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Fun Stuff => CLIKC => Topic started by: thegreatbuddha on 14 Dec 2006, 09:19

Title: Help a noob?
Post by: thegreatbuddha on 14 Dec 2006, 09:19
The processor on my PC has been making this whining/grinding noise lately whenever my CPU useage goes above about 30%.

Keeping in mind that I know just enough about computers to know I dont know what I'm doing, I have 2 questions.

1.  How bad is is this?

2.  Can I DIY the repairs, or is this something I'd have to take to a shop?
Title: Re: Help a noob?
Post by: Jenno on 14 Dec 2006, 11:01
Buy a can of canned air (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canned_air) and spray the shit out of your CPU fan. If this doesn't stop the noise, the cooling fan on your CPU is probably fucked. Depending on what kind of CPU/Mobo you have, when the fan dies your computer will just turn off or the CPU will just melt. Either way, you need to replace it. If your computer is a homebrew box, this should be relatively simple. If you can, open the case, remove the fan (possibly the heat sink as well, depending on what kind of a setup you have) and take it to your local PC parts store; they should be able to help you out.

Note: Keep the computer turned off when there's no fan/heatsink on the CPU OR YOU WILL FUCK SHIT UP.
Title: Re: Help a noob?
Post by: Rubby on 14 Dec 2006, 11:59
Yeah, what that person said.
It's not your processor that's making the noise, it's the fan.
I'm guessing that you just have a bunch of dust in there. The air can thing would probably work quite well, but when I had this problem I just took a fat hand-full of Q-Tips to the inside of my comp and it did nicely.
Just make sure you're grounded before you start mucking around in there.
Title: Re: Help a noob?
Post by: thegreatbuddha on 14 Dec 2006, 12:39
Many thanks and my firstborn son to the both of you.

I don't have any Duster around the house, so i used some q-tips. They seem to have worked, but just to be on the safe side, I'm gonna pick up some duster tomorrow.

I'm learning all kinds of cool stuff this week.  Monday, my sister showed me that the top on my stove lifts off, and we spent 2 hours scouring the accumulated crud of six years of me not knowing any better.  WHOA!
Title: Re: Help a noob?
Post by: Grawsith on 14 Dec 2006, 14:27
Nothing better than cleaning up the grease of a thousand animals.
Title: Re: Help a noob?
Post by: mberan42 on 14 Dec 2006, 22:12
Thousand animals? Let's calculate!

6 years = (365*6) = 2190 days of possible cooking
I cook a lot, about 5 times a week. The other two are saved for leftovers or going out or microwave crap or oven-baked pizza. So, let's say that buddha cooks 3.5 days a week. That's half a week, so...
2190 / 2 = 1095.

So, quite possibly, 1,095 animals!

But, what if he cooked clams or shrimp or ground beef? One clam is one animal, as is one shrimp. Also, I'm sure there's meat from multiple cows in a pound of ground beef.

So let's say 1,100 animals, +/- 150.

...damn, I'm hungry now.
Title: Re: Help a noob?
Post by: Grawsith on 15 Dec 2006, 08:53
I love it when people calculate the most inanimate things.
Title: Re: Help a noob?
Post by: thegreatbuddha on 15 Dec 2006, 14:10
More bacon has been cooked on my stove than anywhere else in the world.

True story.
Title: Re: Help a noob?
Post by: dennis on 17 Dec 2006, 20:06
I actually just take my vacuum cleaner to my computer. It works pretty well. Use the crevice attachment and be careful not to actually touch the mobo or other sensitive components. It's really good at getting the dust.

And to prevent stuff like this in the future, you can get filters for your intake fans.
---
If your fan is making a grinding noise, it's dead. Cleaning it won't help.

Removing your heatsink/fan unit isn't exactly a job for a noob. Take your computer in to a repair place and have them do it. You can easily break your processor if you do it wrong, and putting on a new heatsink involves the art of spreading thermal compound correctly.

Title: Re: Help a noob?
Post by: kokeyjoe on 17 Dec 2006, 20:58
Many thanks and my firstborn son to the both of you.

You're going to make them share your firstborn son?  Not a very nice gift.  At least give one of them your secondborn.

I love it when people calculate the most inanimate things.

The only tasty animal is an inanimate animal.
Title: Re: Help a noob?
Post by: Toba on 18 Dec 2006, 10:44
The only tasty animal is an inanimate animal.
This is where you're wrong.  Oh so very wrong.