Case fan on Dell Vostro 430, or, "Alert! System fan failure!"

Hi guys,

The fan went on my Dell machine. I've just ordered and fitted a new Gelid silent 9 fan which works perfectly, and incredibly quietly, but every time I turn on my machine it says "Alert! System fan failure!" and won't let me proceed until I hit F2.

This is mildly annoying, and isn't the end of the world, but I'm also planning/hoping to start using LogMeIn's power up over LAN feature so I really need to get this booting up smoothly. To be honest even with that it's annoying, not being able just to turn on the machine and wait for it to boot whilst I do something else.

Any suggestions on how to fix this please? Apparently it's a very common occurrence when you switch out Dell's case fans for something better.

Thanks

Is the Gelid connected to the 3 pin header on the motherboard? I ask because if it is connected and the fan spins properly then we know it's a standard connector. In this case, you may be able work around the F2 problem if you to short the fan sensor pin to ground, i.e. connect pins 1 and 3.

Thanks DDY, sounds similar to this, but I wasn't sure if it'd only work with certain types of fan? http://piehead.livejournal.com/719361.html

fwiw it was a 3 pin connector on the Dell, and a 3 pin connector on the Gelid, they look identical I think?

The connector itself should be the same but it's the pinout that might be different, that is the fan should physically connect but whether it will work will depend if the pinout is standard.

Let's say the pinout is standard and the fan works, even if the yellow (Dell uses a different colour in my experience) fan sense cable is connected, sometimes the fan spins so slowly the BIOS reports that as a fault - hence shorting the sensor pin should fool the BIOS in to thinking the fan is spinning at a godly speed - which is ok.

Ah, I see, many thanks - so basically I need to try and connect the two connectors on the end, and leave the middle one as it is? Any advice on how to do that?! :-) Thank you

Firstly, some words of caution... If the pinout isn't standard and you attempt what I'm about to suggest you could fry your fan or computer, i.e. absolving myself of any liability :D

The crudest method I can think of; take a paper clip and straighten it, with the 3-pin connector plugged in to the motherboard, wedge the two ends of the paper clip in to pins 1 & 3 (as you said not the middle pin!) on the end of the fan connector. Not a permanent method but this way you'll know if this method works before attempting anything for the long run.

Hmm! Thanks again, does sound rather risky though :D I think I shall give it a try... maybe ^_^