TR Forums

On boot up over the last week or so, I've been getting a message saying a chipset fan is not working properly. Now, I've booted up with my case open and all the fans are going, and they're all seated and mounted, so I wasn't sure if it was something I should worry about...but I had a lockup last night that gave me the same error message, plus a high temp warning...but if all my fans are working, what the heck can I do? I mean, my PC's a few years old but I really wanted to make it most of next year with it, then switch to an HTPC build. But if it's gonna crap out on me now...

If the fan bearings are crapping out, it may be turning too slowly. Typically you'll notice some grinding/buzzing noises when it starts to go, but not always. Take a close look at the fan -- does it seem to be spinning as fast as it should? Can you look at the fan RPMs (either in BIOS or with a fan monitoring tool) to see how fast it is going?

Even if the fan is spinning OK, it is possible that the heatsink is so clogged with dust that the fan can't do its job.

FWIW I despise whiny little chipset fans; they always seem to crap out after a year or two. I modded the mobo in my current system to replace the chipset HSF with a passive cooler. I didn't even wait for it to die (did it as soon as I confirmed that the mobo was good and didn't need to be RMAed), because I knew it would go bad eventually.

I'll take a closer look tonight; I doubt it's dirty because I get compressed air about every 3 months and blow out the case But it may just be turning too slowly...and I have noticed kind of a grinding sound lately too, so that sounds probable. In that event, I guess just taking it off and replacing it should be OK, if I can find a replacement fan (which I'm sure I can).