PC Humming noice at startu

Older Dell Dimension that I upgraded with two new hard drives.

Started humming at startup before I did the upgrade. Thought it was the main fan so I replaced it. Still hums.

I press start and immediately it kind of "groans" for a minute until it's booted up and then it's gone.

I think I read somewhere that it's the hard drives "getting up to speed" but that doesn't sound right, does it?

Any ideas?

Thanks,

V.

 

PSU.

 

It could be your hard drives. I had one do that because it was spinning out of alignment. It died soon after. Take your case cover off and start it up. Then you will know for sure.

Wilt

 

Thanks Wilt. Good idea.

 

It may be your power supply is about to fail. As suggested, take the cover off, put your ear next to the computer and power it on.

 

That was going to be my suggestion.

 

Oh, and don't be afraid to touch your components running. It can still be hard to tell what's acting up by sound even with the cover off. If you feel something that seems like its vibrating too hard; there you go. Also, if you touch something and it quiets down, that will let you know as well. That might also mean you just need to tighten it down.

Wilt

 

Thanks guys...appreciate it!

Man, I really screwed up that thread title, huh?

I'm glad you knew what a "noice at startu" was

V.

 

Since noise vibrations resonate everything around it and if you are still uncertain which component is the problem, take a 2 or 3 foot piece of flexible tubing that's about 1/4 or 5/8 inch in diameter and carefully stick one end in your ear and then use it like a stethoscope.

That's how I found an LP gas leak that was filling the basement up with super fun combustible fuel. There was a speck of a hole in a copper pipe just as the pipe enters the house.

 

Only times I've had noise at startup which soon resolved itself.... was due to lack of PSU fan lubrication. Sometimes works to squirt some silicone spray into small opening between the fan hub and its housing... otherwise, just replace the PSU. (Wouldn't recommend trying to replace the PSU fan unless you know your way around PSUs and capacitors.... even then, likely not worth the risk for the potential money to be saved.)