Dell Fan Replacement

mamba · Post by **mamba** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:52 pm

I've just spent the last day trying to find a quiet fan to replace the weird, proprietary-style fan in my 2yr old Dell Dimension 8250. My fan has begun to get really noisy, with the bearings starting to go bad. I tried calling Dell, but the terrible and discourteous customer "service" (what a misnomer!) and lack of replacement stock made me swear never to deal with them again or have anything at all to do with them in the future.

The various solutions suggested in these forums for fixing Dell noise problems are all somewhat suspect to me, sorry.

Eventually I went hunting for a straight replacement of this odd fan. I finally tracked down the exact place (and ONLY place) it can be purchased:
http://www.homestead.com/prosites-skyli ... mm.html#32

Price around $12.99, shipping extra.

BTW, my dying fan is marked "JMC/Datech 9232-12HBTL-2 DC 12V .85A" and the new one will be identical. The sales guy said they have been improved, but they still are pretty high in decibels. He assured me that less than 5% fail the way mine has (hmmmm).

mamba · Post by **mamba** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:54 pm

Another interesting page on this topic:
http://www.jmcproducts.com/products/dc_ ... 32mm.shtml

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 6:13 pm

Hello & Welcome to SPCR!

How is that an odd fan? It look a like a fairly ordinary 92mm fan, and you could use any number of fans to replace it. Unless it is actually 32mm thick? If it is, then what would prevent you from using a much more typical 92mm x 25mm, or possibly a 92mm x 38mm? Where is the fan used in the machine -- on the CPU heatsink, or in the power supply, or may as a case fan?

mamba · Post by **mamba** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 6:58 pm

It's odd because it has a proprietary MB connector. Without this exact fan, the Dell MBs give an error when you boot. Secondly, the Dell engineers have specced this exact fan to ventilate their shroud designs, so replacing it with other generic fans with different voltages/spin rates/CFMs etc is risky.

This fan sits inside a uniquely shaped black chassis that itself clips to the case chassis. A green shroud (again, Dell-only) attaches to the black plastic chassis. Yes, the fan is 32 mm thick, and thinner fans don't really have the flow rates to do the job.

That's why knowing the place to get a replacement and replace it yourself is so important. Call Dell and it's a case of 1) no stock or 2) buy the whole darned assembly: fan, CPU heatsink, shroud etc $$$$$.

mamba · Post by **mamba** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 7:39 pm

I should add that this situation applies to most Dell desktops, and that these fans are used across the majority of their recent desktop range.

Buying Dell (or other brand names) usually means buying deliberately proprietorially modified connectors and designs so that you cannot cheaply or easily replace parts. Be warned. They want you to be forced to buy from them only. Ugly.

luminous · Post by **luminous** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 3:16 am

I've had the same problem with our Dell Dimension PC. It had a fan that became unbearably noisy (we should have grumbled sooner and got a warranty replacement).

I too contacted them about a replacement, be glad you are in the US. They quoted £40 plus tax + shipping, nice......

You are right about the strange mobo connector, if you use any other fan you will get an error on bootup. This error, if it is like mine, can be ignored by pressing F1 and the PC will boot anyway. It is an annoying error, but not terminal.

I decided to go one step further and cut off the old connector, and then solder it onto the new fan. It took about 30 mins to do the job properly, and now I can connect the non-proprietary fan into the Dell mobo.

The problem is not solved however, as my replacement fan is a 92mm Acoustifan that has a temp sensor. 50% of the time the fan is too cold (OK the sensor is too cold) when the machine is turned on. This means that the fan turns too slow and the Dell mobo issues the familiar fan failure warning and asks you to press F1 to proceed.

At this point in time I am about to go back to my replacement fan and disconnect its variable resistor with an alternative that will do the job. Not sure what that alternative is yet, but I'll get there in the end

If you went for a standard replacement fan 92 x 25 that was not temp controlled I think you will have a solution that works. Do not worry about the difference in fan thickness, the thinner fan fits fine in my shroud. If yours moves, put a little tape around the fan assembly and that will stop it moving.

As for temps, well we know that Dell stops you from monitoring those. We also know that the P4 slows itself down to prevent damage. With the Acoustifan at its slowest, and with CPU Burn and 3DMark01 running together for 1 hour the machine was still stable. The CPU HSF was also no hotter to the touch. This is on a 1.5Ghz P4.

Hope this helped......