Sooo… How panicked should I be that the high pitched whine of my aged computer has begun taking dips into lower and slower frequencies?
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Sooo… How panicked should I be that the high pitched whine of my aged computer has begun taking dips into lower and slower frequencies?
Comments are closed.
Very, I expect you will need a new cooling fan soon. Good news is those are not too bad, heck, it may just be that clean the dust off of it, and it will be fine. If the cpu, easy and cheap, if power supply, you likely need to replace the supply, those are $50-100.
Very, I expect you will need a new cooling fan soon. Good news is those are not too bad, heck, it may just be that clean the dust off of it, and it will be fine. If the cpu, easy and cheap, if power supply, you likely need to replace the supply, those are $50-100.
Not very; it’s probably just a cooling fan coming to the end of its life.
However you do want to get that seen to pretty soon, because if it actually fails entirely, it has a good chance of breaking something rather more expensive than it.
Not very; it’s probably just a cooling fan coming to the end of its life.
However you do want to get that seen to pretty soon, because if it actually fails entirely, it has a good chance of breaking something rather more expensive than it.
That said, there’s a possibility that it’s actually your disk drive starting to fail. Which is Bad.
Can you figure out exactly where in your computer the whining is coming from? If it’s from the back, it’s probably one of the fans. If it’s from the front, it might be your hard drive.
That said, there’s a possibility that it’s actually your disk drive starting to fail. Which is Bad.
Can you figure out exactly where in your computer the whining is coming from? If it’s from the back, it’s probably one of the fans. If it’s from the front, it might be your hard drive.
Most computers are set up to stop the hard drive and CD-ROM from spinning if they haven’t been accessed in a while.
If either is worn out, this process could become a bit noisy.
In any event, it’s never a bad idea to make backups. 😉
Regular preventative maintenance also includes a can of compressed air — blow out the power supply fan and the CPU fan, and things will stay cooler.
Most computers are set up to stop the hard drive and CD-ROM from spinning if they haven’t been accessed in a while.
If either is worn out, this process could become a bit noisy.
In any event, it’s never a bad idea to make backups. 😉
Regular preventative maintenance also includes a can of compressed air — blow out the power supply fan and the CPU fan, and things will stay cooler.
In my experience that sort of thing is ususally a fan, that I ignore, that ends up overheating the computer, shorting out the power supply, and causing larke amounts of sparks and smoke. That’s happened to me twice now.
>.<
So take a can of air and clean out around the fan and in the case really well, and if it still makes the funny noise, replace the fan. If it still makes a funny noise, back everything up, because there’s a good chance it might explode. Especially if I’m nearby.
In my experience that sort of thing is ususally a fan, that I ignore, that ends up overheating the computer, shorting out the power supply, and causing larke amounts of sparks and smoke. That’s happened to me twice now.
>.<
So take a can of air and clean out around the fan and in the case really well, and if it still makes the funny noise, replace the fan. If it still makes a funny noise, back everything up, because there’s a good chance it might explode. Especially if I’m nearby.
how to clean a CPU
Ditto on the can of air. You’d be shocked how much gunk’s in there. If you’re doing it yourself and haven’t before, opening up and shutting back up a computer’s not much harder than filling your car’s gas tank, probably on par with checking your tire pressure and oil level. It’s perfectly safe so you 99.99% chance don’t need to back anything up. If you’ve done this sorta thing before, or if you can figure it out on your own, ignore the rest of this comment. 🙂
Shut down the computer and unplug everything from the CPU (I usually start with the power cord, but I’m probably paranoid). Place it gently (don’t drag or drop) on the floor in an area you don’t mind getting dusty. If there’s anything caked on the outside from animals or kids, now’s a good time to get it – use alcohol based wipes. If you or any of the kids have asthma, consider wearing a dust mask before opening the CPU.
Inspect the back and sides of the case looking for a piece you can take off. There may be up to 4 screws holding on a side or top panel, they may need a screwdriver, wrench, or just your fingers; there may be some tabs you have to push while sliding a side of the case; you may have just one side come off, or it may be two sides and the top. Sorry I can’t be more specific, they’re all different. If you can’t figure it out, take pictures from all sides (reassemble the computer) and post and we’ll figure it out for you.
Once you’re inside the guts of the computer, do NOT use water, and if you have to touch any of the circuit boards do so on the edges, gently. I take a can of air to the whole thing, getting out the big chunks first, then working methodically from the fans on down, getting every side of every item in there. Expect to use a half a can of air if you haven’t been in there in a year. If there’ve been any other problems, you can also reseat and wires with plugs and cards that go into the motherboard. First time I did this I took a sharpie and put little notes to myself along the case when I figured out what certain parts of did, so when I had to change a hard drive later it was faster for me to find which thing it was.
