Jon's blog

I have a client with a simple Linux-based file server that was set up by someone else about nine years ago. The box has chugged away dutifully with basically no maintenance year after year, a real testament to the operating system. They finally asked me to take a closer look at it today because it was making some noise. 

I could hardly believe what I found when I opened up the server. One of the fans had been literally scotch-taped and rubber-banded in place! I'm not even sure why this was done, as all the necessary parts were there, the plastic mounting bracket just hadn't been snapped into its holes. The tape and rubber bands had actually failed, and the fan was flopping around loose in the case - lucky it didn't cause any damage. I re-installed the fan correctly, cleaned out the dust and debris, including a wad of lint that had wedged itself into the blades of the CPU fan, preventing it from spinning. Everything seems to be behaving now, not really any quieter than before because the fans are just getting old, but I don't think there is any cause for concern about overheating.

I recommended an upgrade/replacement, of course, but for their needs, they can probably get by quite a bit longer on this Linux box.