Noisy computer

My computer has been making a whirring noise. I think it may be coming from the power supply fan. At first it just made noise for the first few minutes after booting up, but now it pretty much sounds noisy all of the time, sometimes louder than others. I disconnected everything, opened the case, and saw a lot of dust. I took it outside and blew it out with canned air. It didn't seem to help any.

From what I can see, there is a fan at the back of the case as part of the power supply and I believe there is also a fan over the computer chip. Both were dusty, so I made sure to blow them out. I also made sure to blow out the vents in the case as well.

My question is whether I am doing damage to my computer by letting this condition exist, or can I just wait until the power supply fails then replace it? I have replaced a power supply before on a previous computer, so I know this is within my capabilities. I remember that because it is a Gateway, I would have to order one from them, as power supplies from a computer store won't fit due to the proprietary nature of Gateway's power supply. Is there a way to be sure if the power supply fan is the culprit? I see the fan blades turning and I think the noise is coming from there, but I can't say I am positive about this. Also, when I searched this site and read threads related to this, I saw references to temperature inside the case. How would I determine this and how would I know what is an acceptable temperature?

As usual, any advice will be appreciated.

 

Answer: No...

Catch (of course there's a catch): If you do let your PSU or CPU fan eventually die, then you're out of a computer until you get a replacement power supply.

Nowadays you can replace your power supply for a really cheap one (but don't go too cheap otherwise it will literally explode). Or you can change the fan of your PSU/CPU (fan depending on which one it is). My guess is its a 80mm fan.

Now for my own reference... Is this case a prebuilt computer or a home built computer? Additionally, how hot is your computer running (because that can also determine how long its going to keep chugging along)?


Software isn't really the love of my life... Now hardware... that's where it's at!

 

Not quite so fast - we need to slow down here and think a little more logically and reasonably. There's an old adage worthy of of mention that can be applied to this situation, "You can pay me now or you can pay me later. "

Bucksone, your problem is quite common - the bearings on one of your fans is going - thus the noisy condition. Arie gave you a good way to isolate and test the problem fan, although you'd have trouble sticking a finger in a power supply (an ill advised move anyway).

You don't want to wait until "total failure" unless you like to gamble. If its a case fan the consequences aren't so dire should you elect to procrastinate and roll the dice, however, if its a CPU fan, a chipset fan or a PSU fan - replace it now or be prepared to potentially pay for the consequences. If its a fan in the power supply (some have as many as five), replace the PSU. Yes, one can replace a PSU fan but I would strongly advise against opening up the PSU because of the danger. If you don't know what a rectifier, capacitor or voltage regulator is - don't even think about it, just buy a new PSU and don't go the "cheap" route either.

Bottom line - figure out which fan is failing and replace it. Arie already told you that. If you want a good place to shop for fans, try this place. If you march down to your local computer retailer, you'll wind up paying at least 3-4 times more than you should.

 

out of interest has this whirring noise only just started or have you had it from day 1 and does this whirring noise only happen when theres a load on cpu or all the time?

only reason of asking is that if you are a running a Nvidia Geforce card then the stock fan on the cards are pretty noisy no matter what fan speed its running at. If it is the gpu fan then you can always buy another gpu fan which is will run quieter then the stock one.

If its the cpu fan making the whirring noise you could try lowering the cpu fan speed in your bios settings (providing your bios will allow u to do it) and see what happens, turn down the speed and if the whirring is still same noise level then its possibly not the cpu fan.

If its the psu fan or any of the fans on the case then as someone has already stated, they are cheap enough and easy enough to buy and fit, i would do this rather then let the noise continue because you never know if you are damaging anything in anyway.