Put CPU back together the same way you took it apart – things should only fit together one way, and don’t force anything if you’re uncertain. Plug things back in to the CPU – again, everything should fit in only one spot with the possible exceptions of phone modem wires (if it doesn’t work one way, switch it), speaker wires (ditto), mouse/keyboard (look for colors or pictures), and USB wires (doesn’t matter, your computer will figure it out). Again, I do power cord last b/c I’d rather safe than sorry.
Once you’re done, turn it on and see what happens! Oh, and clean up the dust that’s now everywhere. Good luck. 🙂
how to clean a CPU
Ditto on the can of air. You’d be shocked how much gunk’s in there. If you’re doing it yourself and haven’t before, opening up and shutting back up a computer’s not much harder than filling your car’s gas tank, probably on par with checking your tire pressure and oil level. It’s perfectly safe so you 99.99% chance don’t need to back anything up. If you’ve done this sorta thing before, or if you can figure it out on your own, ignore the rest of this comment. 🙂
Shut down the computer and unplug everything from the CPU (I usually start with the power cord, but I’m probably paranoid). Place it gently (don’t drag or drop) on the floor in an area you don’t mind getting dusty. If there’s anything caked on the outside from animals or kids, now’s a good time to get it – use alcohol based wipes. If you or any of the kids have asthma, consider wearing a dust mask before opening the CPU.
Inspect the back and sides of the case looking for a piece you can take off. There may be up to 4 screws holding on a side or top panel, they may need a screwdriver, wrench, or just your fingers; there may be some tabs you have to push while sliding a side of the case; you may have just one side come off, or it may be two sides and the top. Sorry I can’t be more specific, they’re all different. If you can’t figure it out, take pictures from all sides (reassemble the computer) and post and we’ll figure it out for you.
Once you’re inside the guts of the computer, do NOT use water, and if you have to touch any of the circuit boards do so on the edges, gently. I take a can of air to the whole thing, getting out the big chunks first, then working methodically from the fans on down, getting every side of every item in there. Expect to use a half a can of air if you haven’t been in there in a year. If there’ve been any other problems, you can also reseat and wires with plugs and cards that go into the motherboard. First time I did this I took a sharpie and put little notes to myself along the case when I figured out what certain parts of did, so when I had to change a hard drive later it was faster for me to find which thing it was.
Put CPU back together the same way you took it apart – things should only fit together one way, and don’t force anything if you’re uncertain. Plug things back in to the CPU – again, everything should fit in only one spot with the possible exceptions of phone modem wires (if it doesn’t work one way, switch it), speaker wires (ditto), mouse/keyboard (look for colors or pictures), and USB wires (doesn’t matter, your computer will figure it out). Again, I do power cord last b/c I’d rather safe than sorry.
Once you’re done, turn it on and see what happens! Oh, and clean up the dust that’s now everywhere. Good luck. 🙂
h’okay… I took her PC apart, chased the dust-bunnies out, and gave the CPU fan a good spin with the canned air. It had enough dust on it to slow it down — there was quite a pile. The power supply fan wasn’t so bad, but that’s also not the fan making the noise. It spins more slowly, and is at the wrong pitch (yes, I could tell this by the noise it made when spun by the canned air.)
So… it’s definitely the CPU fan, not the hard drive. The PC is back on, and I’m not noticing the pitch drift (it would drop between a quarter-tone and a half-step, and then pick back up — very disconcerting) but the PC also spent 15 minutes being off while I dusted it out.
We’ll see, I suppose.
h’okay… I took her PC apart, chased the dust-bunnies out, and gave the CPU fan a good spin with the canned air. It had enough dust on it to slow it down — there was quite a pile. The power supply fan wasn’t so bad, but that’s also not the fan making the noise. It spins more slowly, and is at the wrong pitch (yes, I could tell this by the noise it made when spun by the canned air.)
So… it’s definitely the CPU fan, not the hard drive. The PC is back on, and I’m not noticing the pitch drift (it would drop between a quarter-tone and a half-step, and then pick back up — very disconcerting) but the PC also spent 15 minutes being off while I dusted it out.
We’ll see, I suppose.
It’s always nice to have technically competent help around.
.. says my wife. 🙂
It’s always nice to have technically competent help around.
.. says my wife. 🙂
Depending on the fan, if it is whining you may want to look into a replacement eventually. If you don’t go for the whole heatsink replacement and just get an appropriate sized fan and bolt it on, it will probably cost less than $10 including shipping. I personally keep a small supply of replacement fans around. When I had a fan in my power supply blow out several years back I didn’t replace it in time, and the power supply had some internal components explode. (A few capacitors, etc.) It took most of the computer with it as well.
I usually get my fans from Directron.
Depending on the fan, if it is whining you may want to look into a replacement eventually. If you don’t go for the whole heatsink replacement and just get an appropriate sized fan and bolt it on, it will probably cost less than $10 including shipping. I personally keep a small supply of replacement fans around. When I had a fan in my power supply blow out several years back I didn’t replace it in time, and the power supply had some internal components explode. (A few capacitors, etc.) It took most of the computer with it as well.
I usually get my fans from Directron.