Had this (vibration) happen with a few Dells. The causes vary
(misaligned/mis-seated fan is one of them), but here are some things
that worked:
1. Put the Dell on a soft surface, rather than a hard desktop. A
rubber pad worked fine. This is for those times when a small
vibration in the computer gets amplified by the desk.
2. Put the little rubber feet on the bottom of the case. Some cases
ship without the feet (specially true of servers that may be rack-mounted).
3. Checked to see that the cover was properly seated. Got a new Dell,
and the cover was not seated properly. Opened it up and reseated it
(checked all cards, fans, etc., while I had the case open, to see if
anything was loose).
4. In a much-older machine (about 10 years ago), had enough play in
the case (too loose) that the top of it vibrated. A book would calm
the noise, but the final fix was to double up a broad rubber band and
stick one under the top (front and back).
On another note: Someone mentioned a jet-engine-like fan noise in
another email. Had that happen with our brand new Dell server (has
about 8 fans!). The thing would sound like it was ready for take-off
very quickly after we turned it on (this thing has 10 hard drives and
very little internal space that is not taken up by a fan, so it would
heat up in <1 min). Ran the diagnostics and one fan showed up with
zero revs. Opened the case. The fan was not plugged in. Plugged it in
and peace reigned. Now I have to put my ear to the machine to even
hear the fans above the standard office background noises. Lesson
learned: one missing fan caused at least two other fans to rev-up,
indicating that this machine (a) generates heat, and (b) is going to
need all those fans. Therefore, have set it up for auto shut down if
there is a fan failure. Fortunately, we are a small office (~15
people), and, except for a master database which doesn't need to be
online 24-7, most operations can be done on local machines, so
bringing down a server for a day or so is not a huge problem.
Adil
At 01:58 PM 7/25/2007, you wrote:
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 04:55:37 -0700
From: Paul Meyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: More Dell Quirks
No it is not a component. I have two Dells (Dimension E310's)
and they have both had this problem
since problem since they shipped.
The case is buzzing.
If you hold the case
to stop the buzzing the machines ARE reasonably quiet.
The normal vibration is being turned into sound by the case, has
anyone had experience trying to silence a case like this?
db <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Dell's are usually whisper quiet.
A bearing in one of the moving parts ... could be a hard drive but
probably is a fan... is failing. Figure out which one it is and
replace it. Probably under warranty and cheap in any case.
When it completely fails, the computer will overheat and perhaps die so
consider this a timely warning.
db
Paul Meyer wrote:
> I have a late model Dell desktop. Lots of vibration noise
>
> from the case, which conveniently disassembles. Any ideas
>
> on quieting it down. (Something sitting on top of it helps).
>
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