Date: 02/27/07 (Computer Help)    Keywords: no keywords

I have a compaq presario desktop, about 3 years old. Recently, a fan began making noise and when you looked at it through the back, you could see the fan would rotate, hesitate, rotate, and so on. All the while, making a noise like you would imagine the motor in a house fan calling it quits.

A friend said to open the case and see if we could see anything (dust/fuzz/pet hair) jamming the fan. We've since realized that it is the fan inside the computer's power supply since it is all enclosed in a metal box within the case. I've not made any effort to open up that box, I was worried I'd kill the whole thing.

Now with this said, the computer operates fine. Of course I've stopped using it because of the fan issue until I knew what to do, but it still turns on and operates with no obvious problems.

Is it possible that the fan within the power supply could itself be going bad, or is this more likely that the whole power supply will have to be replaced? Either way, could someone shed some light on what may be going on and what this may run me to have repaired?

If this is going to be a costly repair that isnt worth doing, is it safe for me to turn the computer on and start getting all the files off of it I need to save? Will blowing a regular small fan onto the back of the computer (where the bad fan is located) tide me over to retrieve all of my data?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/751645.html