Solved Hard drive fan failure on start up on Dell Optiplex 780.

[DJay Glockner]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me, I have a Dell Optiplex780, it was working fine the other day, then after unplugging it so I could clean my desk I reconnected everything and the computer bleeped and on the screen it said. 'Alert! Hard drive fan failure.' Then told me to press F1, F5 and some other keys, I couldn't see everything (because I'm almost blind.) Every time I switch my PC on I have to press F1 to start the blooming thing up, I'm not that clever with computers, but I know the Hard drive does need replacing soon, could it be more of a Hard drive problem than a fan problem?
Thank you.

 

[Mellon Head]

Most hard drives don't have fans. Are you sure that you don't mean a system fan, or CPU fan?

Each of these is a very different problem.

 

[DJay Glockner]

Hi Mellon Head, it says 'Alert! Hard Drive Failure.' As soon as I start my PC, not system fan, or CPU fan.

 

[fireberd]

Dell's have sensors on fans that are detected by the "POST" (Power On Self Test). Also the diagnostic beeps at power on help in identifying what is wrong. Post what the beeps are, could be just a series of beeps (e.g. 3 beeps) or a combination of beeps such as 2 beeps then 3 beeps.

Here is the link to the Dell manuals
Support for OptiPlex 780 | Manuals & documents | Dell US

 

[Mellon Head]

Hi Mellon Head, it says 'Alert! Hard Drive Failure.' As soon as I start my PC, not system fan, or CPU fan.

It sounds like your hard drive has failed for some reason, or that it has somehow become unhooked. Perhaps during your cleaning you knocked one of the connectors on the hard drive loose?

If the connectors are all secure, I would look to replacing that hard disk. In any case, if the computer says it's malfunctioning, it's best to copy all of the data off of the hard disk that you want to keep, if you can keep it running long enough.

 

[DJay Glockner]

Thanks everyone, I'll ask my partner to check the hard drive for me, I think that is the main problem, I have had glitches and crashes and freezing up.
Thank you.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi DJay Glockner, welcome to Seven Forums, great picture by the way.