Defective fan??

[David_Kwan]

Hi guys so recently I noticed that my bottom intake fan has been acting up lately.

On a fresh boot of the day it would spin fine, but after a while it just stops. I can see that it is trying to spin but it can't; like the blades just twitches non stop.

 

Good news is that after taking the pwm connector out and reconnecting it solved the problem. And it spins perfectly fine throughout the day.

But the problem is that it happens every time on a fresh boot. (What I mean by fresh boot is basically the first time I switch on the PC everyday.)

 

I have found out that restarting the PC works too. After a restart the fan spins perfectly fine.

These are the fans I got as intakes : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KF7O58G/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Is this a common defect for a case fan? Should I be thinking of replacing it? Could this be a hazard for my PC?

If there is no big issue I am perfectly fine just restarting after the first boot, but if this will cause issues I will replace it.

 

Thanks in advance!

[FredyBobJoe]

What motherboard are you using. This could be your motherboard telling the fan to spin slower than the fan is capable of.

[APasz]

Almost certainly mobo fan curve shenanigans coupled with build up within the fan.

Generally speaking fans either work or they slow down then suddenly don't.

[WoodenMarker]

It seems like the signal isn't strong enough to get the fan started. You should raise the minimum fan speed in the motherboard settings for the fan. The minimum rpm spec is 450rpm which should require ~30% rpm to get started but it should be able to keep spinning at a lower signal / rpm after it starts up.

You should also make sure the header supports and is set to pwm instead of dc / voltage control.

[David_Kwan]

1 hour ago, FredyBobJoe said:

What motherboard are you using. This could be your motherboard telling the fan to spin slower than the fan is capable of.

Gigabyte B450 Aorus Pro Wifi.

 

1 hour ago, APasz said:

Almost certainly mobo fan curve shenanigans coupled with build up within the fan.

Generally speaking fans either work or they slow down then suddenly don't.

 

1 hour ago, WoodenMarker said:

It seems like the signal isn't strong enough to get the fan started. You should raise the minimum fan speed in the motherboard settings for the fan. The minimum rpm spec is 450rpm which should require ~30% rpm to get started but it should be able to keep spinning at a lower signal / rpm after it starts up.

You should also make sure the header supports and is set to pwm instead of dc / voltage control.

Pretty sure I set the curve to be the same for both intakes. Will definitely check this out once I get back home. I have noticed that sometimes the curve changes slightly to what I originally set. Is this a Gigabyte thing?

 

Edit: But if it is the fan curve can anyone explain why a restart would fix that?

[David_Kwan]

This is the bottom intake:

This is the top intake:

They both have the same fan curve so I'm not sure what the problem is...

Here is a vid booting the PC the second time after shutting down the PC from the first:

[David_Kwan]

Here is a vid of the fan twitching from the first boot.

 

[WoodenMarker]

2 hours ago, David_Kwan said:

Pretty sure I set the curve to be the same for both intakes. Will definitely check this out once I get back home. I have noticed that sometimes the curve changes slightly to what I originally set. Is this a Gigabyte thing?

Edit: But if it is the fan curve can anyone explain why a restart would fix that?

Gigabyte's fan control can be pretty buggy. I'm not sure about how to fix it other than try it again and / or using the Windows app for it.

The restart seems to start the fans at 100% rpm. This is pretty normal for most motherboards and it's probably not doing the same thing for the first boot.

There's a ~10% variance in actual fan rpm as well so you could try raising the minimum rpm to a bit higher than 30% -- try 35% instead.

[David_Kwan]

9 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Gigabyte's fan control can be pretty buggy. I'm not sure about how to fix it other than try it again and / or using the Windows app for it.

The restart seems to start the fans at 100% rpm. This is pretty normal for most motherboards and it's probably not doing the same thing for the first boot.

There's a ~10% variance in actual fan rpm as well so you could try raising the minimum rpm to a bit higher than 30% -- try 35% instead.

Alright, I'll change the curve and see if there are any changes tomorrow morning when I start it up.

I find it strange that it started acting this way after 3 months of use...

[David_Kwan]

@WoodenMarker It still stops after the first boot. But it is twitching a lot more now. Gonna try 40% and see if that finally does something.

[WoodenMarker]

50 minutes ago, David_Kwan said:

@WoodenMarker It still stops after the first boot. But it is twitching a lot more now. Gonna try 40% and see if that finally does something.

It could also be due to the header. If you haven't already, you can try swapping headers for the front fans and seeing if the problem persists with the fan or the header. 

[David_Kwan]

14 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

It could also be due to the header. If you haven't already, you can try swapping headers for the front fans and seeing if the problem persists with the fan or the header. 

It seemed to be fine today after changing the curve to 40%. Didn't stop after booting up. I will check to see if it is the header by changing fans and setting the curve back to 30%. But overall there seems to be no issues as for now. Thanks!