Suspect PWM fan failure on Xbox One X... should I just replace the fan?

[thewelshbrummie]

My Xbox One X has been having fan issues for the last 2 years, since Christmas 2021 (purchased summer 2019). But it's been a manageable problem until this August, in that so long as I never powered down or reset my Xbox it would run for months on end without issue. The problem was that rebooting the console manually would cause the fan to just stop spinning and my Xbox would overheat very quickly (automatic updates for some reason weren't a problem). Electricity being very cheap where I am meant I haven't worried about it for months.

 

That was until July, when the same thing happened. Left it for a month and it didn't resolve the problem (unplugging it for 3-4 weeks usually got the fan to start working again).

 

I suspect that a PWM issue is the cause but I'm just wondering if the best option at this point is to just replace the fan.

 

Suggestions?

[kb5zue]

Take the cheaper route of the two.  At this time I would think that would be replacing the fan.  If you do that first and the  problem disappears, then great and then at least you know it wasn't the expensive road to take.  Process of elimination.

 

If the fan does NOT fix the problem, then you at least know the direction you need to take and you're only out the cost of the fan to figure out the problem.  But the fan probably needed replacing anyway because of age.

 

Take Care and Good Luck.

 

[flibberdipper]

Where I'm a special breed of stupid, I would look into something like the NF-FC1 and see if it's the fan failing or the Xbox doing Xbox things. If it's just the Xbox having problems you could theoretically just build a USB voltage step-up converter for the controller and just treat it like a PS5: one idle speed for just dickin about, and one load speed for gaming (which would probably be less distracting than how the XB1X does its fan control anyways).

 

On 11/29/2023 at 12:21 AM, thewelshbrummie said:

automatic updates for some reason weren't a problem

So fun fact: The Xbox One/Series consoles will perform nightly updates (mine do it at about 3AM), and at least for the XBSX the fan never turns on, and I don't recall my XB1X doing it either. Now that my XB1X has an SSD in it I never hear it kick on in the morning, whereas I do hear the XBSX since it has an external HDD.

[BigRed1]

On 11/29/2023 at 12:21 AM, thewelshbrummie said:

My Xbox One X has been having fan issues for the last 2 years, since Christmas 2021 (purchased summer 2019). But it's been a manageable problem until this August, in that so long as I never powered down or reset my Xbox it would run for months on end without issue. The problem was that rebooting the console manually would cause the fan to just stop spinning and my Xbox would overheat very quickly (automatic updates for some reason weren't a problem). Electricity being very cheap where I am meant I haven't worried about it for months.

 

That was until July, when the same thing happened. Left it for a month and it didn't resolve the problem (unplugging it for 3-4 weeks usually got the fan to start working again).

 

I suspect that a PWM issue is the cause but I'm just wondering if the best option at this point is to just replace the fan.

 

Suggestions?

 

On 11/29/2023 at 12:21 AM, thewelshbrummie said:

My Xbox One X has been having fan issues for the last 2 years, since Christmas 2021 (purchased summer 2019). But it's been a manageable problem until this August, in that so long as I never powered down or reset my Xbox it would run for months on end without issue. The problem was that rebooting the console manually would cause the fan to just stop spinning and my Xbox would overheat very quickly (automatic updates for some reason weren't a problem). Electricity being very cheap where I am meant I haven't worried about it for months.

 

That was until July, when the same thing happened. Left it for a month and it didn't resolve the problem (unplugging it for 3-4 weeks usually got the fan to start working again).

 

I suspect that a PWM issue is the cause but I'm just wondering if the best option at this point is to just replace the fan.

 

Suggestions?

 

On 11/29/2023 at 12:21 AM, thewelshbrummie said:

My Xbox One X has been having fan issues for the last 2 years, since Christmas 2021 (purchased summer 2019). But it's been a manageable problem until this August, in that so long as I never powered down or reset my Xbox it would run for months on end without issue. The problem was that rebooting the console manually would cause the fan to just stop spinning and my Xbox would overheat very quickly (automatic updates for some reason weren't a problem). Electricity being very cheap where I am meant I haven't worried about it for months.

 

That was until July, when the same thing happened. Left it for a month and it didn't resolve the problem (unplugging it for 3-4 weeks usually got the fan to start working again).

 

I suspect that a PWM issue is the cause but I'm just wondering if the best option at this point is to just replace the fan.

 

Suggestions?

Sorry if I’m doing this wrong as I’m not savvy. 
I just want to mention that I find it odd that so many posts are from Christmas time. Maybe I’m just too tinfoil hat wearing? 
Christmas Eve I wanted to run out for some last minute shopping. I was playing Lego fn. I shut off my Xbox and left. I returned a few hours later and fired up my Xbox 1x and went into fn. just before the Lego map could load the screen went black. Powered off. I tried a dozen more times and same thing. Usually at the same point. I tried cod and same thing just as I went to load into a match. YouTube runs fine. Left it on overnight just to see and no problem. Did some googling and decided to take it halfway apart to clean. The vents were cluttered but the fan and heat sink didn’t look terrible. I ordered some thermal paste and have been a little obsessed watching videos and googling while waiting for it to arrive. ( side note: it arrived today and put it back together and although I managed to actually play for about 20 minutes it still shut off on me so I think I’ll replace the fan next ).

now seeing your post reminds me that in all my searching about this I find it interesting the amount of posts involving Christmas time. I challenge y’all to search and I think you’ll agree that an abundance of people’s issues, at least this issue with this machine come about right around Christmas. I can’t help it. I guess it’s just my nature but I highly suspect that it is by design.