Noisy fan, slow/crashing browsers... and now a couple of BSODs :^(

[ship691]

Hi

After many months (years?) without problem I've suddenly been getting problems.

1. All my browsers (MSIE, Firefox, Chrome) seems keep stopping or loading very slow even though my broadband connection speeds seem fast when I test them.

2. My fan keeps whirring and in Windows Task Manager, the CPU usage seems to be at about 25% even though nothing is open and though none of the processes listed in Task Manager are using more than about 01 or 02%.

3. Recently I've had a couple of BSODs.


Background
I am using Windows 7 x64 with all latest patches. I have run scans with AVG Cloudcare, and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware but both found nothing wrong. I also tried running Mr Fixit, but that didn't help either.

Any suggestions?

J

 

[D3LL]

Have you opened up the Tower case and taken a look at the CPU fan? Sounds like it could be an issue with dust, you may want to use the hoover inside it however make sure the system is turned off.

 

[bawldiggle]

Hello ship691,

A good dust clean out sounds like it is needed. Do not use a domestic vacuum cleaner it can cause damage to delicate parts.
- turn the PC off and disconnect the mains power before you start
- fans should only be "spun" under their own power, not with a blower (or sucker).
- a soft clean brush (I use a ½inch brush) and a USB powered "sucker" or canned air are helpful. Be gentle with the innards

By fan noise do you mean high-speed or bearing-noise.
- if the fan is faulty the CPU might be over heating -- a possible cause of BSOD
- I learnt the hard way years ago and fried my board. A very expensive repair.

If a thorough clean does not help I would suggest downloading free SuperAntiSpyware (portable) and run the EXE file as Administrator.

If that fails, its over to the BSOD team here.
Did you read the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions

 

[ship691]

> Sounds like it could be an issue with dust

Yes, although I cleaned it out quite thoroughly a few months ago, I will do the hoovering shortly, but surely too much dust wouldn't cause the CPU usage to go up to 25% or so (or would it??)

J

 

[D3LL]

Depends on the heat generated from this causing simple tasks to take longer to process thus increasing the CPU usage.

 

[Layback Bear]

ship691

Your first concern should be the noise and possible over heating problem.

Worry about the cpu usage after those problems are taken care of.

You can monitor your temps with this little free program.

RealTemp

Real Temp - CPU temperature monitoring

 

[ship691]

OMG - guilty as charged! The dust was very much worse than I thought. The PC is now quiet as a mouse - even when re-indexing with my desktop search (X1 Search). OK watch this space.

Many thanks

J

 

[Layback Bear]

Monitor your temperatures to make sure things are okay.

 

[Boozad]

Good work people. Just to second never using a vacuum inside a PC, there's a small possibility of ESD damage. Soft brushes and canned air are the order of the day.

 

[Layback Bear]

I use non static brushes and air.
Of course all intake fans are filtered. That alone saves a lot of cleaning.

 

[bawldiggle]

Fan cleaning follow up

Cleaning some laptops is like heart surgery.
- I have just purchased a new Lenovo
- the extra $150 was worth it because the entire back comes off easily and exposes everything
- my Toshiba is a horror to clean -- keyboard out, screen out, RAM out,
- there is one laptop on the market where even the battery is not easily accessible

YouTube is worth a search for How to clean the fan etc, even narrowed down by manufacturer and model
- perseverance looking through the poor to mediocre YouTubes and then there is the occasional gem
eg. Cleaning my Toshiba c665:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlO5crblG64

If you use DuckDuckGo search engine in your browser by using a DDG "!bang" in the search box -- is a gift
eg, !utube cleaning toshiba laptop fan ... finds a lot of YouTubes