[zbmc-fan]

My Zotac has been running smoothly for almost 2 years until a few weeks ago when it's fan started making more noise than usual. I opened the case to check for dust collection but there wasn't any (it's cleaned regularly).

It seems the fan bearings are worn down or damaged and not covered under warranty any more (unit was bought on 4/2/2010) so i'm left with replacing the fan myself. I just can't seem to find any information on the fan and the heatsink seems like a custom build.

Does anyone know where i can find a replacement fan? The case is too pretty to drill out to place a standard fan on the side.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[supaahiro]

You can try opening a ticket and seeing if they will give you one. If not, you can also ask for information on the fan. I will also ask about this too.

[ForceFedFlesh]

supaahiro, on 02 March 2012 - 08:29 PM, said:

You can try opening a ticket and seeing if they will give you one. If not, you can also ask for information on the fan. I will also ask about this too.

Hrm, I hope they help him out, Id honestly like to see maybe Replacement fans readily available to buy to customers without a warranty anymore.

[zbmc-fan]

 supaahiro, on 02 March 2012 - 08:29 PM, said:

You can try opening a ticket and seeing if they will give you one. If not, you can also ask for information on the fan. I will also ask about this too.

I opened a ticket (details below) and i'm currently waiting on a reply - I'll post back here if/when they provide it.

Fans age and wear out over time - it's no ones fault but there should be a list of non-standard replacement parts that we can buy.

Ticket ID: FKT-898-88963
Subject: Zotac MAGHD-ND01-U Replacement Fan
Department: General
Type: Issue
Status: Open

This post has been edited by zbmc-fan: 04 March 2012 - 10:47 AM

[zbmc-fan]

Well i got a response from zotac but it wasn't good - they apparently don't have any spare parts and didn't provide me with any details on the fan specs.

Any ideas?

Quote

Hello,
We do not have any spare parts for this unit. Unfortunately this is out of warranty and end of life.
Thanks,

Andrew
ZOTAC USA
17921 Rowland St
City of Industry, CA 91748
andrew@zotacusa.com
http://www.zotacusa.com


Ticket Details
Ticket ID: FKT-898-88963
Department: General
Type: Issue
Status: Closed

[supaahiro]

Sorry for the inconvenience. I've asked for information on the fan. I'm still awaiting a reply.

[zbmc-fan]

So the hunt continues - i took apart the fan and this is what i found
Model: DFB501012H
Size: 50mmx10mm
Speed: 5300rpm
Noise: 32dBA
Air Flow: 13.2CFM



Some googling led me to some chinese manufacturers datasheets but no one you can buy directly from, to make things worse even the ones i could find online were not the PWM model so they would always be running at max rpm (noisy at 32dBA).

So i started looking for a complete replacement heatsink, that was also a dead end since this is a custom heatsink and no replacement could be found.

This is really bad news and i'm very upset with Zotac right now - fans WILL die, it's just a matter of when. Knowing this all too well they decided to use some custom parts and NOT offer replacements?! That's just horrible customer service right there.

My only option right now is to buy an off the shelf 50mm (no pwm) fan, remove the outside frame, dremel some holes into the support spokes, and hope to hell it works. Then i would have to deal with the noise of a fan running at max rpms in my living room.

This post has been edited by zbmc-fan: 05 March 2012 - 05:07 PM

[ForceFedFlesh]

Hey man, did a search, but this was the best I could come up with, and almost looks just like it but sadly its a 2pin, and not 3pin, Maybe you can mod it up?


http://www.frozencpu...g36c15s71#blank

But btw, You could always remove that fan, Make a way to mount the new fan onto the side of the MagHD with a 120mm fan, and have it blow fresh air from outside directly onto the cooler, and just plug the fan into the CPU Fan 4pin, even if its a 3pin, but if you want the ability to control it go with the 4pin, And see how that works out.


Of course, you dont have to mod nothing yet until you tested it, so why dont you just sit the fan on top of the headsync Maybe remove the blue shroud if you can so the whole thing is exposed, and have air blowing completely on it and see how temps turn out, because for one you will push more air, and harder too, meaning you could overall just fix it that simple, even though you still IMO Should be able to buy replacement parts, but thats what Suggesting things to zotac is about.


Try it out if you want, I think it could work out fine.

