On Tue, 03 Oct 2006 12:40:10 GMT, "The poster formerly known
as Colleyville Alan" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote:

>"kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message
>news:4i14i257d7nrqgilu2bnji15nfi2fgicsa@4ax.com.. .
>> On Tue, 03 Oct 2006 02:27:11 GMT, "The poster formerly known
>> as Colleyville Alan" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote:
>>
>>>First the rant-
>>>My case cooling fan has bad bearings and is very noisy. So I went to the
>>>Dell site to try and find a replacement.
>>
>> Ok but why do you want same fan again?
>
>So it will install easily, with minimal hassle. The fan worked well for 4+
>years and then the bearings started making noise, so having another 4 years
>of decent performance suits me fine. I am not opposed to getting a
>different (read better) fan, but I want to keep the installation as simple
>as possible. Like, pop out the old one and pop in the new on.

Ok, but many fans last far longer than 4 years, and until
you know what the fan is exactly, there is no reason to
believe another wouldn't just pop in.




>I believe that it is a fixed speed fan. This computer is 6 years old and
>uses a Pentium with 866 mhz, not one of the newer chips that doubles as a
>space heater. So it's cooling needs are more modest. When the fan was new
>it was not that noisy, so replacing this fan with the stock unit should
>match my needs.

It is premature to conclude it's fixed speed. That is a
function of the motherboard, most often, but doesn't
necessarily depend on it being a newer, hotter running
system. Even so, it is useful to remember it's a lower heat
system to the end of a realization that the fan may never
need to move a lot of air, so a lower speed fan may be
sufficient.



>
>> In short, get your fan dimensions and # of pins it uses, and
>> from there you might pick out a more ideal model but also
>> keep in mind your room ambient temps (highest they'll be
>> year-round), so you don't get something TOO low.
>>
>> A random suggestion would be a Panaflo "M" speed, it's
>> probably a 92mm x 25mm thick fan but measure to be sure.
>> http://www.svc.com may have some and low USPS shipping too
>> for single parts or very small orders.
>>
>>>On some other screen, I also tried choosing the model but while it had
>>>Dell
>>>Dimension XPS it had series like 200, 500, 700 but not B866. It had some
>>>series ending with M or MT - I am not sure, I cannot even find the page I
>>>got stuck at earlier today.
>>
>> You could always pick a different model # so long as it uses
>> same size fan.
>
>That was the trouble - I could not find the dimensions or, indeed, any specs
>about the fan.


"Find" is not necessarily a matter of looking for some text
spec somewhere, rather of opening the system and measuring
it (if you can't tell at a glance what size it is, which is
easy once you are accustomed to dealing with fans).


>I happened to find a couple of other posts from people who
>had to replace their fans and found that the fan as 92mm - but could not
>find even that info on the Dell site.

You need to get hands-on, deal with the actual hardware in
front of you... forget Dell's website and pop out the fan...
should take 2 minutes to remove, measure, reinstall.



>Yep - the shroud simply lifts off. It was the case into which the fan fits,
>not the shroud to which he was referring.
>
>> What I'd expect is you have a plastic piece that slips or
>> clips onto the rear wall of the case. Onto that, the fan
>> slides on, then the outer shroud that bends towards the CPU
>> heatsink, has a couple of large plastic clips on 2 sides.
>
>That's it!

Yes but the key issue is whether they used a similar
arrangement as on later models, where the fan is standard
and just slips into the frame, or if they did something odd
and integrated the fan motor into a larger frame.

Examining the fan out of the system should provide all the
information you need.


>
>> If it were a sleeve bearing fan, you might be able to relube
>> it, though I suspect it's ball bearing as I vaguely recall
>> some of them were (but all? I don't know.).
>
>It is ball bearing. My earlier attempts at lubing brought temporary relief.

A linked picture of the fan assembly, disassembled, would go
a long way. I mean take a picture, since there doesn't seem
to be any easily found online.