Still trying to fix my PSU but I think I'm almost there!

[BrentOnTheBass]

Hello everyone! Some of you may remember me from this post a while back.

(http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2365896&highlight=)

Well I know its been a while but I'm back on the trail. Today my friend brought over an old desktop that he had, I took the PSU out of his computer and tried an external build of my old computer in the previous thread with it. After shorting the power switch it powered on (which my old PSU would not do so apparently the PSU was the problem), the fan spun at a good speed, slowed down and then ultimately stopped. I retried this multiple times with no changes then I plugged the VGA cable in and to my monitor and realized that I was getting this message.

CPU fan error system will shut off automatically.

I have seen a few posts that mention going into BIOS and making the minimum rpm lower so that the fan wont cause the computer to shut off. Is this the best course of action? I feel like this is kind of a "temporary solution" seeing as how if the fan isn't reaching the rpm its supposed to there must be something wrong right? Or is it maybe just because its all old parts?

I try to do as much research on my own as possible but I like to have second opinions from the pros. :biggrin:

Thanks in advanced to anyone who can help!

I'm trying to get into working on computers, hopefully attending community college for it next year, and would really like to learn and fix a few computers.

 

[denis280]

CPU fan error system will shut off automatically.

I would start by checking the heatsink for dust.the fan.and thermal paste

 

[stinger608]

I would start by checking the heatsink for dust.the fan.and thermal paste

Actually that wouldn't have anything to do with the error.

Either the fan is not spinning up to the set speed, as you noted, or the fan is not plugged into the correct 3 pin fan header, or the sensor in said 3 pin fan header is bad.

Depending on what brand/model of motherboard, there are some older boards that had a jumper to disable/enable the sensor on the "cpu" fan header. If it doesn't have said jumper then it is all done in the bios.

Now comes a possible serious issue: If it is the sensor on that board, and trying to reset the bios does not work, then one might not be able to even get to the bios to change the settings.

 

[BrentOnTheBass]

Alrighty, thanks guys! I'm gonna try to mess around with it tonight when I get off work. I did try to see if I had it plugged into the wrong pins but I also cant seem to find any other place it would plug in since the cord is kind of short.

I was wondering if I can change the BIOS seeing as how it shuts off automatically.

If push comes to shove I'll just see if I can take the fan out of of the other computer and try it. (My only problem with that is it is encased in some giant plastic contraption.

Thanks for the help so far guys! :biggrin:

EDIT: I FIXED IT! Like you guys and other things I've read said I had it plugged into the wrong 3 pin fan header... I was plugging it into the case's fan's spot. I just had to flip the fan around thats why the cord was too short! xD Thank you guys so much!