Fan Crapped Out on Me

[Caged Anger]

Turned the machine on after school and got this nasty grinding noise coming from my pci slot ventilator. i really like this fan and it works really well. Its made the noise before but generally goes away if I reboot. Its done it since I got it too so i just figured gears didn't mesh or something.

in any case, the thing does ti constantly now whenever the slightest little bump hits the table. Its so bad i had to pull it out to get it to stop. Any ideas of a way to fix or should I just buy a new one?

[Caged Anger]

crapped, wOot, maybe barings have gone

[Goober]

You might try blowing the dust bunnies off of it. Then remove it from the card and if it's like some fans there's some tape on the back of it covering a little hole that you can put a drop of machine oil in it. This should extend the life of it somewhat.
OR....you could just go out and buy a new one.

[Caged Anger]

its not attached to a card, its a fan that attaches to a PCI slot in the back. really cool, i plunked it right under my video card