Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Help My Computer is Making Strange Noises

Is your computer making strange high pitch whirling sounds, or clicking noises? Generally this is an indication that part of your computer is about to fail or has already failed.

Warning: Opening your computer can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Make sure to unplug your system, and ground yourself before touching anything inside of it. If you don't feel comfortable making these repairs yourself, then hire a professional.

Below are possible sources of noises from your computer:
  • Hard Drive: If you start your computer, and right away you start to hear some strange sounds (such as high-pitch whirling or clicking, listen to the examples on this page) from your hard drive. This is generally an indication that it has failed or is about to fail. If you can access the data on your drive, I would back it up to another location (such as an external hard drive) as soon as possible.
  • Power Supply, System, or CPU fans: If you start to hear strange noises from your system fans, this could be an indication that your fan is dirty or has bad ball bearings. If this happens turn off your system and clean the the fans or replace them as necessary. If you want to see what happens when your CPU loses cooling, check out the following video. If the fan that is giving you problems is in your power supply, do not try to replace it. Just replace the whole power supply.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!

Benita Bolland said...

The power supply is usually the primary source of the noise on your computer. To reduce the overall noise level of your PC, it is recommended to switch to a power supply that is designed to be quiet. It allows your computer to reduce heat generation, which in turn, maintains the computer system stability and extend the lifetime of all the other electronic components.

Anonymous said...

Why my computer makes strange noises not always and when it is turned off?

Jamie M said...

Thank you so much!!

I let my son borrow my laptop and he gave it back with a weird noise. I used an air compressor to blow away the dust from the fans and the noise is completely gone. I have this laptop just in case others had the same problem.

I'm glad it wasn't any real serious issues. Thanks again for the tip.