sound from cpu

[mkh]

hi.. i have had no problems with my pc till now... but suddenly it has started to make a lot of noise ( cpu fan perhaps??) especially when booting in and shutting down.. seriously... its a very loud noise, and quite irritating... any suggestions?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Could be CPU fan, could be cooling fan in the PSU - have a close look, it should be obvious which it is.

The cure is obvious as well, replace the fan!.

 

[mkh]

is such a drastic measure inevitable?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

is such a drastic measure inevitable?

It won't get better, it will get worse!.

 

[HarveyH42]

Yes, there aren't usually an dust filters, and collects on the blades, causing them to be unbalanced. I clean out mine several times each year with compressed air.

If it's not the fans, best backup your hard drive... more of a tapping, rattling sound, failure in a few days...

 

[NJ Roadmap]

I had the IBM click-of-death a few years ago. It was terrible. Lost my whole music collection - I nearly cried.

If your PC's waking up the neighbours, its going to be the fan probably (as suggested earlier). A can of compressed air is all you need really.

Also check the CPU core temperature to make sure it's not too high (should be around 45C-55C when idling). There are numerous programs that can check it for you, one being Motherboard Monitor. If it is a bit over that range its fine, but if its over 60C when idling, you may want to reattach the CPU heatsink to the processor with some new thermal adhesive.

Also run a Drive Diagnostic Test (the test is available from your HDD's manufacturer website).

 

[Marks256]

Yeah, i almost died when my first hard drive crashed... 20gb of data... Luckily i had it backed up on my laptop, so it was all good...

 

[Sceadwian]

Probably a fan, get it replaced as soon as possible, if the fan's makeing noise it's probably not running at it's full speed and if it stops completly overheating is going to occur which could damage the CPU. Don't buy a cheap replacement, spend a couple extra bucks on a decent quality ball bearing fan.

 

[NJ Roadmap]

If the PSU fan's dying then it's even more dangerous!

 

[Sceadwian]

Nahh, PC power supplies are over current and thermally protected. A lot of modern CPU's are also thermally protected but it's not a garuntee. I seem to see a lot of CPU sized fans go bad compared to the larger 90mm ones, dunno why that is.

 

[mramos1]

PS fan is a good thing. $25-55 for a whole new PS and all fixed. I test them at clients all the time. When you hear the noise, I pop a pen or something in the fan real fast and see if the noise stops. Then I know what fan. So not do that on the CPU.. Also, you can try compressed air like mentioned before. I have about 30 machines, 6 mine and rest in the office and I blow them out all the time. My servers all have filters and blower fans (over a LARGE heatsink). But they are expensive.

 

[Sceadwian]

Generally speaking any fan I've ever had that's makeing noise is shot, the bearings are going, I've never had a dusting fix the noise, but I clean mine on a regular basis as well, some people don't.

 

[Marks256]

I clean my computer fans all of the time, but that is just because all of my fans are the purty clear ones will all of the LEDs in them...

 

[RODALCO]

Excessive heat is fatal for electronics like a CPU, IC's Caps and powersupply.

Any doubt with a suspect fan, get it replaced and buy a good one as already suggested.
A fan may not be noisy, but the speed may be low because of dry bearings, hence not enough airflow and excess heat.
Check if your fans are running freely.

 

[mramos1]

If the fan is making noise, it is probably to late to save it.

I know some people (as far as CPU fans) pull back a sticker and lube the bearing as well.

But the fan cost of cheap compared to any other damage. If you are running an AMD chip, get it fixed as quick as you can.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Nahh, PC power supplies are over current and thermally protected.

PC power supplies are cheap pieces of junk made in China - keep them cool or they WILL fail!.

 

[mramos1]

I have external fans behind my two main PCs, home and office as they are not in the server room. But you are right. I can get a PC power supply for $30 range here or $90. For myself, I do the $90 model..

My last one had two fans, and I call and told them the second one was not working, he said it only come on if the power supply reached a certain temperature. That is a good idea if it also sounds an alarm. Which it does not.

 

[Marks256]

I need a new power supply period... I am sucking A LOT of power...

(I feel that this would be the perfect time to brag about my computer... )

AMD Sempron 2800+ (1.6ghz, stock cooling, 1.6ghz FSB, and 256Kb Cache)
nVIDIA nFORCE3-A motherboard
nVIDIA GeFORCE 6200fx AGP video card w/ 256mb of DDR
512Mb of Kingston DDR400
8 usb 2.0 (onboard)
10/100Mb/s onboard LAN
C-Media 5.1 Sound Card (soon to be replaced w/ Sound Blaster LIVE)
40gb SATA hard drive (...only 2gb left... )
5 PCI slots
1 8x/4x AGP slot
DVD+/-RW on secondary IDE (Master)
DVD-ROM on secondary IDE (Slave)
External USB 2x Floppy Drive (floppy drives look tacky... )

All of that and only a 422watt PSU...

I am going to try to get a nice 650 pretty soon...




Anywho, i am done bragging....

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

All of that and only a 422watt PSU...

What makes you think that isn't big enough? - and I didn't think you had anything exceptional there? - empty slots don't take any power!.

 

[mramos1]

Marks256, you do not want to here what I have AMD 3800+ to start and it gets better.

On the PC PS. I am very happy with the Antec. The ones I get now are call SMART and have a second fan that comes on as needed. If it comes on a lot, I guess that mean time for a new one as I did not keep that one clean

EDIT: Marks, I have 4 times the RAM and only use a 400watt PS. Mind you it is a good one and not the junk that came with the case. When I order a case, I have to change the power supply before I pick them up.. They are for business most of the time and I can not have them breaking, and the cheap ones do.