"System fan has failed" (stupid computer, I can see it spinning!)

S

starhawk

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
8,908
Having yet another argument with yet another computer.

System is a Compaq Presario SR2173WM. Put in a better CPU (stock is a 3500+, now replaced with a 3800+, maybe soon I'll be able to afford a 5000+ that works... I have one that doesn't...) and a Thermaltake Blue Orb II.

Upon bootup I am greeted with this lovely message:
System fan has failed! [...] Press F2 to continue.
Click to expand...

WHICH IS A LARGE TRUCKLOAD OF FRESH FRAGRANT BULLSHIT. I can see the Blue Orb II twirling away, as I've not put the lid back on. My hunch is that, because the Blue Orb II is freaking HUGE the RPMs are way low and the board is too bloody damn stupid to realize that it's just got a bigger cooler tacked on it.

Is there a simple and easy way to tell this computer it's full of crap? or do I need to give in and get a different heatsink (which will make me :( )?
 
I had that on quite a few boards of that era. The problem is the BIOS assumes that the fan needs to be spinning at 2500 RPM (or similar) to be working. Some BIOSes allowed to reset the minimum or disable the warning so that I could use fans the spin at 900 RPM when the CPU was cool.
 
Methinks you should be able to tell the BIOS to ignore the fan?

Even if it's a 'Compaq' labeled BIOS there should be some way to disable fan/temp monitoring.
 
Can't seem to find it. There's no "PC Health" setting in the BIOS for this POS, at least that I can find. Oh, and it's a proprietary BIOS -- not Award or Phoenix or AMI. HP Compaq in-house job. Fun.

I'll look a little closer though... and if I can get non-blurry photos (hooked up to a CRT right now, so that's a challenge), I'll take a few pix of the screens.
 
It might not be an obvious setting.

Could it also be that your HSF isn't plugged into the specific CPU fan header? I was bitten by this once or twice through the years.
 
Proper header was the first thing I checked ;)

Here, have some pictures... and then an idea I had. Also: duuuuh, says "Phoenix - AwardBIOS" right at the top. Still, it's not a /standard/ PhoenixBIOS...

83dkUWc.jpg

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q99BMCZ.jpg

fSIYyVh.jpg

3zpRFUx.jpg


...and the idea: I've got a case fan in this box as well. Right now it's a LOUD AS FUCK Yate Loon with no RPM line. Maybe what I might do is play a little "April Fool's" joke on the Compaq, and stick in a quieter fan, running it as the CPU fan... and then just put the gigantic-ass Blue Orb II on a 3pin->Molex adapter? or would that be a bad thing?
 
Have you accidentally got the fan plugged in the wrong way around? (BTDT...) Have you checked for a BIOS update?
 
Fan is plugged in correctly -- it glows and spins, IIRC it would not do that if plugged in backwards...

I don't think there WAS a BIOS update for this system... I know I can download a replacement BIOS but I don't know if it's the original or not. It's from 2007, and requires an install of Vista. I don't have a Vista CD of any kind, because it's Vista.

EDIT: would it seriously be OK to put the CPU fan header out to a case fan, and just have the Blue Orb II on full blast?
 
just rig a faster fan up to that header, or leave it alone. personally i'd just leave it.. but i keep my pc on 24/7.
 
OK, that's what I'll do then -- case fan -> mobo header, CPU fan -> molex adapter -> PSU.

Probably be quieter that way anyways.
 
...of course, the only fans this case will take are 92mm, and the only 3pin 92mm fan I have is not fast enough for the BIOS... aargh...
 
Ghetto mod, use the too big but fast enough fan laying flat in a empty drive bay, prop it so it won't rattle, bios is happy.
 
Probably not. The spare drive bays are full of PSU cable!

More likely I'll rig up a fan adapter out of cardboard...
 
Made the cardboard fan adapter, then found out all my 80mm fans were too slow. Adapted it for 70mm fans, so I could use the one on the HSF that was replaced by the Blue Orb II (it said "754 SEMPRON" on the side, which I didn't think was a good thing) -- and the cord for the fan just isn't long enough.

Looks like I'll be buying a 3pin extension cord for this...
 
Figured it out.

"Charlie Brown, you blockhead!"

There are TWO fan headers on this motherboard, SYS_FAN1 and CPU_FAN1. (You should see it coming.)

Both have to have fans plugged in to them for the system to boot without error messages.

Fixed.
 
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