My HP Pavillion has been making a weird sound lately. It started out periodically after leaving the computer on for a while, but now seems to come almost always. It sounds almost like a grinding sound, or something wearing out. I think it is probably the fan, and I searched this site, and said that there is generally three fans, one in the case, the heatsink, and one for the CPU or something else. I opened the case up and blew out the dust, and blew the dust and gunk off the blades of the heatsink and case fans. Now the sound isn't as noticeable, but still sounds off, like one of the fans isn't spinning fast enough or something. What should I do now? Thanks in advance.

Isolate which fan, if any is making the moise and replace it. There 3 catagories of fans. Case fans, which can range from none to half dozen, most likely 1 or 2. PSU fans (power supply) I adon't recommend you attempt replacing that fan/s. Third are fans mounted on the MBoard somehow. This includes the fan that cools the processor but can also include chipset fans and video card fans. All of these require a different approach.

Try isolating the sound using a listening tube of some sort. gift wrap tube is one possibility. Short piece of hose. You get the idea. after isolating the sound post back with a description of the fan for help.

What you could do, is unplug a fan just for a second to see which one is making the noise. Unplug one fan at a time and then plug them back in. If you unpplug them all and you still have the noise you know it is not a fan. If I found the fan to make noise I would take the fan out and maybe just spray some lubericant in it. You would have to turn the fan or blow on it to work the lub into any bearings it has. Then make sure to wipe it clean or blow on the fan with compressed air to get rid of the access lub. The fan might work better than new. Or, it might just be easier to take the fan which is making noise with you to the store and get an identical one.

Never use spray-on lubricant on PC fans. Their bearings generally have an adhesive sticker that can be carefully pealed back to allow you to add a drop or two of light machine oil such as sewing machine oil. This may only be a short term solution and replacement of the noisy fan is advisable as the noise is a sign of wear.

I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

Is there a way of looking in Windows or the Control Panel of seeing how many fans there are, and if they are working or not? I know there are at least two on mine, one is on the case itself, very near where the power cord goes into the computer, another is inside the computer case, and is at the bottom of a tube which leads to the outside. I guess the first might be the power supply fan and the second is the heat sink? I don't know if there are any others, when I had the case open, I couldn't see the CPU itself, it was beneath the disk drives, nor any associated fan with it. I will take a look tonight when I get off work, and try to get back tonight.

tcw82

Some fans can be monitored the fan has to have an extra wire in the power lead and it needs to be connected to a header on the MBoard. Case fans are not usually connected in that way. It isn't something you need to worry about.

fans are cheap.

just go to compUSA or whatever and spend $5 on a new one.

Are the fans generic, or do I have to get a specific brand/model for my computer. Also, since I plan on replacing both, since I can't really tell which is going out, do I need a different fan for each, one the heatsink and the other the power supply?

What is your HP model ? Most HP's / Compaq's
only come with one fan, Which is in the power supply, sometimes there can be a second rear case fan, They are easy to replace...
What model do you have...

There is also a processor cooling fan, which is specialized. The size and CFM are impartant to properly cool the CPU.

Why don't you determine what is wrong before you explore every possibility.