Rem oil to the rescue

[MadGypsy]

I personally don't care what you do with your shyt and I'm sure you're going to do whatever despite what anyone says or thinks.

Well, you are right and wrong. When it comes down to something I personally believe in, opinions of others are useless to me. This is because I have already proved my belief at some point in life and anything other than agreeing with me is a waste of your time. You wont unprove what I already know.

This is different, I don't know shit about computers in the way we are speaking about them and if I hadn't already resigned myself to get a new computer very soon, I would be heeding your words with great care.

At this point I'm just jacking this thing up to definitely fail at some point cause it isn't until it completely craps out that I can justify a new one. All of my data is backed up to the nth degree. I stopped considering my computer to be a storage device years ago. The computer is just a means to access some portable drive that has the real stuff on it.

I'm such a backup nazi that I cntrl+a,c before I even click send on my posts. You'd be hard pressed to catch me with my pants down. It does happen. It happened last week but, that's the first and last time in many many years.

I also already have another computer (I'm on it). So, barring some epic disaster that spans all of my computers and parts, there is no way for me to even go 1 day without the ability to work/play. This computer has the same shitty specs as the other one, so I already know that everything I do can be done on this one as well.

On a side note, this is day 3 and not a peep from that fan. I check it periodically to make sure it is still spinning. It is. Nothing feels excessively hot either. So even though it's a bit of a gamble, Imma accept that MacGyver award cause I thought my way to this solution with no help from anywhere, regardless if I didn't actually invent this solution...I invented it in the sense that I thought of it without any help or extra data and it works way better than dumping oil in my fan hub.

As far as the dime being off center by even a little bit goes..there is no question that it is. I was very careful and made some measurement and everything, but I'm not a machine and I didn't center it on a microscopic level, so yeah, it is impossible that it is ABSOLUTE center. BUT, I must have it very very very close, cause a noticeable off-center would make the fan wobble, which would create noise, and there is none. I mean NONE. I have to use a penlight or a lighter to even test if it is spinning cause there isn't even a slight vibration for me to feel. Maybe I did get it ABSOLUTE center by sheer luck.

[Phenom]

Having that dime offset by even a slight bit could cause problems if you're "waiting for it to break again"...

It's probably nothing to serious however but if you care about your other PC components you should just replace the fan... the (now noiseless) fan possibly won't give you an indicator when it fails again and could lead to anything from overheating to electromigration(I've waited years to use that word! both of which can cause you to lose data or your whole computer. Just a heads up, I personally don't care what you do with your shyt and I'm sure you're going to do whatever despite what anyone says or thinks.

I've done crazier things to computers then glue dimes to them trust me and sometime the weirdest things work!

Here's a Youtube video of a gold nanowire failing dew to electromigration(Double wammy WHOOP!)

Usually caused from irregular electrical currents

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiEEfUXcRvA

[MadGypsy]

It's not really a boredom thing in that way, cause it's more like, ignore the problem til it starts happening again or something finally breaks. In either case I will just go get a new computer, which I need anyway.

I've set a timer, with a dime and a RAM card that fit in the slot and my computer didn't hate, but it is different in every way to the other RAM card. I got it out the monster computer when I was looking at it's fans. lol

I also didn't pay any attention to the static charge factor or generally give a care throughout the entire process.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Im betting boredom sets in first.

[MadGypsy]

a dime. 1 dime super glued to the absolute center of the fans "hub". The centrifugal force makes it impossible for the fan to wobble and the noise disappears. Note, my computer is very compact and my fan is very very small. Most computer fans would probably need something bigger.

Now you can give me the MacGyver award, cause I made the noise completely disappear with no grease and there is no way for my modification to "wear off" until the fan has reached a new level of garbage. Even then I could just trade the dime for a penny and force the fan to go even longer. It's actually my new project. How long can I make a shitty fan work perfectly with no oil.

This is really just some boredom stuff, cause i just popped a ram card in there that is of a different voltage and wrong type. So, Imma burn up all my RAM. Let's see what goes first. The RAM or the Fan.

[MadGypsy]

I meant that I have an old monster computer aside from the one I want to fix. My current computer is outdated but it is very compact, easily 1/3 the size of of those big bulky ones from 10 years ago. That's actually why I am pretty sure the fan isn't going to fit. I'm still going to open it up and take a look.

[Phenom]

I kind of am in the same situation, except I let the monster out to pasture about a year ago and bought a laptop... the shitty thing is is that my laptop's fan died 4 months into it's life and needed to be returned for repair (since it was under warranty why not).

[MadGypsy]

I have an old monster computer. I need to open it up and look at the fans. I don't expect any of them to fit, but you never know. It wont hurt to check. I'm not cheap or poor. I just want to put that out there. My permanent address is almost 50 miles away. If I can solve this without waiting for shipping or driving 100 miles (round trip) to pick up a processor fan... I'll be happy.

Also, whereas this computer is incredibly reliable, it is very old. I'm undecided to put any money into it as opposed to just waiting a week or two and buying a new one.

[Phenom]

Naaah don't give me the award yet... I woke up this morning and it was making a little noise again. Probably one more day and it will be the same as it was before I oiled it.

I'll probably order a little replacement fan tonight.

You'd be better off using a thicker oil like 10/30 car oil. haven't tried REM oil on my PC fans (lol) but I've had longer noiseless operation with just car car oil, 1 drop does the trick and my fans would usually last 2-3 days, though they would resort to "fan dying noise" about 2-3 days later.

I've done this probably about 4-6 times when I just wanted a fan to shut up while I procrastinated getting a new fan, it's a helpful little quick dirty fix but it will always ends up making noise pretty fast afterwards, the best option is to buy a replacement.

[MadGypsy]

Naaah don't give me the award yet... I woke up this morning and it was making a little noise again. Probably one more day and it will be the same as it was before I oiled it.

Since it is basically junk. I'm going to try some bearing wax that I have for bicycles followed by ordering a new fan. Really, waxing the current one is just a curiosity thing. The fan will be replaced no matter what. I will probably leave the waxed one in until it completely craps out though and have the replacement fan on standby. Who knows, maybe wax will really work for a long time. We're gonna see how long. Rem Oil is apparently too thin.

[JDSTONE]

MACGYVER AWARD!

[MadGypsy]

For anyone that doesn't know, Rem oil is for cleaning/lubricating gun parts. It is a very light oil and it dries very fast.

My power supply fan on my computer has been making a lot of noise recently, so I took my computer apart in order to clean it. Only one problem, it wasn't dirty. There was like 1 lil bitty fuzzball stuck to it's exterior, but other than that it was spotless.

I jiggled it a bit...aha! burnt out "bearings". I mean it's been spinning non-stop for like 5 years. Parts don't last forever. I thought about it a bit. There is no way to actually fix it. To disassemble the fan is to break it and I don't have replacement parts anyway. However, I want to get it to be quiet even if I just dump this comp in a month and get a new one.

Rem oil to the rescue! I squirted a little juice (as best I could) into the only space in the assembly, spun it a few times, wiped it off and put my computer back together. I let it sit for a few minutes in the hopes that it will dry before I plug it back in.

The moment of truth....[power] horrible sound that lasted less than a second and then absolute quiet. "Is it even spinning?" I wondered. A quick check with a pen light revealed that it was in fact spinning... very quietly. A lighter placed by the "exhaust" area revealed that it is not only spinning quietly, It is spinning powerfully.

That's my little story. I fixed (maybe temporarily) a garbage part with nothing but a squirt of Rem Oil.