PC keeps 'growling'

[Liam]

Well, that's what it sounds like anyway.

It's quite constant, it's not really loud - but loud enough to hear. It happens every couple of seconds, and then stops for a few seconds only to continue again.

Sorry I can't be more precise, any idea as to what it could be?

[|| Andy ||]

Hard Drive coming to the end of its teather...??
Thats all i can think of

[Ivan]

fan fluctuations

[Liam]

I have a feeling it could well be the fan...well I'm hoping it's that rather than my Hard Drive.

A while ago I had a problem with my PC making a strange noise (a different noise however) and people suggested it may well be the fan.

I guess the best way to find out is to open it up and look what's happening?

[Dan]

It sounds most likely the HDD yes... If its a high pitched fweeeeep sound then it seems to be just OC'd parts under strain - my PC does it in Mark05 and stuff. Take a look inside!

[Liam]

I'll take a look tomorrow if it continues.

If it is the Hard Drive making this noise then what should I do?

How long does the average hard drive take to die? I've had mine for just over a year.

[Tom_M]

Sounds about right if it's been under high strain and high temps.

[Ivan]

if it does 'grunk grunk grunk' at regular intervals, check if you are running filesharing or FTP software. My FTP rig does the same when running at max speed (about 300KB/s)

[Delta_]

Clone the hdd to another hdd is the best thing to do.  

Do you have S.M.A.R.T enabled motherboard?  S.M.A.R.T will recognise hdd failure months before it happens.  hdd don't usually give a warning that they are going to fail, they usually just go.  Maybe (if it is) your hdd is gasping for its last few breaths.

[Jared]

open er up bossman!

Then with it open go into the case and unplug ventilation fans one at a time while running it for a minute or two just to see if the fan is the case..

If it is, run down to the electronics store and get one to put in pronto..

Just be careful though, some of the elctronics stores don't have fans with the connector already on em. I have only had this happen once before, and it was pretty easy to wire the new one in..

[eno]

I love the way everyone here jumps straight in with the worst case senarios ........

1.Open up your case and hoover out the dust ... be careful of the static produced by the hoover ....... hoover any dust from the outside of the case.
2. Buy a can of compressed air from the PC shop and spray over the blades of the fans ........ thus removing all dust that may be stuck to them.
3. Re hoover out any loose dust...
4 spray any ventillation holes from the inside of the case outwards using the above compressed air... hoover any dust created.
5 Replace cover and power up .......... if the noise hasn't stopped then goto the suggestions in the other posts.

cheers
eno
............ just trying to save someone a few quid for the sake of some simple housekeeping  ;)

[Weather_Man]

My experience with these noises.....it's usually a fan. Most times it's the video card fan, else times it's a case fan. Either can be replaced. HDD failures are relatively rare.

The only way to know for sure is to open it up and take a peek. Dust buildup is the primary culprit to shortening a fan's life.

[congo]

Yup,

Open it up, and GENTLY clean the fans and heatsinks.

The noise is one of the fans in there, probly worn out and getting some bearing noise.

If it's a CPU or video card fan, take it seriously and replace it ASAP !

Case fan? Pffft! Who cares! Leave the side cover off so the kids can see what's inside!

It's ok to look inside Liam, they stopped using Kryptonite years ago.

Errr...... don't unplug the CPU fan for more than a couple seconds while running or you might be up for a bit of extra expense.    :P

[Liam]

I opened it up, and the noise was coming from the Heatsink/PSU region.

I switched it on without dusting and the noise continued...I thought possibly it could be because the position it was in.

Anyway, the dusting appears to have worked! I was shocked how much was in there, there metal shield on the heatsink had hard bits of dust welded onto it! And the fan for the Video Card was covered...shocking stuff.

I'm currently considering moving my PC to a different position in my house anyway, and when I do it'll be alot easier to pull out and clean.

Thanks for the help guys - and thank God it wasn't my hard drive!


Another small question in relation to me moving my PC. The PC will be the otherside of the room from the phone socket. I have a USB ADSL modem which plugs into a phone socket. Could I get an extension cable to plug into my Modem that goes to the phone socket -around 5meters? If I could is it likely to cause any problems as this would laso be pluggin into a filter?

Thanks again!

[congo]

Extensions work well with no side effects as a rule. For really long extensions it's better to use co-axial cable I would imagine, but just across the room should be fine.