New
#1
Opened case and vacuumed it out, now fan is making horrible noise!
Computer: Gateway DX4831
Windows 7 Home Premium
Last night I had to move my desktop computer so I decided to open it up and vacuum out all of the dust in the six year old box. It was pretty bad in there and I had a vacuum cleaner going while I hit the computer with compressed air and I thought that I got as much of it out that I could (I stuck the nozzle of the vacuum into the case and was careful, but I may have touched the cooling fan blades when I did that), but when I turned it on the fan immediately started making a loud constant noise that didn't stop even after the computer was finished booting. I shut it down and opened up the case to see if I accidentally moved a wire or something like that, and there were three small dust bunnies stuck in the heat right behind the fan blades, but nothing was touching it. I pulled out the dust with tweezers and hit it with compressed air a few more times, but when I booted it up the noise was still there.
So, is it easy to replace the fan in a desktop? It looks like it would be. Should I go ahead and buy a new fan to install (I found one for $20 online) or should I remove the original one and take a closer look at it? The fan isn't wobbling and it just sounds like there's something that's rubbing on the fan blades, so removing it could allow me to clean out whatever may be touching the blades, but I want to hear someone else's opinion before I take it out.