This post has been edited by ForceFedFlesh: 05 March 2012 - 11:05 PM

[zbmc-fan]

ForceFedFlesh, on 05 March 2012 - 10:47 PM, said:

Hey man, did a search, but this was the best I could come up with, and almost looks just like it but sadly its a 2pin, and not 3pin, Maybe you can mod it up?


http://www.frozencpu...g36c15s71#blank

But btw, You could always remove that fan, Make a way to mount the new fan onto the side of the MagHD with a 120mm fan, and have it blow fresh air from outside directly onto the cooler, and just plug the fan into the CPU Fan 4pin, even if its a 3pin, but if you want the ability to control it go with the 4pin, And see how that works out.


Of course, you dont have to mod nothing yet until you tested it, so why dont you just sit the fan on top of the headsync Maybe remove the blue shroud if you can so the whole thing is exposed, and have air blowing completely on it and see how temps turn out, because for one you will push more air, and harder too, meaning you could overall just fix it that simple, even though you still IMO Should be able to buy replacement parts, but thats what Suggesting things to zotac is about.


Try it out if you want, I think it could work out fine.

The fan you linked to has different mounting screw locations (slightly shorter) than the Zotac fan so it wouldn't work - I've ordered a 50mm fan from newegg that i'm going to attempt to modify and use as a replacement.
I would have to dremel the outside frame to remove it and then try (i stress try) to drill the necessary holes to mimic the zotac fan.
Even if that works i'm still left dealing with a fan that can't be modulated and will therefore always run at it's max rpm, this could prove to be too noisy in which case i would have to figure out how to quiet it down. An inline resistor might do the job but it will take some trial an error to find the right one for the right speed.

The last ditch resort is that 120mm fan slapped onto the side, i would hate to have to turn the very good looking zotac into a frankenstein machine. There's also the issue of the zotac 4pin connector, it's not a standard fan connector, so in order for me to make ANY fan work i would have to cut the old 4 pin connector and splice the new fan into it.

The reason i bought a zotac was minimize hastle and for the looks. I'm now having to sacrifice both of those things just to make it work, and for what, one stupid replacement fan that they can't seem to provide. I will buy the damn thing - not asking for a handout, just offer it for sale!!

Save yourself the trouble and build a standard htpc from off the shelf parts, you will never have to deal with this bs.

I will keep you all updated on my progress, maybe someone can get some use out of this.

[Solviken]

So i had the same problem as you.... as i read this thread and googled some, i found out that theres no such thing as spare parts!!!!! yeye well. I nearly fixed it. I made it the franken Zotac!!

- First i opened the Zotac screwed the hole heatsink off the board
- Then i removed som very sucky thermal paste, looked like it was from the 1960's, it was hard as stone! Replaced it!
- removed the hole original fan, with the air flow guide, mine was blue, Threw that away.
- Found a 80mm fan, Zalman 17db. I spliced the black and the yellow with the black and red on the new fan.
- Tried first to just have the fan lying ontop of the heatsink then starting it. FAN MOVES!
- Innstalled core temp in windows server, and its stedy on 22 celsius. With the old fan it was 35 celsius on idle!!!!!!! insane!! RIGHT!!
- BUT THEN i realised that if i turned the damn thing on and off, sometimes the fan wouldent start! had to give it a little push, and then it goes... That sucks...


What to do now!! cant get power from the main inlet since its 19v not 12v.

I will be back with results soon!! just need to brainstorm some!

EDIT: So i think the 80mm fan i had was needed to much amp. So i took an old AMD cpu 70mm Stock fan i had lying around hocked it up and damN! started with every power oN! got the cpu on steady 10 celsius... ofc thats on AMD super LOUD full power. SO i used Zalman fan mate, turned it all the way down. Super silent and super cool at 20 celcius at 70% load!!! love it!

I made a hole in the outer shell of the case so it get direct air. used a glue gun and glued the sucker to the frame an there we go! A franken Zotac solutions!! just awsome!

Hope this helps!!!

Ohh BTW i send a mail to zotac about new fan. got the reply "Unfortunately we do not sell replacement fans for any of our mini PCs." So i mailed back my frustration to them

Sorry for my bad english! Im from norway

Regards
Jørgen Solvik

This post has been edited by Solviken: 08 March 2012 - 07:28 PM

[zbmc-fan]

So i'm going to start off by saying:
I WILL NEVER BUY A ZOTAC PRODUCT EVER AGAIN!!!

Not everyone has the tools or skills to hack away at their Zotac box just to get it back to working condition - what were they expecting? "Oh the fan on my $300 pc is broken?.... I guess i'll just buy another $300 PC"

No one should have to do this to a product that is decently supported, it seems zotac really doesn't care once they have their money - anything that goes wrong is your problem. It would have been simple if they had replacement fans in their store since they know fans will eventually fail and replacement is a must.

