Summary: Your system fan is an important component of your system. If the fan fails your system could fail or some components could even be damaged.
What does it mean when my computer wont boot up and it says system fan error and check system fan?
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Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be curt, but the message means exactly what it says: you need to check the fan in your system.
What fan? What's a fan? Which fan? And why?
Fair enough, let's review one of the most under-appreciated components of your system.
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Almost every computer has one or more fans that blow air through the inside of the computer case. This is true for laptops as well as desktops. In fact, the system fan is a critical component. If the fan fails your computer may overheat and damage other critical components.
There may be more than one fan.
For desktop machines there's typically at least one fan in or near the power supply. The power supply itself can generate a fair amount of heat, and having a fan nearby not only keeps it cool, but also ends up moving air through the rest of your computer's enclosure.
There may sometimes be a second fan near the front of the computer, just behind the faceplate. This fan, in conjunction with the fan at the back of the computer, helps to keep air moving through the computer. One will push air in, and the other will pull air out.
In some cases there's yet another fan, directly on or over the CPU. The CPU is another source of a great deal of heat. Placing a fan near the CPU itself keeps cooler air blowing over it to help dissipate some of that generated heat.
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As I said, the system fan is a critical component. So critical, in fact, that in recent years additional circuitry has been added to computers to allow the computer to monitor the fan and make sure it's working properly.
So, which fan?
On this there's no standard that I'm aware of.
My recommendation: check them all. If your system is failing to boot because of a problem with one or more of its fans, it's important to check it out. You'll need to open the case and see which one isn't working. If you're not comfortable doing that, particularly if you have a laptop, then you'll need to take your machine to a technician for diagnosis.
Related:
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Ask Leo! - My upgraded computer keeps shutting down - what should I do?
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Ask Leo! - My computer locks up and won't boot. What do I do?
Article C3073 - July 2, 2007
I'm glad to see I am not the only one with questions concerning fans. I have a Dell Dimension 3000 computer which starts making alot of noise when the heat goes up. I only see one fan. Am I over looking something? I love this computer but this noise drives me crazy. What can I do other than buying a air conditioner for the room. I have this Multimedia Computer System which also has a Pentium 4 inside. I don't even know the name of this thing. It just shows Phonix on boot. They put 2)fans in this thing. Why wouldn't Dell do the same? If I buy another fan where would I mount it in my Dell? I don't want to blow the thing up. I'm sorry for the length, just want to clearly explain my confusion. Thanks
Posted by: James Mahaffey at July 7, 2007 9:46 AMAnother great Leo article. Readers may care to download SpeedFan, a great little utility for keeping tabs on exactly what's going on. Go to...
Posted by: Bill at July 9, 2007 4:02 AMhttp://almico.com/speedfan.php
When I try to turn on my computer it will start to boot and then shut down and then start to boot and then shut down....and so on. Can you tell me what this could possibly be?
Posted by: Tonia at December 13, 2007 8:41 AMthanks
Tonia
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It could be any of a thousand different things. I'd have you start with this
article:
http://ask-leo.com/why_does_my_computer_randomly_reboot_without_warning.html
Leo
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Posted by: Leo A. Notenboom at December 14, 2007 12:07 PMgRDiCZjen1qHXerDstv657E=
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Okay, my computer won't boot up and says "check system fan, system fan failure." I have no problem checking it out and mine has 3 fans and all three are working, yes I have cleaned them all also so why do I keep getting this message if my fans are all in working order?
20-Jan-2009
My fan was running constantly. I restored the system to an earlier point and it seemed to go back to normal. Now it doesn't sound like it is running. There are 2 fans in my computer. How do I check to make sure they are running?I don't want to burn the computer up.
Posted by: Pat at April 27, 2009 7:25 PMI`ve got a warning! from easy tunes program :system fan=0.Please help me.Thanks!
Posted by: anca at July 8, 2009 12:58 AM