Moon's Guide to Computer Repair

[moonbeamsfanfic]

Step 1: Determine where the annoying high-pitched whine is coming from. 

• My CPU cooler's dinky-little 60mm fan*.

*Hopefully, though it is a bit hard to judge purely by ear. But it'd better be this part, because this only costs $20 to replace, whereas the Power Supply fan would cost upwards of $200. At which point I'd probably just get a new computer for $500 and save myself the hassle.

Step 2: Research new CPU coolers (heatsink with fan, aka HSF) online. Determine which would be best for your needs.

• The Thermaltake TR2-M3 is an excellent, efficient, and affordable HSF for my now rather old and out-of-date (but still more than good enough for my needs!) AMD Athlon 2500+ processor.

Step 3: Buy it.

• Have bought the Thermaltake TR2-M3 heatsink (with attached 80mm fan) for a modest $17 in store. Could have got it for less online, but shipping and well, Christmas, would basically cancel out the few dollars saved anyway.

Step 4: Figure out how to install it.

• New gizmo does NOT come with it's own installation instructions. Have researched installation online. It is, apparently, easy and tool-free. Less than 5 minutes to install, blah, blah. I just have to be careful not to bend, stab, crack, or otherwise destroy the delicate processor and thus completely scrap my entire computer system while I do it. ::coughs:: No pressure, right.

Step 5: Just do it, dumbass.

• I am planning to attempt removal of old HSF and replace with new HSF tomorrow, as I must be off to work now. If all goes well, new fan will be faster, cooler, and above all quieter than current.
• Granted, if I mess up... it won't matter what the fan is like, because my computer's brain will be fried and the whole thing scrap.
• Alternatively, I can wait until a few weeks for the holiday season to be over and take it to a professional to be installed. Would probably cost about a hundred bucks and take them a couple of days to bother fixing, but... Yeah. Less chance of irreparable damage.

Step 6: Contemplate other modifications one can make to their computer tower while waffling on just fixing the damned fan.

•  Pretty lights! The Logisys CCFL Light Sticks are amazingly cool and come in green, red, or blue. Oooh, or you can get fan grills with LED displays on them -- I saw one in the store with a dragon motive surrounded by orange, green, and blue LEDs that looked awesome!

Step 7: Realise what an idiot you are, and just go back to trying to fix the first problem instead of making more.

• Umm... ::looks sheepish::