So here's what i had to do to get this POS quiet enough for the living room.

I started off by removing the top cover and lining it with painters tape - i then outlined the hole i was going to cut.


I then proceeded to use a dremel tool with a cutting wheel to cut the fan hole - you can check out this youtube video for some technique advice. I then used a file to clean up the edges and then drilled a few holes for the fan mount.

I removed the original fan and the blue guard around the heatsink - i should have replaced the thermal compound while i was doing it but i didn't have any handy.


Finally i had to splice the old fan header (that connects to the motherboard) with the new fan since the old zotac fan doesn't use standard fan headers (yet another WTF moment from zotac). I then taped up the length of wire in preparation for bringing it all back together.


The final result should look like this


The fan i used as a replacement was the Cooler Master Blade Master 120 PWM

Here's a final picture with a $3 fan filter installed.


It's wisper quiet now and always cool!

Hope this helps people who are having the same problems with older fans that started making too much noise.

The lesson for today is: NEVER BUY ZOTAC!!

This post has been edited by zbmc-fan: 16 April 2012 - 06:18 AM

[C. C. Chips]

Well well well....was waiting for the ID82 to come out and maybe get one, but no way now.

Whoever runs Zotac ought to read these posts. They are going to lose business if they don't support their products.

[JazJon]

This video shows the ID82 is great as an HTPC. (even streaming HD Netflix is stutter free/fast)

[andre22]

zbmc-fan,

I know it's been almost a year since you posted your response, but I wanted to chime in to say THANK YOU for taking the time to document the troubles you had. I too, am in the same predicament that you were in a year ago, and even now, there is NO solution to the problem. I took apart the MAGHD-ND01-U, and in the process, managed to crack the a bit of the plastic too, so now on top of the fan replacement project, I will need to rebuild a case for it too.

I took apart the heat sink assembly, scraped off the excess (really hard) gunk that they use as a thermal compound, with a bit of Goo Gone as well. I replaced it with some Thermal Paste and put the heat sink assembly back on without the blue flow guide. I thought about putting a better heat sink, but the prospect of having to cut and dremel to fit the non-standard mounts made me reconsider. The next thing is to buy that fan you used. There's still a lot of life left in this $300 PC, so like yourself I will replace the fan with a stock one.

Also, I am in the market for a second Mini PC to be used as a server at home, but.. once bitten twice shy. As much as I like the Zotac's form factor, I'm going to be building my own with a mini-ITX board next time around.

[le_willard]

andre22, on 08 March 2013 - 06:58 PM, said:

zbmc-fan,

I know it's been almost a year since you posted your response, but I wanted to chime in to say THANK YOU for taking the time to document the troubles you had. I too, am in the same predicament that you were in a year ago, and even now, there is NO solution to the problem. I took apart the MAGHD-ND01-U, and in the process, managed to crack the a bit of the plastic too, so now on top of the fan replacement project, I will need to rebuild a case for it too.

I took apart the heat sink assembly, scraped off the excess (really hard) gunk that they use as a thermal compound, with a bit of Goo Gone as well. I replaced it with some Thermal Paste and put the heat sink assembly back on without the blue flow guide. I thought about putting a better heat sink, but the prospect of having to cut and dremel to fit the non-standard mounts made me reconsider. The next thing is to buy that fan you used. There's still a lot of life left in this $300 PC, so like yourself I will replace the fan with a stock one.

Also, I am in the market for a second Mini PC to be used as a server at home, but.. once bitten twice shy. As much as I like the Zotac's form factor, I'm going to be building my own with a mini-ITX board next time around.

Hi Andre22, and welcome to the Z-Spot forums.

The MAG was ZOTAC's first mini-pc. Since then, the ZBOX line has improved. But if you feel the need to have a specific build to suite your needs, then by all means build up a mini-ITX board. :)

[andre22]

le_willard, on 08 March 2013 - 10:35 PM, said:

Hi Andre22, and welcome to the Z-Spot forums.

The MAG was ZOTAC's first mini-pc. Since then, the ZBOX line has improved. But if you feel the need to have a specific build to suite your needs, then by all means build up a mini-ITX board. :)

Thanks for the welcome le_willard.

I meant no ill-will with my comment, but from the pictures I saw of the inside of some the newer ZBOX mini-PCs, it looks like they still use a non-standard fan / heat sink assembly over the CPU / GPU. Does Zotac sell replacements for these pieces? That's why I am leery of getting another Zotac.