My PC PSU fan is making a racket

[Richard.John]

And I don't know what's causing it. I would remove it to give it a good clean but I have read that they retain charge so don't want to electrocute myself. Any ideas, short of replacing it?

Just to add it sounds a bit like a vibration but it could also being electrical hum so I am unsure. My main concern is safety, i.e is it going to go pop on me.

[Ginger Tosser]

PC PSU are usually quite difficult to take apart. What you could you is just blow any dust out first and see if that fixes it, then maybe a spot on oil on the fan. If a bearing has gone in the fan it'll only be a short term fix.

[wod]

i've cleaned my psu before and it was quite easy to do so there was 4 screws and the top came off but watch out for the big capacitors as touch them and you'll be a gonner as they store some charge in them

[Richard.John]

OK thanks for the advice. I will try and blow the dust out with an air can, and be careful not to turn myself into a set of christmas tree lights in the process.

[vertigo]

Could just be that the fan (which is usually made of plastic) has spun so much that it's gradually worn down the spindle and the bit that goes around it, so it becomes a little loose and hence noisier. You can always take the fan out and replace it instead of buying a whole new PSU.

[Richard.John]

Worringly my keyboard and mouse PS/2 ports started playing up today, they just didn't want to work, and on from a cold boot up it was very slugish, took ages to get to the desktop and shutdown as well. Coincidence or something more sinister like power/BIOS issues. I have scanned it for viruses to cover that angle and it came up clean.

I knew I should've become a PC techie.LOL

[Richard.John]

Returning to this mess, my latest elec. bill has arrived, and it's about 1/3 higher than usual(going by last year's bill for the same period). The fan seems to run without the noise now, and has done so for about three weeks.

So the question is could a mildy faulty (I assume this to be true) PSU force up my bill by that much, or is it the case that my worried mind is putting two and two together?

Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Cheers.

[vertigo]

Is it the same PSU? Have you bought any new consoles (e.g. a 360) in the last few months? Leave your comp on to download during the day? Etc, etc, etc, etc. My point being that there are lots of factors, one being that this winter is bloody freezing so you've probably been in more than last year.

[oblivion_6]

Returning to this mess, my latest elec. bill has arrived, and it's about 1/3 higher than usual(going by last year's bill for the same period). The fan seems to run without the noise now, and has done so for about three weeks.

So the question is could a mildy faulty (I assume this to be true) PSU force up my bill by that much, or is it the case that my worried mind is putting two and two together?

Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Cheers.

Your PSU couldnt take more leccy than its designed to without going boom!

Your bills gone up coz its winter, all electric bills go up abut 25% minumum during the winter months

[vertigo]

Yeh but he says it's up on the same period last year.
Did you go on holiday last year? Use the computer less? ETCETERA!

[Richard.John]

Thanks for the replies guys.

As I said, it's about one third more than the same period last year so that is why I am sweating. I would estimate that the PC usage is about the same. My wife is going to phone the provider at the weekend to see if they can offer any info or tips. I will keep a look out for next month's bill and if it's the same then, I may have a problem somewhere

And yes, it's the same PSU. It queitened down so I decided not to send it in for service.