No matter what my comp. fan is constintly running, except for when on stand-by. Any ideas on what causes that and what to do?

Did it not run constantly at sometime in the past, its more dirty in there and that tends to hold in more heat and block off the vents too.

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Originally Posted by EmJay

No matter what my comp. fan is constintly running, except for when on stand-by. Any ideas on what causes that and what to do?

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I agree with the previous answer that dirt can be an issue. For this, computer stores sell cans of compressed air that can be used to clean the dust from the case, fans and heatsinks.

In addition, fans do tend to wear out. They can appear to be running but are not actually pushing much air, and thus the computer runs hot.

You can check to see if the fan is dying by shutting down the computer, and wait until the fan is stopped. Then try to spin the fan blades with your hand. If it spins easily with no resistance, that is good. If it feels like there is some resistance (often called the "peanut butter effect" because it feels a bit like how it would feel is there was peanut butten in the gear), then the fan should be reaplaced.

Computer fans have a typical theoretical lifespan (MTBF or Mean Time Between failures) of around 4-5 years.

Did it run constantly before? Most of them don't shut down, though a lot of them will drop down to a lower speed if there is a temperature sensor saying that the system/CPU/other isn't too warm at the moment.

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Originally Posted by Duane in Japan

Did it not run constantly at sometime in the past, its more dirty in there and that tends to hold in more heat and block off the vents too.

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No, when we first got the computer 'bout 3 years ago, it never constantly ran. I'll take it apart and try blowin' it out, and see what happens from there.