My cpu fan in the last few days is making noises it sounds like When the wires connecting to it are hitting the fan as it spins the fan is the stock amd fan for my 2000+ xp. oddly after moving the wires well away from the fan .It still makes the same noise i dont get it ? after awhile the fan gets quieter.Is the fan suspect to fail? what do i do ? right now the fan is normal but when i turned the computer on about 10 mins ago it was making the noises. Cheers Andy

Fans are cheap, if you know its broken then replace it. Try taking the fan off the heatsink (the fan, not the heatsink!), hold it in your hand (keep fingers away from blades), then turn on your computer for a couple of minutes or so. Listen for the noise, if it's gone then there must be a vibration coming from between the heatsink and the cpu fan (when mounted). If the sound is still there, then replace the fan. You could oil the bearings, but that to me seems like a short term solution. You're better off getting a new fan. FYI, don't leave the computer on too long while you do this. I reccomend going into your bios after you turn the computer on, then open your PC Health option and keep an eye on your cpu temp. Your CPU will not fry from this 2 minute experiment.

IMO the fan is going to hell...replace it now.

I had this problem last about 6 months. Fed up with it I gave the back of my comp a good whack(not near the vid card), and to my surprise it stopped. I too checked the wires as it sounded like thats what it was, but it didn't help. I wouldn't reccomend this solution for the obvious reason, and on a side note my system fan has ceased to function. This is the system fan and not the CPU fan, but still...hint hint at the above post...

Cheers guys! gonna replace fan i dont think i'll try the 2 minute test

If any fan (or disc for that matter) becomes niosy it is almost certainly a warning that it is starting to fail. It is best to replace soonest, as give thought to the cost should failure occur - possibly a burnt out psu or mobo, or all hdd data lost. After all items are not that expensive, especially when compared to suffering a failure. Good luck - Keep us posted.

For anybody still following this post . I only recently found out that the noise was actually coming from the Northbridge fan sheesh i thought it was the cpu fan but after a more thorough investigation i found the actual fan causing the problem ,i had overlooked the fact it was the Nb fan as when i was fiddling with the cpu fan the noise would sometimes stop.the board is a ga-7va i replaced it with an old fan from a thermaltake orb i had lying around for now. and again cheers everyone!