(no subject)

[lethargic_man]

Turned on epicyclic this evening, and there's a nasty noise coming from the fan. Well, sooner or later this was going to happen. I've been lucky so far; I've never had to take a computer in for repair. In fact, I don't even know where I could take it (or, for that matter, how I could take it, with no car).

OTOH, the same phenomenon (though not, to my memory, sounding quite as nasty) happened with phlogiston, my first desktop: it would make a horrible noise when you turned it on, but then as the thing warmed up, gradually the noise would drop away. My father said I had to get it fixed or the thing would seize up altogether, but it never did; at least not before I got rid of the thing.

OTTH, I've had this machine on for quarter of an hour now, and the nasty noise hasn't stopped yet...

Comments

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

The real computer or the laptop? You could shlep it to Hendon on Bell Lane. There is new Computer repair shop. I went there for checking my old computer. I have no car either. I put in a big trolley suit case which might not be the best for it. But you might have more strength. I just did not let it repair because it would cost a fortune. It is so old and bulky that I would rather get rid of it instead of spending more money on it. I need it for networking practice. Since I have a laptop I don't use it that much anymore. Anyway, try the computer shop. I hope you don't need it reinstall the whole thing. It costs £30 per hour for 3 reinstallation £90.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

I don't need any software reinstalling; what I need is a hardware repair. If I get the thing repaired, I'll get the line in socket repaired too.

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

When you know where to go why are you asking? I understand for advice what else you can do but finding a computer shop is not difficult.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

It was a blind moment of panic; once rational thought had established itself (and also the realisation epicyclic was not about to drop dead on the spot), yell.com was a fairly obvious place to turn to.

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

I meant for 3 hours reinstallation. Just checking is free.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Is it the CPU fan or the PSU fan? The CPU fan should not be pretty easy to replace yourself.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

(As for that matter should be the PSU. Replacing the PSU fan might be a bit more interesting.)

[ewx.livejournal.com]

err, "should be pretty easy" or "should not be hard". I think I switch horses half way thru that sentence.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Is this something that somebody so cack-handed it took me an hour to resolder the wires onto a phono socket (and did a botched job of it anyway), whose experience with computers' innards so far is limited to unplugging a CD-ROM drive (and—I'm proud of this—removing a ribbon cable from my Music 4000 keyboard, trimming off the end with a broken strand, and reinserting it successfully on the little spiky connector (despite snapping off both plastic securing tags)), might be able to manage?

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Avoid touching the conductive parts of any electrical component (tracks on circuit boards, legs chips, etc). Common advice is to start by touching (a metal part of) the case to discharge any static you may be carrying.

Disconnect power before unplugging any components. Modern computers are not always off when they're "off".

The heatsink and fan may be hot if the computer has been running recently. Don't burn your fingers.

Don't bend pins while attaching/detaching the fan's power connector and don't drop the screws that attach the fan to the heatsink onto the motherboard. I've had fans that were directly powered from the PSU but it's years since I've seen one that didn't connect to the motherboard.

Replacing heatsinks is IME very fiddly and seems to involve applying lots of force in awkward places (possibly modern designs are better, it's been a while since I've needed to worry about it). If you get it wrong you can cook your CPU, though I've never managed to do that myself. If you can possibly get away with replacing just the fan do that.

Don't attempt to open the PSU (or if you do, get advice from someone other than me).

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Just downloaded and installed lm_sensor, and it said:

it8712-isa-0228
Adapter: ISA adapter
VCore 1:   +1.50 V  (min =  +1.42 V, max =  +1.57 V)
VCore 2:   +2.64 V  (min =  +2.40 V, max =  +2.61 V)   ALARM
+3.3V:     +6.56 V  (min =  +3.14 V, max =  +3.46 V)   ALARM
+5V:       +4.33 V  (min =  +4.76 V, max =  +5.24 V)   ALARM
+12V:     +12.16 V  (min = +11.39 V, max = +12.61 V)
-12V:     -10.55 V  (min = -12.63 V, max = -11.41 V)   ALARM
-5V:       -6.50 V  (min =  -5.26 V, max =  -4.77 V)   ALARM
Stdby:     +2.20 V  (min =  +4.76 V, max =  +5.24 V)   ALARM
VBat:      +4.08 V
fan1:     2860 RPM  (min =    0 RPM, div = 8)
fan2:        0 RPM  (min = 3013 RPM, div = 8)
fan3:        0 RPM  (min = 3013 RPM, div = 8)          ALARM
M/B Temp:    +25°C  (low  =   +15°C, high =   +40°C)   sensor = thermistor
CPU Temp:    +64°C  (low  =   +15°C, high =   +45°C)   sensor = diode
Temp3:       +28°C  (low  =   +15°C, high =   +45°C)   sensor = diode

Yikes, there's a lot of alarms there, and a high CPU temperature (even
though the fan is quiet at the present).

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

So, I powered the thing down, went to buy bread, came back, unscrewed the lid, switched on and... one smoothly purring fan. Typical. I'll let you know when the problem recurs. (Probably next time the thing has a cold start, which is to say tomorrow.)

[snjstar.livejournal.com]

Glad the problem is solved, even if only temporarily.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Ha. Just taking longer to warm up as the weather gets colder, perhaps.

Sometimes a clout can help.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Ha. Just taking longer to warm up as the weather gets colder, perhaps.

It never made any noise beforehand.

Sometimes a clout can help.

Somehow I'm not surprised you belong to the Doctor Who school of fixing things.

Anyhow, switched it on again this evening and it's the PSU fan. There's a second, inactive fan facing into the machine body; I've no idea whether there's any possibility of configuring the thing to use that one instead, or, whether facing in as it does, it would do the job of cooling the machine enough...

[ploni-bat-ploni.livejournal.com]

Meh. That's annoying.

A few weeks ago, the fire-alarm in the kitchen went off for no reason. Screech-screech-screech-screech.

Oh. Yeah. Important detail: it was Shabbos.

So, it was more screech-screech-screech...

Urgh.

I say we revitalise the Luddite movement, then we don't have to put up with this nonsense anymore.