update

A quick update.
I think I'm becoming a geek!!!
If you remember from my post yesterday,(You did read it right?) we discovered that the CPU cooling fan wasn't working. Hoping this hadn't done any serious harm to the computer, we went out to get a replacement. Of course, as with anything electronic, it's easier said than done. The fan in our tower was 3.5/8 inches across, and all we could find was either 3.1 inches or 4.75 inches. The comments were, Gateway always did things a little different. Not ready to buy a new computer, we decided on the 3.1 inch fan. It was the same amps, and the CPU was so full of dust before I cleaned it, we figured it should work fine. So the next step was to figure how to mount it, since the holes in the new fan were too small for the case. So I took the shield off the old fan. (the fan will be inside the case, why would it need a shield?) Wired the new fan to it and attached the shield to the case. Here's the pic.


And here's a pic with the CPU case resting on the corner of the tower, and the old fan on the other corner. The CPU case will fit snugly into the upper right corner.

So, I put it back together, plugged it in, and started it up..........................

And it worked!

Now, this isn't the first time I've opened a computer. I have installed more memory, replaced the graphics card,(which also required an added power connection) replaced the hard drive, and added an Ethernet card.

And I've periodically cleaned out the inside of our computers. But I never opened the power case before. Just blew air thru the fan and vent holes. But you can't believe the amount of dust accumulated on the coils and such inside that box. I'm going to have to do that to my computer also. You may want to think about that too, if you have an older computer. Craig's is 6 years old, running Me, and mine is 4 years old running Xp.