While attending last months COLUG meeting a guy demonstrated how to fix computer fans that have died or are dying. This evening I happened to walk by a couple of my old Linux boxes and noticed a loud noise coming from one of them. I found the one making all the noise. It was the CPU fan of my Asterisk server. After additional inspection I found that the motherboard’s north bridge controller fan was not spinning. I remembered the instructions given at the meeting to fix the broken fans so I attempted a repair.
This process will fix fans that are moving slow or not at all. This issue is called a dry bearing and the process to repair is as follows. First, peel back at least 70% of the label on the center of the fan. You should see the center pin of the fan. It is common to see a rubber plug under the label. If this is the case, use something to pry it out so you have access to the center pin. Next get a paper clip and some sewing oil. Place one drop of oil on the paper clip. Using the paper clip to guide the drop directly onto the center pin. Next, rotate the fan blades in its natural direction for a minute or two without tipping the fan in any direction. You should notice it getting easier and easier to spin. That is because the oil is working its way down the center pin. Next put the label and plug back on. This is important because the label may be the only thing keeping the oil in.
I attempted to fix the noisy CPU fan first. However after attempting to remove the seal from both sides, I was unable to get access to the center pin. There was solid plastic with no easy way to remove it. Luckily I had told my friend, Ryan, about the problem and he had brought over an extra fan that fit. So I then moved on to the next fan. The procedure worked great and the improvement in resistance was very noticeable. I put the computer back together and my phone switch was back up and running.
Some people at the COLUG meeting criticized the man for being so cheap that he won’t buy a new fan and why waste time on such a cheap part. He replied saying that it is not always a matter of saving money but convenience. Sometimes when a server goes down in the middle of the night you don’t always have spare parts or local supply stores that are open. Well today I was in a similar situation. My wife was not thrilled that all the phones in the house were down because the Asterisk server wasn’t running. It was pretty late and I might not have been able to make it to Best Buy before they closed and they are not known for carrying a decent supply of fans. By lubricating one of the fans, I was able to save a trip.
After repairing that computer I decided to check some of my other computers. I noticed that my web server’s power supply fan was not moving either. It seems like I need to do more regular checking for faults on all my hardware. I took apart the power supply and performed the same process on that fan. Just as I was done fixing the fan, my wife noticed that one of the capacitors was bulging and very discolored on the power supply. We agreed that the power supply should not continue to be used and will need replaced. However, I had to plug it in one final time to learn if I had fixed the fan, and it ran fine!
I would like to thank the man that did that presentation at the last meeting. I feel bad that I didn’t catch his name to give him credit for this information and I don’t see it posted on the group’s website.