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Loud noise coming from tower

3K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  win2kpro 
#1 ·
Yeah, I am cleaning up my cousin's computer. I am doing a reformat reinstall of Windows XP. I took the computer home and sometimes I get this noise coming from the tower. Usually the tower is pretty quiet. I opened up the case and removed 5 years worth of dust. I thought it might be the case fan making that noise. Now I am not so sure. The noise goes away when i tap the side of the tower a few times. Comes back though. I am beginning to wonder if it is the hard drive on its last legs. My cousin says she has noticed that noise before. I ran a diagnostic test on the hard drive and it passed. I am not an expert on computer hardware so I am not sure what I should do. Just reinstall and send it back without worrying about it? LOL
 
#2 ·
Is it a loud noise that sounds like a jet engine? If so, I would suspect a cooling fan with bad bearings. Try stopping or slowing each of the fans one at a time by pressing on the spinning fan blade close to the center (no, don't put your fingers in the fan blade :eek: ... just the hub part close to the center). If the sound changes or goes away, you have found the problem.
 
#4 ·
Yes you need to open the case, except if it is the power supply fan. You can usually stop the power supply fan from the back using a Q-tip swab
.

I mentioned the fans because you asked about the hard drive. Failing hard drives do not make the sound you described, so I would discount that (they make a click-click noise... I call that the "click of death").
 
#6 ·
Yes it is safe to open while it is turned on. Components usually don't fail while the fan is making that screeching noise... only until they stop turning. :) While searching for bad fans you don't want to stop the CPU fan for more than about 1-2 seconds. Stopping it longer may cause the PC to shut down. You only want to stop it long enough to verify that is the problem or not.
 
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