# computer fans won't turn off



## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

went to shut my computer down and it goes to the shut down screen and my hard drive powers off but all my fans keep running. cpu and 3 case fans.

i have to turn the computer off from the back to turn my computer off.

when i turn it on again from the back the fans come on but i have to push the power putton in the front for my hard drive to turn on.

everything boots fine and i don't have any problem other wise.

i'm thinking my MotherBoard is just shot but could be a windows issue.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

hi and welcome to the forum
press and hold the off button for about 6 secs,to turn off and see if it shuts down
check the shutdown screen is not set to standby mode


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

thanks for the welcome dia :grin: 


i checked the power off options and it is set to power off on shut down.

i held the power button in and the screen stayed on and didn't shut down, but my hard drive powered off and the fans continued to run :4-dontkno 

so i'm looking at my windows desktop but nothing moves and the fans are running. i hit the power button again and it boots from the start like it's 1st starting.

i have never seen anything like this before :4-dontkno


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## gervin100 (Jun 30, 2004)

It could be your power supply, motherboard or maybe BIOS.

Make sure the computer's case small cables are correctly connected to ther motherboard. CLICK HERE this is what I am talking about.


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

yeah i was thinking MB was messed up.

it's almost 3 years old and was a cheap "1st mainboard" to boot :deveous: 

i almost never turn this thing off either so it's not that big of deal :sayyes: 

but this is the weirdest computer problem i have ever seen :4-dontkno


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

gervin100 said:


> It could be your power supply, motherboard or maybe BIOS.
> 
> Make sure the computer's case small cables are correctly connected to ther motherboard. CLICK HERE this is what I am talking about.


thanks

that was something i haven't checked, but they are all in and secure.


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## kodi (Jun 30, 2004)

Try disconnecting one of the wires from the motherboard to the on switch on your case and see if it shuts down, if it shuts down you have a switch that is faulty.


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

so pull the wire going to my power on button?

should i do this while my computer is running?


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## kodi (Jun 30, 2004)

Shouldn't hurt this will be the same as holding the button in.


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

ok i pulled the power switch wire and it did the same thing.

hard drive powers down and the fans continue to roll and pictures still on screen :4-dontkno 

this is driving me nuts to figure out :grin:


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

check apm[auto power management]is enabled in the bios


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

well i don't have a auto power management just a power management.


and the settings for that is - user define - min save - max save


it's on user define.

i also tried clearing the cmos to see if something got changed by acident.

when this started happening there had been no changes in the bios or any other system configurations.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

what about advanced power management


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## gervin100 (Jun 30, 2004)

Clear CMOS, it could be a BIOS thing.


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

yep did that.


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## thirdeye187 (Apr 11, 2005)

Sounds to me, simply by process of elimination, to be a motherboard problem; not surprising if you're running a junk motherboard. Does your motherboard have an operating light? Mine has a green LED at the bottom, near the power switch pins. If so, is it still on when you shut down?

I'd say the fact that the CPU fan continues running is a pretty clear indication that it's not a power supply problem, because its the power for the CPU fan goes through the motherboard (anyone want to verify this?). The fact that the hard disks turn off but the case fans don't makes it even stranger, because both of them draw their power directly from the Power Supply.

Any idea if the CPU is still running as well? I guess that'd be difficult to monitor unless you have an external temperature probe in there...

Do your optical drives open and close?



Angel Dust said:


> so i'm looking at my windows desktop but nothing moves and the fans are running. i hit the power button again and it boots from the start like it's 1st starting.


So you're saying the video card is still sending a signal to the monitor? All (I think all...) newer monitors automatically go to standby when there's no signal. Even my 10-year-old Optiquest 17" CRT does that.

If you're leaving the thing on most of the time, it shouldn't be an issue. When you *do* need to turn it off, you'll just have to reach around back... Inconvenient, not risky. Or you could get a new motherboard 

Strange problem indeed. Sorry I can't help you more. Not exactly an expert, just good with logic. :4-dontkno


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

dai said:


> what about advanced power management



yeah i think that's what they call it in my bios.

but it has the user define like i was saying.


