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.... coming from my older (2004-vintage) Shuttle. Felt the case, and it was
hotter than I’d ever known it to be before. Opened it up, and something
rather interesting had happened to the fan on the graphics card: it had
wedged itself at an angle so it was no longer capable of spinning.

On 3/10/2010 11:27 p.m., Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
> ... coming from my older (2004-vintage) Shuttle. Felt the case, and it was
> hotter than I’d ever known it to be before. Opened it up, and something
> rather interesting had happened to the fan on the graphics card: it had
> wedged itself at an angle so it was no longer capable of spinning.

Having had fans fail on two nVidia graphics cards, in my latest system I opted
for a fan-less card. Nice and quiet too.

On Oct 4, 10:03 am, Gib Bogle <g.bo...@auckland.no.spam.ac.nz> wrote:
> On 3/10/2010 11:27 p.m., Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>
> > ... coming from my older (2004-vintage) Shuttle. Felt the case, and it was
> > hotter than I’d ever known it to be before. Opened it up, and something
> > rather interesting had happened to the fan on the graphics card: it had
> > wedged itself at an angle so it was no longer capable of spinning.
>
> Having had fans fail on two nVidia graphics cards, in my latest system I opted
> for a fan-less card. Nice and quiet too.

You can never have too many fans:
http://i51.tinypic.com/mr94ee.jpg

In message <i89lpm$804$>, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

> ... the fan ... had wedged itself at an angle so it was no longer capable
> of spinning.

And that was a replacement graphics card; I had taken out the previous one
because it had developed a noisy fan.

Well, the old card is back in again. It seemed to be working OK yesterday,
but today the fan has stopped spinning. I can spin it up by hand, but then
it gets noisy, and stops after a while.

I think I’ll leave the cover off for now, just in case I’m heading for
another burning-plastic incident...

On 4/10/2010 1:49 p.m., Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
> In message<i89lpm$804$>, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>
>> ... the fan ... had wedged itself at an angle so it was no longer capable
>> of spinning.
>
> And that was a replacement graphics card; I had taken out the previous one
> because it had developed a noisy fan.
>
> Well, the old card is back in again. It seemed to be working OK yesterday,
> but today the fan has stopped spinning. I can spin it up by hand, but then
> it gets noisy, and stops after a while.
>
> I think I’ll leave the cover off for now, just in case I’m heading for
> another burning-plastic incident...

I bought little fans from Dick Smith and tied them on top of the failed fans on
my nVidia cards. They are still working a few years later. A cheap fix.

In message <i8b916$bff$>, Gib Bogle wrote:

> I bought little fans from Dick Smith and tied them on top of the failed
> fans on my nVidia cards. They are still working a few years later. A
> cheap fix.

How are the fans powered?

What about a strategic spray of CRC?

In message <i8bce3$84q$>, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

> What about a strategic spray of CRC?

I tried it, figuring what have I got to lose.

And verily, it spins! And with minimal noise, too!

I’ll keep monitoring it the rest of today, maybe even overnight. If it’s
still working at the end of that, I’ll declare success.

On 4/10/2010 2:59 p.m., Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
> In message<i8b916$bff$>, Gib Bogle wrote:
>
>> I bought little fans from Dick Smith and tied them on top of the failed
>> fans on my nVidia cards. They are still working a few years later. A
>> cheap fix.
>
> How are the fans powered?

I just transferred the power cable from the original fan to the bolt-on one.

On 4/10/2010 4:12 p.m., Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
> In message<i8bce3$84q$>, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>
>> What about a strategic spray of CRC?
>
> I tried it, figuring what have I got to lose.
>
> And verily, it spins! And with minimal noise, too!
>
> I’ll keep monitoring it the rest of today, maybe even overnight. If it’s
> still working at the end of that, I’ll declare success.


CRC seems to make them bind after a short time, as does wd40.

Had the best luck with silicone spray, but even that wears off pretty
quickly.

Somewhere on teh intarwebs Richard wrote:
> On 4/10/2010 4:12 p.m., Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>> In message<i8bce3$84q$>, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>
>>> What about a strategic spray of CRC?
>>
>> I tried it, figuring what have I got to lose.
>>
>> And verily, it spins! And with minimal noise, too!
>>
>> I'll keep monitoring it the rest of today, maybe even overnight. If
>> it's still working at the end of that, I'll declare success.
>
>
> CRC seems to make them bind after a short time, as does wd40.
>
> Had the best luck with silicone spray, but even that wears off pretty
> quickly.

Agreed. CRC is for freeing up 'frozen' parts only, not a lubricant per se.

I use a drop or two of Castrol VMX manual transmission oil, usually *before*
the fan gets to the siezed-up stage. Often I use it pre-emptively, before
fans show signs of trouble. However I've used it with great success on
siezed fans also, you just usually have to 'work it in there' by manually
turning the fan for a while.

I use it on the fan bearings of any laptops that I happen to have apart,
simply as a maintenance measure, as well as all readilly accessable fans in
desktops that I 're-build' before they go out the door. I find that it
prolongs the life of those little fans considerable, almost to the extent
that a small squeeze-bottle of the stuff is a must-have for anyone who works
with computer / laptop repair and maintenance.
--
Shaun.

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also
into you." Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche