# cpu fan erratic..cause?



## asgoodasded (Sep 1, 2010)

i dont know a whole lot about computers so be gentle, lol.

my pc is a gateway gt5473E

so the other day the fan in my pc starts running loud for 2 seconds then dies down, then back up again erraticly and has been doing it every since.

i downloaded that speedfan program and it shows oe of the fans speeds going crazy and the temp for that fan is running high 55-68 c. up and down.

i hada spare fan like the one on the back of the tower, i plugged it in that slot and it did the same thing so im assuming its not the fan.... what else could this be? any help would be great, thanks!


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Make sure the heatsink on top of the cpu is tight and free of dust, it could also be the thermal paste between the heatsink and cpu has dried out and needs cleaned and reapplied


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## Horusrogue (Aug 31, 2009)

If you are swapping fans by using the ON BOARD 3 pin connector and the fan speeds are erratic, its either a power or motherboard problem. 

Any other errors, crashes, problems?


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## asgoodasded (Sep 1, 2010)

i dont know anything about paste! lol... but yes, its the 3 prong plug.. i have a little desktop fan blowing into the side of the tower with the side panel removed... according to the speedfan program its cooled down everything except the one thats causing the problem.

havnt had any crashes or reboots or anythig yet, i was hoping to fix it before those came. its been running a bit slow lately at times...other then that its running fine, just the fan freaking out and the speedfan saying it overheating.


im not sure what to do from here.


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## asgoodasded (Sep 1, 2010)

if its a power or motherboard problem, would there be software that could detect it and tell me whats wrong?


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## Horusrogue (Aug 31, 2009)

asgoodasded said:


> if its a power or motherboard problem, would there be software that could detect it and tell me whats wrong?


Does your bios have temperature and fan speed readouts? Speedfan can and is often wrong. Are these same values shown in the bios?


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## asgoodasded (Sep 1, 2010)

i havnt checked bios and dont know how.....


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Speedfan is for fans. Use the Bios for the most accurate Temp & Voltage readings.
The CPU fan speeding up and down is commonly caused by the CPU overheating.
To enter the Bios. When you first boot the PC the screen tells you a key to strike to enter the Bios. It disappears quickly so you have to be prepared. The common keys for OEM PC's is F2.
Shut down the PC-push the Power Button and immediately and repeatedly tap the designated Enter Bios Key. Once in the Bios there should be something referring to PC Health or something similar.


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## Horusrogue (Aug 31, 2009)

Tyree said:


> Speedfan is for fans. Use the Bios for the most accurate Temp & Voltage readings.
> The CPU fan speeding up and down is commonly caused by the CPU overheating.
> To enter the Bios. When you first boot the PC the screen tells you a key to strike to enter the Bios. It disappears quickly so you have to be prepared. The common keys for OEM PC's is F2.
> Shut down the PC-push the Power Button and immediately and repeatedly tap the designated Enter Bios Key. Once in the Bios there should be something referring to PC Health or something similar.


Post those values that are *as stated above* usually contained within the PC Health subcategory.


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## asgoodasded (Sep 1, 2010)

ok i did the bios and this is what it showed. i looked at it for about 15 seconds and the numbers were changing soi put the ranges of where they were jumping in the 15 seconds i was there.,

smart fan function {press enter}
shutdown temp disabled
warning temp disabled

cpu temp 39 - 73 -44 -66
system temp 26
cpu fan speed 2163 - 3225 - 2454 - 4003
system fan 967- 639- 1132
cpu vcore 1.35v
vdimm 1.82V


hope this says something


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## asgoodasded (Sep 1, 2010)

also, if it matters, i have the side panel off the tower and a small desk fan blowing into the tower to try to keep it cool... but it only seems to help cool the numbers that were already cool in the first place..... just figured it couldnt hurt while its acting up.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Your cpu temp is jumping all over the place and causes the cpu fan to speed up and down this can be caused by a loose heatsink and/or dried out thermal paste. Thermal paste is a compound used between the cpu and heatsink that helps transfer heat.


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## asgoodasded (Sep 1, 2010)

is that the only thing that would cause this? also would that be a common problem? i didnt build this pc, its one of those bundles youd buy at walmart or somewhere.... i think its about 3-4 years old...... is this something tricky to fix? 

thanks again for all the replies you all!


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Its not the only thing that could cause this but its the most common, its not tricky but to reapply the paste you need to follow some instructions.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/instructions.htm

Follow the artic silver 5 instructions.\

First check the heatsink and see if its loose, it must be down tight with very little if any wiggle


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## asgoodasded (Sep 1, 2010)

i tried to wiggle the heatsink, its in there tight, no movement at all....


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## asgoodasded (Sep 1, 2010)

i read those directions, that seems kinda scary, lol././


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Thats a good sign then there is no broken bracket or anything the next thing I would do is clean and reapply the thermal paste, remove the heatsink and clean the top of the cpu and bottom of the heatsink with isopropyl alchhol then apply artick silver5 according to the instructions.

Sometimes cheap thermal compound such as oem pc's comes with dries out and cause the cpu to overheat thus making the fan try and spin harder, if cleaning and changing the paste don't work then its most likely a problem with the motherboard.


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## asgoodasded (Sep 1, 2010)

now im nervous.... problem like need a new mother board problem?


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

asgoodasded said:


> i read those directions, that seems kinda scary, lol././


Well then it maybe time to take it to a local computer shop if you don't think you can do it, we can only recommend a fix for what we think maybe the issue and by all means if you have no hardware experiance and this seems hard take it to a shop


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

asgoodasded said:


> now im nervous.... problem like need a new mother board problem?


well I am not saying that for sure thats why I am directing you to reapply thermal paste first to eliminate that as a possability


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## asgoodasded (Sep 1, 2010)

that sounds good, ill give it a try! thanks again for the help. im just trying to get as much info as i can before i take anything apart because once i do i wont have access to a computer for any further help. 
crossing my fingers!!


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Good luck and please keep us updated


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