Replacing Dell's CPU Fan

After replacing, under warranty, a Western Digital hard drive that I added
to my system on my own, my Dimension 4500 is much quieter. Now I'm turning
my attention to the CPU fan, which drones.

I read in the Dell Community Forums that Dell's CPU fan has a proprietary
connector which includes an RPM sensor - the famous white wire. Without the
proprietary connector, the BIOS does not recognize the fan and you get an
error on boot. Third-party fans without the connector work great (and
quietly!) and, according to recent posters, the computer works just fine.
But you won't be alerted if the CPU fan is dying.

What's your take on this: Can I only replace my CPU fan with another one
from Dell? Are there third-party fans that are compatible with Dell
motherboards? (With so many Dells out there, you want to think there are.)

Rocky

"Rocket J. Squirrel" wrote in message
s.com...
After replacing, under warranty, a Western Digital hard drive that I added
to my system on my own, my Dimension 4500 is much quieter. Now I'm turning
my attention to the CPU fan, which drones.

I read in the Dell Community Forums that Dell's CPU fan has a proprietary
connector which includes an RPM sensor - the famous white wire. Without
the
proprietary connector, the BIOS does not recognize the fan and you get an
error on boot. Third-party fans without the connector work great (and
quietly!) and, according to recent posters, the computer works just fine.
But you won't be alerted if the CPU fan is dying.

What's your take on this: Can I only replace my CPU fan with another one
from Dell? Are there third-party fans that are compatible with Dell
motherboards? (With so many Dells out there, you want to think there are.)

Rocky



Rocky,

I've probably read hundreds of posts over the years asking about fully
compatible replacement fans (that would eliminate the 'CPU0 fan failure' or
'previous fan failure' message that appears pre-POST after the Dell splash.

I have yet to read of such a fan, and I would think once found, word of any
such fan would've spread through the user groups.


Stew

Sigh I was afraid of that. Thanks, Stew.

Rocky

"S.Lewis" wrote in message
...

"Rocket J. Squirrel" wrote in message
s.com...
After replacing, under warranty, a Western Digital hard drive that I
added
to my system on my own, my Dimension 4500 is much quieter. Now I'm
turning
my attention to the CPU fan, which drones.

I read in the Dell Community Forums that Dell's CPU fan has a
proprietary
connector which includes an RPM sensor - the famous white wire. Without
the
proprietary connector, the BIOS does not recognize the fan and you get
an
error on boot. Third-party fans without the connector work great (and
quietly!) and, according to recent posters, the computer works just
fine.
But you won't be alerted if the CPU fan is dying.

What's your take on this: Can I only replace my CPU fan with another one
from Dell? Are there third-party fans that are compatible with Dell
motherboards? (With so many Dells out there, you want to think there
are.)

Rocky



Rocky,

I've probably read hundreds of posts over the years asking about fully
compatible replacement fans (that would eliminate the 'CPU0 fan failure'
or
'previous fan failure' message that appears pre-POST after the Dell
splash.

I have yet to read of such a fan, and I would think once found, word of
any
such fan would've spread through the user groups.


Stew

"S.Lewis"

I've probably read hundreds of posts over the years asking about fully
compatible replacement fans (that would eliminate the 'CPU0 fan failure' or
'previous fan failure' message that appears pre-POST after the Dell splash.

I have yet to read of such a fan, and I would think once found, word of any
such fan would've spread through the user groups.

Does Dell have a patent on an rpm sensor within a CPU fan? Otherwise, you would
think somebody would market a third party CPU fan.

--
"When you argue with a fool be sure he is not similarly occupied."

See how the pros get their power!
http://www.powrwrap.com/press.htm

That's just the point: With so many Dell computers in existence, we (Stew, I
and countless others) don't understand why a compatible CPU fan is not
available. It's not rocket science.

Rocky

"Alan S. Wales" wrote in message
...
"S.Lewis"

I've probably read hundreds of posts over the years asking about fully
compatible replacement fans (that would eliminate the 'CPU0 fan failure'
or
'previous fan failure' message that appears pre-POST after the Dell
splash.

I have yet to read of such a fan, and I would think once found, word of
any
such fan would've spread through the user groups.

Does Dell have a patent on an rpm sensor within a CPU fan? Otherwise, you
would
think somebody would market a third party CPU fan.

--
"When you argue with a fool be sure he is not similarly occupied."

