I use a vacuum cleaner on my machine, I have a special nozzle I purchased from Lidl that acts as an attachment to the pipe.

It's made of flexy rubber.

Works a treat.

In reference to the above posts...your idea of using compressed nitrogen or inert gas to clean is the proper method. Using a vacuum sweeper can generate Static Electricity that do some serious damage to ESD sensitive components.
Also, in reference to E-machines....I would also vote to replace the machine rather than spend the money on a motherboard. Save your hard drive and slave it in on your next computer as a secondary drive.

My computer isn't that old, about 3 years, but the power supply fan did go on it. We replaced it last month and hadn't had any problems with it since and we did clean the computer out some some type of spray that you are supposed to use.

It's been running really good and that is why I asked because I am not sure, but I was reading emachines article on power supply fans in the parts that suggest you did it. Thank you very much.

I kind of agree with what Keilaron is saying because we might just as well replace the motherboard too if we do all that, the computer guy where we got the power supply said he was surprised the motherboard didn't burn up.

Thank you it's running good and we did spray it out with the stuff you are supposed to use and tried to get most of the dust out. I just wanted to see what everyone had to say about it and to recommend something, because we have never put in a cpu fan before and it sounds like we don't need to. Thank you.

Michelle

I'm just asking because e-machines recommends when changing power supplys, you change the cpu fan, but I am really wondering if you have to?

No. They're suggesting that because fans used to usually have approximately the same lifespan; These days, however, it isn't so true. Also, there's always the occasional manufacturing defect, which I'm guessing is why you had to replace your PS fan (I have some really old power supplies that, though the fan on some makes noise, still work just fine!).

I dis-recommend using a regular vacuum inside a PC. There are loose parts that a vacuum can easily remove, so if you use a vacuum be careful about it - do short bursts on spots that need to be vacuumed (e.g. heat sinks, maybe fans) and avoid "just passing over" sections of a board (esp. the motherboard).

PS. My PSU fan grumbled for ages, then stalled - amazingly, everything survived, including the PSU, which I later opened up and replaced the fan in.

If you notice it fast enough, you can shut down the computer and not have it sustain any damage. However, if your computer is one that you leave unattended for long periods of time, don't do this if the fan starts to get really noisy - you might come back to a bit of a mess ;>

Kind of unrelated, but: eMachines never impressed me. I'm not sure what keeps them on the market.

A careful cleanup of the other fans and heatsinks would be advisable - you could stuff a cushion with the fluff that collects in some of them.

Seriously, vacuum (ideally with an addon thin pipe accessory) the loose fluff, then use tweezers or a bent wire pick to to remove larger congealed lumps. The spars of the fan frame are a particular problem area, as they tend to collect a lot of grot which may begin to brush the fan blades and increase noise.

If it's the eMachines case I'm thinking of, you do need to dismount the duct from the CPU fan, and the clips are a right pain.

As a "service operation", it might be an example of preventative maintainence, though I've seen a lot of PSU fans fail and very few heatsink ones.

Inspect, clean and replace if required, though in a service operation, immediate replacement may well be quicker than cleaning... I've said that myself, when mucking out some old machines.

PS. My PSU fan grumbled for ages, then stalled - amazingly, everything survived, including the PSU, which I later opened up and replaced the fan in.

No a failure of one fan, doesn't mean the other ones are going to go too. Unless they are all defective. And most fans will outlive the computer itself.

Anyway our Power Supply fan went about a month ago, that is when we discovered it wasn't working anymore and the computer would get hot on the top. We had to look in the case and see what kind of power supply the fan was and all that because at the time we were going to get the same power supply. We switched though and had a 400 watt power supply put in, it was only a 300 watt.

My question is when changing the power supply, do you have to change the cpu fan too or can you get away with just changing the power supply? The other fans appeared to be working in the computer appeared to be working fine.

I'm just asking because e-machines recommends when changing power supplys, you change the cpu fan, but I am really wondering if you have to?