I recently did a little maintenance on my PC to clear out some dust. I opened the case and used compressed air to clean out the fans and other areas, vacuumed everything up, and put it back together without disconnecting anything unless necessary. However, after plugging my PC back in, I've noticed that my fans are running constantly, almost like they're working hard to keep up as if I'm playing an intensive game. The fans make no strange noises, and my motherboard shows no signs of issues – everything else seems fine. It's just that the fans won't stop running. It's been about 15 minutes since I powered it back on.
4 Answers
Have you checked to see if your BIOS fan settings changed after the cleaning? Sometimes these settings can reset, which might cause the fans to run at full speed.
It sounds like one of your fans might be having issues. If they’re too loud now, you could consider replacing them with some "silent" models. But it’s definitely strange if they weren’t loud before cleaning.
Did you hold the fans in place while cleaning? Using canned air is generally safer because it has lower pressure, but if the fans spun too fast while cleaning, it could damage them. Also, make sure you plugged them back in correctly; check that all four pins are connected since one pin controls the speed.
I held the fans and used canned air, but I did let them spin a bit. I’m not sure if they spun too fast, though. How can I tell if that’s the issue? I did unplug them, and now I’ll check that I plugged them back correctly.
Can you clarify if the noise is more like a full-speed hum or a wobbling vibration sound?
It’s definitely a full-speed hum. I let the PC run for about 20 minutes to see if they would calm down, but they just kept going.
I checked and they’re all set to the standard settings. I even tried switching them to silent mode, but that didn’t do anything.