed.
And speaking of the BIOS.... does it have, and have you used the settings
in the BIOS for some measure of control of the CPU fan?

I suppose it could be the motherboard but most boards I've seen with
a blown fan header lose all voltage on the connector.


On 7 Nov 2004 15:33:48 -0800, (Justin) wrote:

I just got a Thermaltake Polo735 which comes with a speed controller.
Initially the controler slowed the fan down a little but it was
intermitant. Now the fan is stuck on full speed - and is bloody noisy.
The fan was originaly attached diectly to the PSU. I have made a
slight mod and have it now connected the the fan pins on the
motherboard. The fan controler still makes no diffrence with the fan
stuck on full speed. Does it just sound like a flakey fan and should I
send the fan back for a replacement? Does any one have experience with
refunds(in Australia)?

Justin
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Justin wrote:

Initialy the fan controller made a diffrence - slowing things down,
but not anymore. The fan came with 2 different dial controlers and
both have no efect now.

The CPU temp is comming up as 41 to about 45 degrees C.

Maybe the actual mechanism in the fan going to the controler is
shorting and keeping the fan on maxium?

If I enable the CPU "smart fan control" in the bios this seems to clow
things down a little - though the bios says if it is over 40 it will
put the fan on maximum. The fan is now running at 4440 RPM.

I don't think it is the motherboard as the fan is on max even when
connected directly to the power supply and not via the motherboars.

All this talk of the motherboard... I can't figure out how you've got it
connected up.

The instructions say there's one wire to the motherboard for RPM monitoring
and if that's what you've done then it doesn't matter one bit what the
motherboard 'smart fan control' does as the fan isn't connected to it.

You can also only use one controller OR the temp sensor, not both.

And, according to Thermaltake's spec sheet, maximum speed is 5500 RPM, not
4400, so it isn't on max.

Justin

(Overlord) wrote in message ...

Perhaps the fan controller simply went out. 99.9% of CPU fans will slow
down given lower voltage. The chances of a bad fan not slowing down,
or stopping due to lower voltage from the motherboard are very low.

In any case, I would first check the temps of the CPU.
Perhaps the thing is so hot, in the BIOS worldview, there is no other speed.
And speaking of the BIOS.... does it have, and have you used the settings
in the BIOS for some measure of control of the CPU fan?

I suppose it could be the motherboard but most boards I've seen with
a blown fan header lose all voltage on the connector.


On 7 Nov 2004 15:33:48 -0800, (Justin) wrote:


I just got a Thermaltake Polo735 which comes with a speed controller.
Initially the controler slowed the fan down a little but it was
intermitant. Now the fan is stuck on full speed - and is bloody noisy.
The fan was originaly attached diectly to the PSU. I have made a
slight mod and have it now connected the the fan pins on the
motherboard. The fan controler still makes no diffrence with the fan
stuck on full speed. Does it just sound like a flakey fan and should I
send the fan back for a replacement? Does any one have experience with
refunds(in Australia)?

Justin

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On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 04:04:23 GMT, (Overlord)
wrote:

You can hook the fan to the PS lines but crosswire them to produce 7 volts
going to the CPU fan. It's not really reccommended for a CPU fan but if your
sanity is in the balance......

thats because of the RPM readings wire, solution on my site under
electronics ...

On the standard 4pin molex connector from the PS, the 2 black inner wires are
grounds. The yellow wire is +12volts and the red wire is +5volts.
Your ran sucks the yellow wire and a black ground for +12volts because the
difference between +12 and 0 is +12volts.
If you swap the wires on the connector for the fan so it sucks at the yellow and
red wire, you will be running the fan at +7volts; the difference between
+12 and +5 = +7volts.

have to be taken also care (like I mentioned before) if wanna having
RPM readings with 3wire fans ..

However it's not reccommended as some fans require the +12volt kick to start
them spinning and your fan may not initially start at all. Also your present fan/
HS/thermal paste is already struggling and still can't get below the 40? limit.
If the fan runs on +7volts from the PS, the temps aren't going anywhere but up.

the kick start problem is resolvable (also there on my site) & temps
do not jump up very much if the air flow is decently made ...
--
Regards, SPAJKY ®
& visit my site @ http://www.spajky.vze.com
"Tualatin OC-ed / BX-Slot1 / inaudible setup!"
E-mail AntiSpam: remove ##

1) Clean out the heatsink re fluff
---- particularly if the heatsink has thin-fins of tight density
---- airflow obstruction is & will be a major problem for laptop skived copper HSF
2) Does sound like your fan controller is not working correctly
---- however it could also be the heatsink is no longer seated correctly

You could try reversing the modification you have performed:
o If the fan was powered by the PSU, was the PSU regulating fan rpm
---- specifically was the PSU temperature controlling the fan
o If the fan is connected to the m/b, is the fan header working correctly
---- substituting another fan in its place may be a test worth doing

If the machine cold-boots, and the fan is temperature controlled by the
motherboard then it should start off at a lower setting. Might be worth
checking the BIOS settings carefully, the heatsink fitment & other temp
readings (using say MBM5 or other temperature utilities).
--
Dorothy Bradbury
www.dorothybradbury.co.uk for quiet Panaflo & NMB fans