Troubleshoot Dell PC CPU Fan Error. Spins for a few seconds and sometimes does not spin at all.

JakeXPMan

JakeXPMan

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Briefly explain your current issue(s)
CPU Fan barely moves, only 1-3 seconds (will last a second or two extra with a head start spin) Sometimes it does not move at all.
Steps taken to resolve, but have been unsuccessful
Already clean, checked motherboard, attached and re-attached the fan cable.
Your current Antivirus
Windows Defender
Got this nice "used" DELL PC to upgrade my own, It has an i7 intel processor, Windows 11 and a new SSD. When arrived in mail, I opened the BOX (seemed to be bashed around a bit), I opened the side panel up, and noticed the plastic fan blade off the CPU FAN bearings entirely. So, I put it back onto it's Heatsink (seems to have a magnetic pull securing it in?) and fired up the PC to a CPU fan error.
(All other tests have GREEN check marks)

+ Dell error code 2000-0511 validation code 130859

Seems like it's hinting at BIOS settings, or a failure from a faulty fan.

I actually never had a fan problem before with a PC. Nor have I seen a CPU temp reach 90C. (That I'm aware of) I disconnected the wire, reconnected the cables. No change,
I will either buy a new fan, or do something BIOS related to fix this. It's likely one of these two issues. Is there a way to decide which is the sure problem to attend to here? I don't want to mess with BIOS unless I absolutely have to. I hope I just have to replace the fan, but I will take on whichever task I need to.

One tip I seen in a video, said to remove RAM and place back into the slots and I don't really see how this would help the fan, but
I noticed something with one of the RAM sticks... it has a metal shield surrounding it (just one of the RAM sticks) making it difficult to even access one of the RAM's,
It almost looks like 2 sticks of RAM itself on slot 1... I don't know what this "guard rail" shield for the RAM is? ... I never seen anything like it, RAM tests passed both times, no errors. Is this to help secure a lose Ram slot, or is it for guidance to install RAM???

Any clarity or help here would be great.
~Thanks~
 
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stonjean633 said:
I would say go ahead and learn. Experience is the best teacher. We learn from books the basic ideas, but it's the actual hands on exp where we learn things in real world.

Buy a new thermal paste from well known brands like Grizzly, Arctic Silver etc or any other brands that work best in your area.

Just ensure to remove, clean the old dry paste.
Apply an ample amount in the cpu core then put back the heatsink. Give it time to settle before firing up your PC. That should make the temp drops.

BTW, how many RPM is your Fan or what brand/model?
Click to expand...
Probably going with Arctic.

After Dell PC is back up and running, it should drop the temp nicely, as you said.

RPM, I noticed during a peak test was 4,000+ plus RPMs. Don't recall off hand the brand but it was pulled from an exact Dell make and model. I figure on a budget for a few months, I will just match what worked originally in this PC.
 
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Put some Arctic MX-4 thermal paste "medium applied" to a freshly paper towel rubbing alcohol clean-dried Intel CPU and the heat-sink. The fan came off without any issues, the wire was way easier then that 'broken fan' was. Big relief ! The application of the paste was kinda subpar, so I butter toasted it with the shovel tool it came with.

Now for the test, and a quick question;
? Is it good to leave a PC sit in the Thermal compound for a while, or doesn't matter if it heats up still wet ?

Thanks for the helps everyone who posted, things should be good to go here!!
 
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PC booted up for my 'Thermal Thursday'.
Okay, so far the test shows CPU temps seem noticeably cooler... it's about 55-59c at the moment after a few tests and sitting. Before the fresh paste it would be 72-78c at peak with the Fan working.

No Fan working, no paste 90c + no surprise there.

-So, it's currently running about 20c cooler.
 
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stonjean633 said:
Nice! 20c is a lot. Your processor will thank you. Hehe
Click to expand...
Well said! True. :D

I noticed the heatsink had a lot of used old thermal paste on it, took a few paper towels w/alcohol to remove it all, I notice some went onto the CPU but removing it and applying new Thermal compound to the CPU has a much better cooling effect. :)
 
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A very common issue on computer builds (both for Manufacturers as well as Novice builders) is that the thermal compound is applied like Frosting on a Cupcake (thicker the better). This is not optimal as it has long been known that thermal efficiency is inversely proportional to the thickness of the thermal compound layer. With the results that you noted you obviously did things perfectly!
 
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