Fan sounds weird

[Emultra]

It seems one of the fans in my chassi is disturbed somehow. I don't know which one, but the one's to choose from are: PSU fan, chassi fan [exhaust], CPU, GPU and motherboard.

Then there is what I think may be the culprit to this weird noise: the hard drive.

What can I do about it sounding so bad and resonantly (is that a word?)? I tried fastening the screws on it but it didn't help.
My computer is maybe only a month old, and it didn't start out like this. I added the chassi fan afterwards, but it too was fine.

I just don't get how it can start going wrong after a couple of weeks, instead of right away. If something is not set up right, shouldn't it have begun grinding the second I booted the computer for the first time?


ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe nForce4
A64 3200+ Winchester with stock cooler
ASUS Extreme GeForce 6600GT with that little cute fan it's got
Maxtor DiamondMax (I think) 200GB SATA
Some AVC "Hydraulic" case fan

 

[Zepper]

Are the screws you used to mount the HD too long - you want very short ones, not much over 1/8". Unless you bought some top brand fans yourself, a lot of fans that are used aren't very high quality. Just find out which one is bad and replace it. With the machine only a week old, whoever sold you the system should replace it for free. If it is the hard drive and shorter screws don't fix it, definitely RMA it. Drives these days should all be pretty quiet.

.bh.

 

[Emultra]

I built it myself from the components. As for the screws, I think they should be right.

I don't know if this is a good thing to do, but if I bang the top of the chassi lightly (not like a sledgehammer or anything), the sound kind of lowers pitch for just a little while. Would you say that's an indication that the fault lies with the CPU fan?

Also, I should say that not all the screwholes 🙂P) on the mobo have screws in them, and the motherboard itself seems to be a little bit misaligned, but it's the only way I got it to work.

And again, if there was/is a problem, shouldn't it have begun right away and not after 2 weeks? My room is dusty as hell, I admit, but a months worth of running shouldn't do that to a comp, right?

ASUS PC Probe sees the idle temps as 36C (mobo) and 38C (CPU) as of right now. I think when running games, it's about 46C (CPU).


One more thing: right when I boot up my computer - and this has just been the last few days - it makes some really strange "wind-up" noises, like screeching tires being lift off the ground spinning (though not as loud of course), which stops after a while.

 

[Zepper]

You just need to locate that actual part that's noisy and replace it. It could be the PSU fan - unless you buy a top server-rated PSU, the fan is likely to be way cheap. I've replaced lots of them. Also your PSU can get full of dust bunnies that will cause problems for the fan. I open mine up about every six months and vacuum it out.

.bh.

 

[Emultra]

It's an Antec TruePower 480W.

How do I locate the noisy part? I can't disable the CPU fan or the hard drive, can I? I tried opening the case and listening, but couldn't tell the source apart from the others.

 

[krcat1]

If you have other boot drive, you can disable the power to the HD in some bios. You can also unplug the power connector to the drive.

Memtest+ will boot from a floppy. You can download it, install it on a floppy, and run it.
Make sure you floppy is a boot drive.
If it is the HD, it a higher pirched whine.

If you disable the CPU fan, you will burn up your CPU quickly.
Open you case and unplug all the fans, except the CPU, and see what happens.

 

[Tiamat]

use your finger, and stop the fans individually by pushing on the hubs (not the blades). This is safe for a few seconds. I use a q-tip to stop the psu fan in the back. Unplug the hdd to see if it is the culprit - sure you cant boot, but who cares as you are just troubleshooting noise. Just be sure to plug the hdd back in when you are done with this portion of your test ;p

 

[Emultra]

OK, thanks for the advice, I will try it out.