www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Our PC is around 7 years old and has recently started making quite a noisy humming, whirring sound. Only lasts for a few minutes (at seemingly random times) and everything still seems to work OK, so I'm very reluctant to start messing around with it. On the other hand I've got this awful feeling that one day it will sieze up or something. Anyone had a similar problem? Cheers.

Could be your fan thats causing the noise, if it packs in your computer will overheat and not start up.

You could quite easily take the fan out and get a replacement pretty cheaply

As above.

Also, you could try clearing dust from the fans as it can build up a fair bit in these sorts of areas.

1st - Try to clear any dust from the machine
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Air-Duster-Larg ... B000N7VKYK

Take the lid off and listen for the noise - will maybe a fan somewhere.

2nd - If after cleaning the dust the noise continues you will need to replace the fan. The bearings will be wearing out. Fans are not expensive, if you can post a picture (with something for scale) I can give you several links for a replacements

(Worst case!)- IF its not fan : The only other moving parts are the hard drive or PSU fans which shouldn't really be serviced by end users. If your hard drive is noisy, get a replacement. Any local PC world can transfer your data for you! Otherwise a new PSU would be more work but not difficult to replace, prices start from £20 for basic ones but decent PSUs are ~£50+

if its the hard drive bearings going (possible at 7 years old) then backing up your data is a must ASAP (back ups should be a regular thing anyway just in case)
could be something catching the fan blade intermittently
turn the computer off and take the case side off and have a look for dust build up, labels loose etc
if nothing is apparent clogging fans etc, then turn it on and listen to try and pin point where the sound is coming from.
I would NOT trust pc world to turn a computer on, let alone try to recover data. thats my opinion though, but one shared by a lot of people.
PSU is easy to swap, all the connectors can only be inserted one way round and into one type of socket.

My bet is on the hard drive dying though. So buy another and back-up the data from your hard drive onto a cd / dvd/ usb stick as well as onto the new hard drive.[/i][/b]

I only suggest PC world as an example, there's hopefuly a local PC repair man. But without knowing someones skill level PCworld (or similar) maybe the safest option

gib: I'm just talking generally, I'm not digging at you, sorry if it came across that way

I have had BAD experiences with PC World, their lack of knowledge and bad practices scare me sometimes. One branch I went into had no knowledge of company return policies. despite me being assured that I could return the product (covered by a service plan) to any PC world for a no quibble exchange.....no quibble my a**e ugh

If your PC is 7 years old you should be thinking about getting a new one. If you have not upgraded at all in those 7 years then it would be uneconomical to repair even a fan if you had to pay someone to do it for you.
Technology has come so far since then and come down in price you could pick up a PC far superior to what you have now for a fraction of the price you paid 7 years ago.

Thanks very much for all the help, especially the offer to help find a new fan if necessary. Much obliged folks. I will try cleaning any dust out when time permits, and see how it goes from there. Thanks again.

If you can't afford a new PC then do that NOW. The fan could stop all togeather at any time 30 seconds to 5 mins later if its still switched on you will HAVE to buy a new PC weather you want to or not.

Ron, why not have a go at building yourself, with all the help on the forums you could be up and running within a few days, and it would also give you a better understanding of how computers work.

Scott- I Totally Agree with you about PC world, half the stuff they know is staight out of a book, and there Guidlines for repairing problems is as follows

1 Recieve PC
2 See what's useful they cn have on there
3 go for a brew
4 FORMAT
5 do a P**S Poor Job of Re-Installing Everything
6 Charge you a shed load of money for something a 6 year old could have odne
7 Give it back saying its all fixed wheres my money or no computer..

(The Above is not 100% Accurate but i bet im not far off)

Antony

mikew1972 wrote:If you can't afford a new PC then do that NOW. The fan could stop all togeather at any time 30 seconds to 5 mins later if its still switched on you will HAVE to buy a new PC weather you want to or not.

I think it will be OK if it's only a case fan......

gday2uk wrote:

mikew1972 wrote:If you can't afford a new PC then do that NOW. The fan could stop all togeather at any time 30 seconds to 5 mins later if its still switched on you will HAVE to buy a new PC weather you want to or not.

I think it will be OK if it's only a case fan......

***IF*** its the case / PSU fan it would more likely than not be OK and will just shut its self down though it could produce an over voltage as it melts and fry the motherboard, HDD etc. It COULD even start a fire.
If its the processor fan *most likely* it WILL fry the processor and quite possibly permanently damage the mother board as well.

A processor fan literaly costs a few pounds and takes 30 seconds to change.

I think my advice to look at the problem NOW rather than "when time permits" was valid.

Ron Manager is now in an informed position to make the decision to investigate his problem now or "when time permits"

gday2uk wrote:

mikew1972 wrote:If you can't afford a new PC then do that NOW. The fan could stop all togeather at any time 30 seconds to 5 mins later if its still switched on you will HAVE to buy a new PC weather you want to or not.

I think it will be OK if it's only a case fan......

Dont foget its 7 years old too.. not many boards had thermal sensors on there either

mikew1972 wrote:***IF*** its the case / PSU fan it would more likely than not be OK

There is a difference between the two (case & psu), but you knew that right

Yes, if it's the psu fan it can be dangerous and destructive.
If it is just a case fan however used for moving air in/around the inside of the case it won't make much difference to the ambient temperature inside the case unless you have a monster rig with a couple of massive graphics cards and 5 hard drives buzzing away which I'm guessing you don't.

It's 7 years old - you're flogging a dead horse.