Fan noise

[Bad^Hat]

My mobo fan is making an awful noise, like "RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR". It's done this before, if I whack the puter is usually stops for awhile, but that's not working anymore. I took it out and examined it thoroughly, gave it a good clean, I'm pretty sure the only possibility is that the fan is scraping the heatsink, if I lift it off a little it stops, kinda. I thought of putting something between the fan and heatsink to avoid direct contant but uh... I'm not sure about that, it might cause other problems. I could file down the heatsink, but that seems a little risky, and I can't get the damn thing out. Any help?

Edit - And please don't suggest I "get a new fan", that's not helpful at all :dozey:

 

[Maxi]

Well if you want to take your fan off, youll need to remove the small plastic things that keep it in place, then either put your mobo in a static bag and then in the freezer for about 30 min or use a blowdryer to heat it then twist it off.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Well if you want to take your fan off, youll need to remove the small plastic things that keep it in place, then either put your mobo in a static bag and then in the freezer for about 30 min or use a blowdryer to heat it then twist it off.

Hmmm... no this one just screws off. Maybe I'm mistaken in thinking it was my mobo fan? It's about 3-4cm across and has a little cover thing saying "8X AGP".

 

[Maxi]

Yeah thats the one on your Northbridge, to get the fan off you just screw it out, but to ge the heatsink off you need to do those steps.

 

[Bad^Hat]

One thing I've considered is putting the "8X AGP" cover on the underside of the fan, rising it from the heatsink, but this would probably obstruct the fan and cause overheating. Blargh! It's driving me nuts >_<