Thanks for the tip. Where do I oil the fan? Do I have to take the fan apart? Is there a risk of shock when taking the power supply apart? Do I even need to take the power supply apart? So many questions..... Banker
Lube points and access vary per fan/power supply, so it may or may not require cover/grille removal or power supply removal from the case. In any event, locate the fan shaft bearing and lube there. You may have to peel back a sticker on the fan to get to it. Unplug power to the PC before any power supply work.
Be sure to use compressed air to blow all of the dust off the fan blades, fan body, and out of the power supply before doing any lube work. The fans can get so loaded with dust as to cause some bad sounding noise. I use a one foot length of about 1" diameter heater hose as an aid to listen to each fan to locate the one that is emitting the noise. There is a thin self-sticking membrane sealing the motor shaft bearing on the end of the shaft opposite the fan blade end of the shaft. I pull that membrane back and use a knife point to remove the plastic seal disk underneath the membrane. I use a wire the diameter of a paper clip, dab the end of the wire in some synthetic car chassis lube, apply the grease to the bearing with the wire, add one drop of gun oil, and seal it back up with the disk and membrane (do not get any lube on the surfaces of the membrane or where the membrane must stick). If that does not restore the fan function, replace the fan unit with a new fan. I would not use "WD-40", "Liquid Wrench" or any other such miracle oil. They have their uses, but this is not such a case.
1) Power supplies are not made to be servicable. They ususally have a warning label sealing them. 2) There is a significant risk of shock from a charged capacitor opening even an un-plugged power supply. 3) You won't find fans for power supplies available at computer stores because of 1) and 2). Case fans are not appropriate replacements.
Yes, the SILENCER-400 from PC Powercooling is the correct powersupply for your Dell. In fact, I installed one on a brand new Dell Dimension 8300 Pentium 4 that runs at 2.60 and has a full Gig of memory, supporting 3 monitors. Notice that a 350 watt power supply is about half the price of the SILENCER-400, at $66.00 It seems that once you get to 400 watts or more with the PC Powercooling units, they get pretty expensive. Tell ya what, I still have my Dell power supply that came out of my new Dell 8300 when I installed the SILENCER-400. It's conservatively rated at 250 watts, but when you add up all of the +12V, +5, and +3.3V "rails" it supports more like 350 watts and should be more than enough for your Dell. I'll sell it to ya. Tell me where you live and I will ship it Priority Mail.
i once tried to lubricate a trade strategy. it worked for a while, but then it didn't work so well anymore, so i opted for a new one. much better now.
pspr, power supply mods (fan replacement, etc.) are done all the time. Fan lube is no big deal whatsoever. I guess it depends on one's comfort level. Bankedout, if fan lube doesn't do it and you want to open the PS cover and replace the fan (or if you have to open the cover to lube the fan), check some modification guides first and observe precautions. Here's a few links for you: http://www.mikhailtech.com/articles/mods/psu/ http://www.2cooltek.com/case104_2.html http://www.nmt.edu/~holstien/g4fanswap.html http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/chips/0,39020436,2119615,00.htm http://www.bluelightning.org/ebox/hwmods.html http://www.leesspace.com/quiet_psu.htm http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20030609/power_supplies-06.html