Fixing Hard Drive Fan Failure message on Dell Optiplex 390

Here's how to fix the "Hard Drive Fan Failure" message on a Dell Optiplex 390, or similar Dell system. It involves lubing the sleeve bearing on the rear exhaust fan. Not sure why the BIOS/UEFI refers to this as the "hard drive" fan, but whatever.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cube Computer on Facebook: / cubecomputercompany
cubecompmtdx on RUclips: / cubecompmtdx
Comment Policy: / 443253722390844

[@JessicaFEREM]

I don't know how much they make a difference, but I hear that those rubber grommets help reduce noise from reverberating from the fan to the chassis, which would cause the noise to be amplified.

[@CubeComputerChannel]

I'd think in that case, the noise should be noticeable so that it can be fixed. Otherwise, since this fan is always run at such a slow speed, it won't be doing much of any vibrating.

[@Qwerty-xh7hj]

Is that really the hard drive fan? the one he removed?

[@CubeComputerChannel]

It's actually the rear exhaust fan, yet it's labeled as "hard drive" fan in the BIOS.

[@Qwerty-xh7hj]

oh, so it's the one that's failing, thank you

[@evildaughter4]

Mine has had this alert for a while now, but recently my pc just wont turn on. It will start up and do the windows loading screen for a good 20 seconds then shut right down again its really frustrating. Sounds like the fans arent working that well either cause theyre usually pretty loud

[@CubeComputerChannel]

These systems seem to have a high power supply failure rate. Yours could need a new power supply soon. They use a standard 24-pin ATX supply. Any decent 300W unit with at least 18A or so on the +12V rail should be sufficient.

[@sjanssen]

Weird thing is, I have issue with a small form factor model, which doesn't have a rear fan or any fan in that matter. Any idea?

[@CubeComputerChannel]

If the BIOS/CMOS has been reset at some point, the settings could have defaulted to enable a fan that could be installed in the factory. There may be a way to turn it off.

[@sjanssen]

@@CubeComputerChannel ah I found the issue, in the sff model there is a small 6x6cm fan holder for the harddrive bay, and the fan is missing 🥺

[@CubeComputerChannel]

@@sjanssen That would explain why they called it a "hard drive fan" in the BIOS

[@pcchannel6294]

I dont like the fact these machines dont have a chipset heatsink

[@CotyRiddle]

i have seen plenty of intel chipsets like that. very few from the amd side (seen it in a amd e series apu laptop.) they always run right at the thermal limit hell even a sanded down copper penny epoxyed to them makes them run cooler.

[@pcchannel6294]

@@CotyRiddle I've seen in an intel datasheet that they say for some chipsets for example h61 that a heatsink is recommended but not required, so I'm guessing dell takes that info and doesn't include a heatsink.

[@CotyRiddle]

@@pcchannel6294 suppose so. still a stupid decision to me.

[@pcchannel6294]

@@CotyRiddle yeah the chipset probably throttles and all the io is slowed down and probably hard drives and everything is slowed since the chipset is constantly at its thermal limit

[@CotyRiddle]

@@pcchannel6294 I doubt the south bridge is capable of throttling. But I would be willing to bet that the amount of errors and glitches are increased by the higher amount of heat.