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

thirdeye187 said:


> Sounds to me, simply by process of elimination, to be a motherboard problem; not surprising if you're running a junk motherboard. Does your motherboard have an operating light? Mine has a green LED at the bottom, near the power switch pins. If so, is it still on when you shut down?
> 
> I'd say the fact that the CPU fan continues running is a pretty clear indication that it's not a power supply problem, because its the power for the CPU fan goes through the motherboard (anyone want to verify this?). The fact that the hard disks turn off but the case fans don't makes it even stranger, because both of them draw their power directly from the Power Supply.
> 
> ...



i have no led running on my board  

not sure about the cpu running? i was wondering that myself :4-dontkno 

i'll try to open my cd-rom and next shut down and see if there's power there.

i have a 2 yr old flat screen and when i shut down it keeps the last image it got. so if you power down by pushing in the power button the windows desktop will just sit there frozen.

yeah your right it's not really a big deal to me :grin: but it's just a mystery problem that i have to figure out.

i've built several computers and have never seen this problem or heard about it before.

very strange indeed.

thanks for the idea's though
get's me thinking :sayyes:


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

hey dai

it's called power management options
i checked again but there is no disable and enable.

just user define.


seems everything still has power exept my hard drive powers down.

i went to shut down and went to the xp shut down screen then i heard my hard drive power down. all my fans are still running and my cd-rom has power. flat screen never goes black like it use to, now it just stays at the shut down screen.

that is the craziest thing  

the motherboard isn't getting the signal to shut down but the hard drive is?

the hard drive is part of the board so why is it getting the signal.


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## kodi (Jun 30, 2004)

Go to the control panel/display/screensaver/power/advanced/ power button and make sure that it is not set to do nothing when the power button is pushed.
I am assuming you are using XP


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

yep all set that way.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

i only have one box at the bottom and have it set to shutdown


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## thirdeye187 (Apr 11, 2005)

AngelDust, try setting your power options to Shut Down when you press the power button. It could be that simple...

If that doesn't solve it... :4-dontkno


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## kodi (Jun 30, 2004)

Youve got it set wrong set it to turn off not do nothing


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

i just changed it to shut down nothing just for a test and it didn't work :sad: 

i've always had it on shut down when power pressed.


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

i even took my motherboard battery out last night for 15 minutes to make sure i clear the bios. 

it was all cleared, but still had the same problem.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

that wouls have set your bios to default did you go back in and optimise it
try setting both settings to shutdown


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

i 1st tried shutting down with the default bios options, still same thing

so i went through and setup up the bios the way i like it and still same thing.

i also tried setting standby box to shutdown also.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

found this on a google search 

Received my replacement PSU from OCZ on Friday. With no changes made, I plugged it in and powered the system on. Problem solved. Computer now shuts off normally. Very weird as nothing was changed from the previous Powerstream 520w that would never shut off. Either way, I am very pleased with OCZ's customer support.

this thread went to 4 pages virtually doing the same as we have been doing before the result above


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

dai said:


> found this on a google search
> 
> Received my replacement PSU from OCZ on Friday. With no changes made, I plugged it in and powered the system on. Problem solved. Computer now shuts off normally. Very weird as nothing was changed from the previous Powerstream 520w that would never shut off. Either way, I am very pleased with OCZ's customer support.
> 
> this thread went to 4 pages virtually doing the same as we have been doing before the result above


i'm also starting to think it's a hardware problem.

i'm using a power supply that came with my case and the case itself was pretty cheap :grin: 

it wouldn't suprise me one bit that the power supply is messed up.

thanks for all the help though :sayyes: 

and everyone else who chimed in.


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

update!

changed out my power supply.

everything works fine now.

computer powers off normal.

:grin:


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

All I have to say after reading this thread is o.0


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## AngelDust (Mar 25, 2005)

ok :4-dontkno


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## Domer_und (Apr 11, 2005)

Glad you fixed it...In my experience I've found that when you have strange happenings that seem to be random on unexplained..its the PSU. Especially when they come on without warning!


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