AnotherUser249

If you only received the 'Alert! Previous Fan Failure. Strike the F1 key to continue....' message once, then go with the diagnostics.

But, check that the fan, heatsink cooling fins and the air intakes in the front panel are clean and there is no dust build-up.

Bev.

Hmm, I kept checking my email for a topic reply notification but nothing ever came.  Do the new forums no longer notify you of new posts to your subscribed ("favorite") topics?

Thanks for the info Bev.  The alert appeared once more (the next time I turned that comp on, in fact).  I opened the case and dusted, not with a compressed air can but with an air compressor (much stronger than a can, but still had it low enough not to damage anything, hopefully).  So far, the alert has not been back.

System is still slow, but it is about 4.5 years old and has not been reformated/restored to factory settings for that entire time (it's patched and hopefully malware free according to all the scans that ran so far).

One question about the heatsink: is there any way to check if it has enough thermal paste?

"...One question about the heatsink: is there any way to check if it has enough thermal paste?..."

 

AnotherUser249

Only by removing the heatsink and checking, then you would need to clean both the heatsink and processor and reapply the thermal compound.

Bev.