My computer might be sick.

April 16, 2008 11:07 AM

My computer gets extremely loud at random moments.

I have a Dell desktop with a rather large tower. Lately, every once in a while, it sounds like a really loud fan turns on inside the tower. I thought maybe this only happens when it's been on for a long time, but today I only had the computer on for 30 minutes and it started. Everything is fine, computer is working normally and then BAM -- it gets REALLY loud for a good minute and then gradually stops. What's going on? Should I be concerned? FYI -- The computer works fine and at normal speed when the fan sound is on. Also, the computer is nearing it's third birthday and it definitely did not do this for the first two years.

posted by als129 to computers & internet (8 comments total)

It's probably your fan. It will turn on when it gets too hot, which it may do if you're computer's working real hard (not just when it's been on for a long time). You can try cleaning out the fan with some duster. Giving all the internals a good dusting could help with heat issues to.

If that doesn't work, you could try to replace the fan.
posted by toekneebullard at 11:12 AM on April 16

Second that. That's just your fan working properly. If you'd like to keep the fan quiet (as all right-thinking people do) you might try cleaning the inside, as Mr. Toeknee suggests.

Depending on where you have the case, you might be able to solve the problem just by moving it. If it's backed up in a corner, move it out where it's got some more room around it. If it's in the sunlight, put it in the shade. Etc.
posted by echo target at 11:17 AM on April 16

Try opening up the case and blowing out dust with compressed air. If the air flow is impeded, your computer will get hotter faster, and the fan will come on more often. You can get cans of compressed air at any drugstore, although a real air compressor works better.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 11:49 AM on April 16

I found that the stupid program windows uses to connect with an xbox 360 as a media extender periodically fires up and eats 50% of my cpu cycles indexing my media. makes the fan go crazy.
posted by Amby72 at 11:55 AM on April 16

Is it possible that something like a wire is slipping into the blades of the fan then getting pushed out? I've had problems like that.
posted by alexei at 12:13 PM on April 16

Agree that it's probably the fan. Next time it happens, press CTRL-ALT-ESC to bring up the Task Manager. On the Process tab, sort by CPU % and see if there's something with a high value. This is what's causing the high load.

(If it is the CPU causing the fan to come on, it's not actually harming your computer.)
posted by justkevin at 12:14 PM on April 16

Thanks everyone! Looks like I'll be dusting this weekend.
posted by als129 at 3:06 PM on April 16

If the thermal compound or thermal pad between the heatsink and the CPU core has stopped doing the job properly then this may cause what you are hearing.

When a modern CPU starts doing something (loading a program or whatever) it will generate more heat. This heat needs to be dissipated as quickly as it is produced otherwise it will increase in temperature. Most fans for cooling the CPU increase the speed proportionally to the temperature. If the heat is not conducted to the heatsink well, then the CPU temperature will rise much higher than normal causing the fan to speed up rapidly.

Over time it is possible for some types of thermal pads and compounds to lose their effectiveness in conducting heat to the heatsink. Try applying new thermal compound after removing the old stuff / pad (there are lots of guides on the internet on how to do this).
posted by oliverst at 4:33 PM on April 16