See how the pros get their power!
http://www.powrwrap.com/press.htm

"Rocket J. Squirrel" wrote in message
s.com...
That's just the point: With so many Dell computers in existence, we (Stew,
I
and countless others) don't understand why a compatible CPU fan is not
available. It's not rocket science.

Rocky



snip

There's got to be a fan out there. Thing is, you'd likely need to
reconfigure the whole darned (dell) housing, as the grommets/bushings upon
which the original fan ride are a nightmare to remove and replace. Or it
would have to mount on the dell passive heatsink or come with it's own
compatible (active) heatsink.

Not unlike powerleap or even the guy selling hard drive brackets for the
Dim2400, if someone would just find and market a third party fan and housing
that would work fully and quietly, he'd sell, well, a million of 'em.


Stew

In article m,
says...
After replacing, under warranty, a Western Digital hard drive that I added
to my system on my own, my Dimension 4500 is much quieter. Now I'm turning
my attention to the CPU fan, which drones.

I read in the Dell Community Forums that Dell's CPU fan has a proprietary
connector which includes an RPM sensor - the famous white wire. Without the
proprietary connector, the BIOS does not recognize the fan and you get an
error on boot. Third-party fans without the connector work great (and
quietly!) and, according to recent posters, the computer works just fine.
But you won't be alerted if the CPU fan is dying.

What's your take on this: Can I only replace my CPU fan with another one
from Dell? Are there third-party fans that are compatible with Dell
motherboards? (With so many Dells out there, you want to think there are.)

Rocky



Just hit f1 and go on with your life IN QUIET

Since it is true that you wont know if the fan really fails, get a good
quality one and just reach your hand to the back of the computer every
few days to make sure it's turning.

Works fine for me.

Louise

Oh yes, I've thought about that! It goes against my grain, but it's
tempting.

Rocky

"Louise" wrote in message
.. .
In article m,
says...
After replacing, under warranty, a Western Digital hard drive that I
added
to my system on my own, my Dimension 4500 is much quieter. Now I'm
turning
my attention to the CPU fan, which drones.

I read in the Dell Community Forums that Dell's CPU fan has a
proprietary
connector which includes an RPM sensor - the famous white wire. Without
the
proprietary connector, the BIOS does not recognize the fan and you get
an
error on boot. Third-party fans without the connector work great (and
quietly!) and, according to recent posters, the computer works just
fine.
But you won't be alerted if the CPU fan is dying.

What's your take on this: Can I only replace my CPU fan with another one
from Dell? Are there third-party fans that are compatible with Dell
motherboards? (With so many Dells out there, you want to think there
are.)

Rocky



Just hit f1 and go on with your life IN QUIET

Since it is true that you wont know if the fan really fails, get a good
quality one and just reach your hand to the back of the computer every
few days to make sure it's turning.

Works fine for me.

Louise

"Rocket J. Squirrel" wrote:

"Louise" wrote

Just hit f1 and go on with your life IN QUIET

Since it is true that you wont know if the fan really fails, get a good
quality one and just reach your hand to the back of the computer every
few days to make sure it's turning.

Works fine for me.

Oh yes, I've thought about that! It goes against my grain, but it's
tempting.

My old boss, the retired electrical engineer cum R/M/A & QA
expert chose a more sophisticated solution than Louise's.

He taped leetle strips of paper to the fan housings, so they'd
blow when the fan was operating.

Of course, in his home office arrangement, he can see the backs
of his computers when sitting at the keyboard/monitor.
--
OJ III
[Email sent to Yahoo address is burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast.]

Yes, you can replace Dell's fan, but you will get an error message. i
have a dell dimension 3000 and I replaced the fan since it was SOOOO
loud. It is a bit complicated, but if you're willing to do it, it
will be succesful. My dell fan had a 3-pin connector, and when I
bought a new fan, it had a 3-pin also, but would not fit into the
motherboard. The dell connector is shaped differently. So, what I did
was I took the connectors off of the dell fan and put it on the new
one. I had to weld the wires together. And it ran perfectly fine,
great airflow.

Now what to do about the error message. It says 'Alert!Previous fan
error. Press F1 to continue or F2 for setup. Press F2 for setup and
there should be something in the bios that says "Report keyboard
errors". Use the arrow key to change it to "DO NOT report
keyboard errors". And its done. The fan is changed, and there is
no error message. That is what I did, and it was worth it after that
loud fan.