vezinapotomis

I recently opened up our family computer (not my sig rig) to fix an especially noisy fan. While it was open, I noticed that both fans on the PSU were not turning. However, as soon as both fans are given a gentle nudge with a pencil, they immediately start turning, and are now both running fine. Is this an issue that can be corrected? This system normally sits inside an enclosed cabinet so nudging the fans with a pencil every startup is not really an option. I thought perhaps the fans were made to only run under high load, but after about 10 minutes of an orthos run to test this theory both fans were still dead. Can this be fixed, or is it time for a new PSU? It is a 350W Antec truepower, about 2 years old. This was not just a one time issue either, both fans have almost no dust at all on the blades, so they have likely been not running for almost the full 2 years we have owned the machine.

Donnie Darko

I have an Antec 350W True-Power that has been sitting here on the floor for 2 years, defective right from the factory. Haven't cracked it open yet. But I suspect they are junk.

The fan not spinning until it is "nudged" usually means that a start-up capacitor circuit is defective in larger electric motors. How it works is the circuit alters the phase of the AC current so that the motor "kicks over" from a non-moving position, and once it starts spinning, the phase changes back to normal.

I don't know if these small computer fans have this phase-change circuit, however. I doubt it.

Having said all that, what I would do is try to find a "known good" fan and connect it to the PSU and see if it kicks-on with no problem. If it does, then replacing the fans ought to be a permanent fix.

The fact that it was making unusual noises indicates to me that there is a problem with the mechanics of the fans, like bad bearings or whatever, so even though you can get them to run under "test conditions", if you put the PSU back together again, chances are good that the same problem will reoccur.