So, my CPU fan is plugged into the CPU fan header on my motherboard, but during startup/going into the BIOS, I’ll receive a message saying “CPU Fan Error!”. I feel like this isn’t normal and was wondering if someone could help with this.
A CPU fan error occurs when the fan is either not spinning or below a certain RPM during startup. If your fan can adequately cool the CPU once booted into an OS then you have nothing to worry about. I suspect that your CPU fan doesn’t ramp up fast enough during startup and trips the protection. Do you have an AIO by any chance? Some AIOs don’t report a fan speed to the motherboard and will always cause a CPU Fan error.
Also if you are sure your cooler is fine most motherboards will let you turn off monitoring on the CPU fan header which should stop the fan errors from happening.
It’s a Noctua fan that I got with a Noctua cooler off Newegg. Unless this is common with Noctua fans for some reason?
hmm maybe. I have an NH-D15 and haven’t encounter it. Are you using the low-noise adapter?
No, I’m not using the low noise adapter. It’s directly to the motherboard.
I didn’t have this issue with my other motherboard either which is a P9D WS.
I’ll try with the Intel stock cooler and report back.
It might be throwing that error because you’re connected to the “CPU OPT fan” header instead of the “CPU” fan header. Basically the “OPT” is secondary.
Go in the BIOS and look for something called CPU fan low limit and lower it to a speed lower then the speed reported. This should stop it from reporting slow fan speed.
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It’s plugged into the CPU fan header.
Do you have another 4pin fan to try? This would rule out the possibility of something being wrong with the fan.
So according to Asus, the Noctua fan and heatsink is not on the motherboard’s Q.V.L. (Qualified Vendor List). So from this, it sounds like it’s not supported.
But, my other motherboard which is a P9D WS also does not list the Noctua fan and heatsink on its Q.V.L. and does not have the issue.
Fucking great. But that still doesn’t explain why the P9D WS is not having the issue, while the Z87-WS is.
So I fucking FINALLY get around to testing the Intel stock cooler and compare it to the Noctua one I have.
So, I took the numbers of idle RPM speeds in the BIOS and the difference is huge.
The Noctua fan spins at around/between the 570’s to the 580’s.
The Intel fan spins at around/between the 1,200’s to the 1,400’s.
The difference is more than half as much!
I did not notice a “CPU Fan Error!” message while the Intel stock cooler was installed.
So for using the Noctua fan and cooler, I did need to go into the BIOS and find some setting in advanced mode that would only alert at lower RPM’s rather than higher which is what the Noctua fan is running at.
So… I guess that solves the problem? But it just feels so/very ghetto that a company as well known as Noctua wouldn’t have higher RPMs for their fans to avoid things like the/this “CPU Fan Error!” message.
Thanks for the help!