Case intake fan doesn't spin on startup...

[Whackeygrunt]

Hi,

I have a 200mm intake fan that is part of my case at the front of my pc (details below for all hardware involved) and for some reason, as of late, it doesn't not spin when I turn my pc on. I actually have to physically give it an initial light spin with my hand and then in kicks in.

I've checked the cable connection from it to the motherboard and it's fine. It also shows up as connected in the system BIOS.

I can only guess that for some reason it isn't getting the initial jolt of electricity when the pc is turned on to get it going, but it's obviously getting sufficient power to spin continuously after I give it a helping hand and does so until I turn the pc off. It also increases/decreases in RPM no bother when I adjust its speeds in the BIOS via the fan monitoring section.

I've made no changes to the BIOS settings or hardware on the pc so I am at a complete loss as to why its started doing this. I suspected a burnt out motor but that can't be the case if it is able to spin normally after my intervention....

Does anyone know what may be the problem and what I can do to fix it? As it stands I have to take the front panel of my pc and give it a spin every time I turn it on, which isn't massively annoying but obviously it shouldn't be doing this

I use an MSI motherboard, so its their BIOS software.

Case:

Phanteks Evolv ITX Mini-Tower

Fan:

Phanteks ph-f200sp PC Housing Fan (I think it's this one, it came with the case).

Cheers!

 

[dalex]

Plug a known working fan into connection to test, if its fan, try removing fan and spraying WD 40/Gt85 into into, let it dry overnight and try again.
If still no good buy a new fan, if connections no good then look at mobo/power supply, plug into different supply.
Check if fan is PWM or Dc in bios.
Cheers
Dave

 

[EsaT]

Is that case and fan many years old?
Could simply be that bearing is starting to be worn out and fan needs higher voltage to start than originally.

 

[Whackeygrunt]

It's definitely not the mobo or power supply that's the culprit. Everything else is works fine, everything is just over 1.5 years old. Just this one case fan on startup. I need to remove it and try some WD40 or something like you say.

Please explain PWM and DC values in thew BIOS. I'll probably wait until someone more experienced with messing around with voltage settings etc can have a look as I'm not gonna mess with power settings in the BIOS. Maybe I can pass on the advice.

Cheers!

 

[dalex]

PWM = Pulse Width Modulation, meaning the power pulses to the fan saving electricity and lowering the Electro Magnetic field that coil winding's, located in all fans and electric motors, produce, generally the fan starts on slow and ramps up when required.

DC in this case means direct current where the fans receive a constant flow of electricity to remain spinning. Usually start up and remain on full speed.

My money is on fan bearing dirty or on way out, WD 40/GT 85 usually fixes it for another 6 month

Cheers
Dave

 

[LuckyBenski]

Good lord don't use WD-40 on bearings! It destroys them. WD-40 displaces water and other greases, but is too thin to then replace the oil in bearings. It will seem like it worked for a day, then the bearing will rattle as there's no lubricant left. Apply a lubricant like bike chain oil or sewing machine (3-in-1) instead of WD-40.

If you must use WD-40 to clean a bearing out make absolutely sure you replace the oil after.

My suspicion as said by others is the start voltage/PWM duty cycle is too low. Try setting the minimum speed slightly higher for a long term fix.

 

[dalex]

That fan has a floating axis bearing so you will be fine with cleaning with WD 40 then a light spray of GT85 which has PTFE in it.
Might find oil is a bit heavy for this application and spray all over your internals if you are a bit heavy handed with it.
Cheers
Dave

 

[LuckyBenski]

That fan has a floating axis bearing so you will be fine with cleaning with WD 40 then a light spray of GT85 which has PTFE in it.
Might find oil is a bit heavy for this application and spray all over your internals if you are a bit heavy handed with it.
Cheers
Dave

Good shout - hadn't considered the exotic bearings in some PC fans

Put WD-40 in a skateboard or bike wheel and you'll soon know why I reacted that way!

 

[Whackeygrunt]

PWM = Pulse Width Modulation, meaning the power pulses to the fan saving electricity and lowering the Electro Magnetic field that coil winding's, located in all fans and electric motors, produce, generally the fan starts on slow and ramps up when required.

DC in this case means direct current where the fans receive a constant flow of electricity to remain spinning. Usually start up and remain on full speed.

My money is on fan bearing dirty or on way out, WD 40/GT 85 usually fixes it for another 6 month

Cheers
Dave

Good lord don't use WD-40 on bearings! It destroys them. WD-40 displaces water and other greases, but is too thin to then replace the oil in bearings. It will seem like it worked for a day, then the bearing will rattle as there's no lubricant left. Apply a lubricant like bike chain oil or sewing machine (3-in-1) instead of WD-40.

If you must use WD-40 to clean a bearing out make absolutely sure you replace the oil after.

My suspicion as said by others is the start voltage/PWM duty cycle is too low. Try setting the minimum speed slightly higher for a long term fix.

OK, so I THINK I have fixed the issue. At least on this PC session haha! In my BIOS there is a section to control fan speed and you can adjust it based upon system temperatures. I simply lowered the initial temp trigger to what the temp would be when I first turn the pc on (around low 30's) and increased the fan RPM that correlates to that trigger. I assume this has increased the initial voltage given to it as the fan is now spinning on start up and should have no bother increasing in RPM as subsequent, higher system temps are met through continued and/or more intense application usage.

I still have no idea why this issue even arose however as I have made absolutely no changes to the BIOS, or actual hardware changes (not even plugging in some new peripheral) so God knows.... Maybe a power outage the other month?

Anyway, thanks for all the advice!

 

[LuckyBenski]

It could still be that as the fan has aged, its starting voltage requirement has gone up over the margin of where your settings were. That makes a lot of sense and your solution is a direct fix to that symptom, rather than rearranging the whole setup.