Fan(s) error.

TromboneAl · 05-09-2008, 11:56 AM

On DW's older Dell Inspiron 2500, she gets the following error pretty much every time she boots up:

Fan(s) error. press F1 to resume, F2 to enter setup.

She presses F1 and everything works fine.

Googling it showed three instances, all related to the same Inspiron. One person said he solved it by replacing the heat sink compound on the processor.

I think I'll just ignore it.

Life_is_Good · 05-09-2008, 12:14 PM

Al, there are often 2 fans on a PC (sometimes more). The main fan is on the power supply which you should be able to see from the side or back of the PC unit. The other is located on or near the CPU located on the system board (inside the box).

More than likely.... one of these 2 fans has stopped spinning and cooling the insides of your PC. If you can see the fan on the power supply unit spinning (without having to open the case)... the other has problably stopped spinning.

The risk to not having adequate cooling is the possible overheating and shorting of components on the board. (Boom!) It's a common issue which is why you see business data centers located inside "cool rooms".

Bimmerbill · 05-09-2008, 03:45 PM

Pop the cover and either blow it out with compressed air in a can or vacuum it out. A lot of times the fan gets gummed up with hair or dust.

You could also boot it with the cover off and see if either fan wasn't spinning.

cute fuzzy bunny · 05-09-2008, 03:49 PM

Desktop or laptop?

Shoot, that must be 6-7 years old, eh?

TromboneAl · 05-10-2008, 07:48 AM

Bought it Jan '02.

As long as it doesn't burn down the house when it goes boom, I'm OK with it.

I can hear at least one fan running. I'll experiment a little.

cute fuzzy bunny · 05-10-2008, 07:52 AM

Unlikely to burn the house down, but computers oughta be cheap for a guy with fancy light fixtures and magic finger beds.

Desktop or laptop?

If its a laptop, might only have 1 fan on the cpu and one for the system.

If a desktop, might have a power supply fan, a video card gpu fan, a cpu fan, and possibly a second separate case fan. Some of the older Dell designs also used one on the PS and one to both cool the cpu and evacuate the case.

You may be able to go into the BIOS setup and one of the setup areas may show the different fans and what their rpm's are.

Or you could try out something like this that can tell you what the temps and fan speeds are...if this one doesnt work, look for some others. Some work with some motherboards and sensors, some with others...

Download SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer

05-09-2008, 11:56 AM	#1
TromboneAl Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 3,505	Fan(s) error. On DW's older Dell Inspiron 2500, she gets the following error pretty much every time she boots up: Fan(s) error. press F1 to resume, F2 to enter setup. She presses F1 and everything works fine. Googling it showed three instances, all related to the same Inspiron. One person said he solved it by replacing the heat sink compound on the processor. I think I'll just ignore it. __________________ - Al -- Always serious, never joking. No, wait. Never serious... Always... I forget.

05-09-2008, 03:49 PM	#4
cute fuzzy bunny Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ... Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: z Posts: 19,933	Desktop or laptop? Shoot, that must be 6-7 years old, eh? __________________ Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon. Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

05-10-2008, 07:48 AM	#5
TromboneAl Thinks s/he gets paid by the post Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 3,505	Bought it Jan '02. As long as it doesn't burn down the house when it goes boom, I'm OK with it. I can hear at least one fan running. I'll experiment a little. __________________ - Al -- Always serious, never joking. No, wait. Never serious... Always... I forget.

05-10-2008, 07:52 AM	#6
cute fuzzy bunny Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ... Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: z Posts: 19,933	Unlikely to burn the house down, but computers oughta be cheap for a guy with fancy light fixtures and magic finger beds. Desktop or laptop? If its a laptop, might only have 1 fan on the cpu and one for the system. If a desktop, might have a power supply fan, a video card gpu fan, a cpu fan, and possibly a second separate case fan. Some of the older Dell designs also used one on the PS and one to both cool the cpu and evacuate the case. You may be able to go into the BIOS setup and one of the setup areas may show the different fans and what their rpm's are. Or you could try out something like this that can tell you what the temps and fan speeds are...if this one doesnt work, look for some others. Some work with some motherboards and sensors, some with others... Download SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer __________________ Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon. Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

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05-09-2008, 12:14 PM	#2
Life_is_Good Recycles dryer sheets Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 73	Al, there are often 2 fans on a PC (sometimes more). The main fan is on the power supply which you should be able to see from the side or back of the PC unit. The other is located on or near the CPU located on the system board (inside the box). More than likely.... one of these 2 fans has stopped spinning and cooling the insides of your PC. If you can see the fan on the power supply unit spinning (without having to open the case)... the other has problably stopped spinning. The risk to not having adequate cooling is the possible overheating and shorting of components on the board. (Boom!) It's a common issue which is why you see business data centers located inside "cool rooms".

05-09-2008, 03:45 PM	#3
Bimmerbill Recycles dryer sheets Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 347	Pop the cover and either blow it out with compressed air in a can or vacuum it out. A lot of times the fan gets gummed up with hair or dust. You could also boot it with the cover off and see if either fan wasn't spinning.

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