one of my computer fans is acting up

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every so often, maybe twice a day, one of the fans in my computer really goes crazy. What I mean is, it seems to get a brief power surge for maybe 20 seconds and then goes back to normal.

I'm thinking either the fan is going bad or the CPU is overheating. I don't know how many fans I have in my computer. I'm guessing three. One for the case, one for the CPU and one for the video card.

can anyone suggest any troubleshooting tips?

Pop the case and take a look at the fans. Sometimes they accumulate dust and such that can be cleaned out with a small brush or puff of air (from a can of compressed air or even just strong lungs).

Failing that, replace the fan(s) as appropriate. If the fans are failing, the CPU is more likely to overheat.

I would say it's probably the CPU-fan. Just as Aoi said, clean the fan, BUT remember if you use compressed air, hold you finger in the fan (Yes the computer is turned off while doing this, sorry, just making sure) so the fan can't rotate. The reason for that is to protect the ballbearing from damage.

This could actually also be the case... That the CPU-fan is old and "worn out", so the ballbearing is making a lot of more noise.
Or it could even be the thermal paste, that needs a replace.

But I would go for cleaning it in the first place
Good luck.

If that doesn't work, fans are dirt cheap, I'd try replacing them one at a time, starting with the CPU fan.

I think I'm going to replace all mine soon.

Fans are cheap. Get your fan replaced.

ruveyn

There's a download you can get from http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php that lets you control the speed of your fan from your computer, might be worth a try.

thanks all. I got it resolved. HP says it's normal for the fans to do that.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docu ... R1002_USEN