Extraordinary fan noise on HP Compaq dc5000 SFF

[RFH]

I've been using the same HP Compaq dc5000 SFF PC at work for several years. It has one eccentricity that can be maddening: if I'm performing CPU-intensive work the fan will go into overdrive and in a few moments I feel like I'm in a 757 taxiing out to the runway at JFK.

I'm wondering if this problem may have been addressed by a BIOS upgrade. (To my knowledge the BIOS has never been upgraded.) In any case these machines are quite common in my office and I have yet to visit someone using one who is experiencing quite the fan db level I encounter several times a week.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Here is the link to the BIOS release notes for your PC:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=12...

None seem to address a loud fan.

I would open the case (after following the usual precautions such as disconnecting the power cord, etc), and check for dust clogging the heat sink fins and heatsink fan blades. If there is dust, that is most likely the culprit causing the fan to spin up.  Use a can of compressed air to clean out the dust from your PC's case.

If it is clean then I suspect the thermal interface material between the processor's heat spreader and the heat sink surface has dried out and you don't have a good thermal transfer between the heatsink and the processor (your processor is overheating but not to the point of thermal shutdown).

The remedy is to remove the heat sink. Clean off the old thermal paste from the heatsink and processor apply new thermal paste and reassemble.

Here is the link to your service manual:

http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00093003/c00093003.pdf

Paul

[ShahzadRehman]

hello! sir i have hp dc5000 sff and its cpu fan is noisy. i cleared dust from heatsink and also from cpu fan . and change the paste. but the problem is still .please tell me its solution plz any body solve my problem. i also upgrade my bios 1.00 to 1.43 . but the problem is still

[ShahzadRehman]

Please any body reply me

[Virtualkiller13]

Hi. The problem comes from the heat sink. If you take off the fan from the heat sink, you will see a piece of copper, this is called the heat pipe basically. it contains a liquid gas that allows the transfer of heat from hot to cold. sometimes this liquig gas can escape casuing the heat sink to be ineffective. do a simple a test, check the cpu temperature using speedfan or everest, i suppose the temperature should be around 60 degres celcious at idle and also if you actually touch the heat sink, it will not feel hot because it is not absorbing the heat from the processor. the only option is to change the heatsink. I hope this has helped you. Sunny

[Virtualkiller13]

Hello,

I am an experienced IT Technician with over 10 years of experience. The problem is not with the CPU fan. The problem is with the Processor (CPU) itself!

You won't get a new processor since it's out dated now, but you can certainly buy a used one from Ebay that is still good.  That is what I did and guess what the computer is quiet.

I have noticed the CPU that HP installed is from China, the replacement one from Ebay is from Costa Rica.

Try it out then let me know how your computer performs

I hope that this helps.

Sunny

[Duane_D]

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