Automatic power-down of PXI-1033 chassis. Noisy chassis fan.

[Alan_Bentz]

I went to use my PXI chassis today. I always keep it powered, but today it wasn't on when I went to use it. Turns out that there's an automatic power down if the fan 'fails'. So I removed the chassis power, and then repowered the chassis. Heard a noisy fan - like one of the blades were hitting something solid. And I only heard something when the chassis was in the 'big fan down' orientation It was the big fan on the 'bottom' of the unit which cools the boards. To fix this, I removed the air filter, and then the wire screen, and then the wire fan protector. I rebent the 4 legs of the wire fan protector (be sure to rebend both elbows of each leg) so that it sits farther away from the fan blades. Put it back to gether, and now no sound.

[Finnabon]

Hi Alan, 

Is your chassis working properly now? Can you let me know the serial number of your 1033 chassis? You made need to replace the fan if this continues to be an issue. Fan failure will prevent the chassis from booting.

Kind Regards,

[Alan_Bentz]

Status update:

PXI powered itself down again after my attempted fan 'fix'. I'm currently working with NI (Service Request 1742889) to find the problem and solution. Chassis serial number: 1551FEB.

[Alan_Bentz · Accepted solution]

Apparently my PXI chassis is part of a 'fan replacement' recall.

See http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/B9BB6E483EDB5353862578180081FA6A

[Alan_Bentz]

Replacing the fan fixed the problem. It's been running continuously for several days.

[swesten]

Hi,
i have a similar, but not the same problem. With our PXI-1033 the fan noises on one day started to get very loud and sound not very healthy. I know that they are generally not super quiet, but we have another machine, so I can compare it to and so I know, that is not normal. It seems to be the big fan, which is causing this noise. Is there a possibility to replace this fan or what kind of solution do you recomment?