problems with an Antec Sonata

[Micah]

I recently switched to an Antec Sonata case since my old setup was quite loud. Unfortunately, the Sonata has not solved my problems.

My CPU fan is an 80mm Thermaltake Volcano that has a 3-pin motherboard connector. In order to utilize the special "fan only" outs on the TruePower power supply, I bought a 3-pin to molex adapter. However, the fan won't spin if I connect it to the "fan only" out. It twitches at startup, but doesn't start. If I give it a spin by hand, then it will keep spinning, although pretty slowly.

If I just let my computer run, it quickly (5-minutes) overheats and shuts down.

Anybody else have this problem? Anyone know of a solution?
-- Micah

 

[Dman877]

Those fan only connectors respond to a temp sensor in the psu. That is why your fan doesn't run, cuz the psu temp is too low. You need to plug the cpu fan into a normal molex connector or into the motherboard. If it's too noisy, buy a quieter fan or get a fan controller.

 

[Micah]

Thanks for the reply.

I fixed the problem by using a little app called speedfan. It allows me to dynamically change fan speeds for fans connected to my mobo. If I had known about this proggy beforehand, I never would have bought the 3-pin adapters.

Thanks again.
Micah

 

[tracerbullet]

Glad you got it.

In my experience, the twitching is because the fan doesn't quite have enough power to get it started. If you were to nudge it with your finger it would keep spinning after that, but there wasn't quite enough juice to get it started.

On a related note, my Aerogate fan speed controller starts everything at full power when you turn on the PC, and then knocks them all down to the preset levels.