Aurora R4 water cooling fan going haywire leading to CPU overheating and shutdown

Question:

I've an Aurora R4 which, oh so shortly after the warranty expired, started to make an almighty racket. I discovered this was the fault of the system fan reving to somewhere in the region of 4000-5000 RPM. I opened it up, gave it a good spritzing of compressed air, sealed her up again and all was well for a few months. Recently it's started doing this again so I gave it a more thorough cleaning, connected the little I did disconnect properly and tried again. No result this time. Still just as noisy only now it's shutting down after a few minuets due to over heating.

As I said it's out of warranty now and I've been unable to renew it and I've been reading several unflattering opinions on the Dell support team so I thought I'd try here first to see if the great realm of Internetopia can offer any advice.

Answer:

Well thanks to the advice on Goldfires thread, as pointed out to me here: http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19516339.aspx by Tyler1987, the system is running beautifully again. Few tips when taking the cooling system apart for anyone who may read this thread:

1: Inner set of screws on the pump system can be a little sticky. Don't be afraid to give it a bit of force both getting them out and in, just be mindful not to strip the screw heads. You shouldn't need to touch the outer set.

2: If you're conservative you can leave the majority of the thermal gel (the grey gunk on the outside of the pump) where it is though it may be advisable to replace it on both the pump and CPU. A damp cloth on the pump would be fine, just make sure to dry it off fully afterwards before applying the fresh layer and putting it back in the system. Same again for the back of the processor just make sure not to touch any of the contacts on the underside and I recommend nothing too damp at all. Rough side of a very well squeezed sponge worked fine, then a tissue to dry it up. A small syringe of thermal paste shouldn't cost much at all. Less than a new pump system. And A LOT less than replacing your mother board because it melted.

3: When cleaning out the residue inside the pump it's self, I found a fine knife was needed to actually leverage the covering off the pump, just work it around the edge and it popped up with a simple twist. Then I took the knife and scraped the greenish gunk from the radiator fins lightly before giving it a thorough blasting from every direction with tap water. There's still some residue there but it seems to be plenty clear enough to last until I get a new cooling system. Preferably a maintenance free 'maintenance free' pump.

4: With the system apart I recommend you either find some sort of clamp device or a nearby relative (in my case one younger brother, pre-used, slightly bad lungs and an attitude problem who will sit still long enough if the subtitle proverbial carrot is offered)  to keep the open pump up so the fluid doesn't go spilling. After that it's a simple case of replacing the radiator, screwing it down and applying a fresh layer of thermal paste to the CPU (if indeed you did clean it off) and screwing the pump back in. I recommend you lay the case on it's side so that the back of the CPU, when in palace, is pointing straight up. then apply a small dab of gel in one corner and spread it outwards. Making sure of course that the whole of the back is covered. Screw the pump back into place and leave it to set for a few minuets, plug everything back in and enjoy the Sound of Silence from your Aurora.

Few other things. make sure to give anything you may have used for removing either kind of gunk off a good cleaning. I've thrown the sponge I used to clean the thermal gel out... I'm still seeing things but the doctor says I'll be fine in the morning...

Also, when poking around inside the computer, make sure all the wires are back where they should be. Just give them a light push and if they wriggle around, take them off and put them back on firmly. Nearly gave myself a heart attack when the RPM for the HDD fan read zero but it tuns out I'd just not quite reconnected all the pins when I was cleaning the dust out the other day.