[AbraroLib]

I bought this computer I have in 2001 and got the biggest system they offered at the time. It's a Gateway. Since then, I've regularly
upgraded ALL software, and have a new wireless keyboard and mouse. These days I've been keeping all my pictures and stuff backed up regularly, becuase I know this one is getting old as computers go, and I have a horror of it cratering on me. But so far, not a problem one.......until now.

It's making a really strange noise. It's coming from inside the hard drive tower
thingy, and it's starts like a whine/roar thing that almost sounds like a spring
is popping or something. Then it will get louder and has kind of a shrill screetch to it....then it quits and goes back to a dull humming sound.

Does anyone know if it could just be the power box thingy with the fan on it?
Or does it sound like it's about to go plumb out? I fear it may be trying to crap out on me.

[advabHixavoip]

My hard drive made a scratchy sound before it crashed on me. You better make sure your all backed up because it just may stop real soon.

[Coededgeme]

Yeah....that's what I"m thinking. This one is 6.5 years old.
Probably time to start looking. But if I can just replace a part
or two I might put off buying a new one.

[Info-phone]

Make sure the fan shroud is clear of any debris. Invest in a can of compressed air, take the side panel off and blow all the dust off from inside the case. Be particular to the fans on the CPU and power supply. This will remedy most computer noise. It's usually caused by excessive dust and dirt build up.

Still this could not be the problem, might be more severe but it's a great place to start Kay.

[Muramoursuard]

Oh great advise Lee. Thanks, and I'll try that tomorrow.

[attanilifardy]

Oh great advise Lee. Thanks, and I'll try that tomorrow.

No problem. Depending on the dust/dirt build up, it might be wise to disconnect everything and do this task outdoors instead of blowing the dust back around your apartment. Of course, always disconnect the power cord before ever doing something of this nature.

[SkatrySkith]

I agree w/ Lee, it sounds like one of the fans although hard drives can make a whirring sound before they go out. He's right about disconnecting all power, taking it outside & using compressed air to blow it out. Don't ever use a regular vacuum cleaner on a computer or anything else that can be considered electronically sensitive equipment. Household vacuums put out an electro-magnetic charge that can cause damage and there are special vacuums made for use on computers.

[EmxATW5m]

Glad your back online Kay... guess you got your problem remedied? The fan on my computer wouldn't shut up... kept running and running constantly, even when I was away. I had to go eat my own words and buy a couple of cans of compressed air and clean out my unit.

Yea, the fan is still on overdrive on occasion, but it's clean!

[secondmortgages]

I haven't done mine yet Lee. It stopped making that squealing noise,
but it still seems like the hum of the fan is louder than it used to be.
I'm so busy right now with other things, I've not had time to run by
and get some air. I'm planning to do this and blow it out Saturday, when
I have enough time to unhook everything.

[Zhgpavye]

I haven't done mine yet Lee. It stopped making that squealing noise,
but it still seems like the hum of the fan is louder than it used to be.
I'm so busy right now with other things, I've not had time to run by
and get some air. I'm planning to do this and blow it out Saturday, when
I have enough time to unhook everything.

Best buy was out but they said the truck was coming in tonight. I was able to find some at Circuit City, they had a few left... I didn't want to brave the crowd at Wal-Mart. Of course there's always Radio Shack, Target et cetera.
Took me about 30 minutes to clean 'er out... well maybe a little longer... I went ahead and cleaned the monitor and the keyboard and vaccumed up all the dust behind where the computer sits. Much better, and everything is clean! You should have seen how much dust flew out of the CPU... no wonder the fans were howling. Nice and quiet now. I'll be in good shape for a few months.

[JessiPollo]

I dust all around in behind mine everytime I clean house. But I've never
cleaned inside the case. I can just imagine what it might look like in there
after all the years worth of dust build up. I'm so glad you pointed this out
to me, as I've never thought about it before. If it took you that long, then
this definitely sounds like a good Saturday project.

[SaLifHoq]

Best buy was out but they said the truck was coming in tonight. I was able to find some at Circuit City, they had a few left... I didn't want to brave the crowd at Wal-Mart. Of course there's always Radio Shack, Target et cetera.
Took me about 30 minutes to clean 'er out... well maybe a little longer... I went ahead and cleaned the monitor and the keyboard and vaccumed up all the dust behind where the computer sits. Much better, and everything is clean! You should have seen how much dust flew out of the CPU... no wonder the fans were howling. Nice and quiet now. I'll be in good shape for a few months.

That is why I use my air compressor with a blower nozzle.
Takes less time.

[duexjepevef]

Kay, your first mistake was to buy Gateway . You'd be better off building your own PC! I am quite happy with my homebuilt and I doubt I'll ever buy a desktop PC retail again. After all, can you buy a PC that will help you plan for a Caribbean vacation and give you a tan before you go off to that island?

Yep, a good cleaning is always in order. I have intake filters between the outside and my two intake fans (and the passive vent over my hard drive) to try to keep dust, cat dander, etc. out of my case. D&mn UV lights inside the case show all the dust bunnies, anyway. Gotta keep her clean, and that includes kiddo fingerprints on the clear side panel .

Kay, one of your fans might be telling you it's fixin' to go bye-bye. Sometimes you'll hear the noise you described when the bearings are starting to go south. Not to fear; if a fan does go out they can be replaced cheaply and easily. In many cases you can get higher quality and quieter aftermarket fans, like the Vantec Stealths I have in my Big Blue B!tch.

It could also be the fan in the power supply...a good hosing of compressed air will help there, too. Dust is a great insulator, and as power supplies put out a lot of heat, dust buildup could lead to premature power supply failure. Not unless you have a Ultra X-Connect PSU, however...those things are junk! I'll never buy another Ultra product again!!!

Doesn't sound like it'd be the hard disk...as Paragon said earlier those things usually make a "click click" death rattle before failing. It's always a good idea to back up all critical software information...with multi-gigabyte thumb drives getting cheap (and external hard disk drives getting there, too), there's no excuse for anyone to not back up their data. Data on a failed hard disk drive may be recovered, but usually at a tremendous expense...and there are no guarantees.

[moredasers]

Thanks for your thoughts Analog. I'm going to do the cleaning on Saturday.
I've never had a bit of trouble from my Gateway, and when I bought it at the time, I got the biggest and badest one they made with top of the line everything, so even though it's about 6 yrs old, it's still got more memory and power than todays low end systems. I've replaced all the software with the most modern (except for Vista...not going to that yet).

As for backing up, when I started using a digital camera exclusively for all my pictures, I definately started backing them up immediately. I have a couple of those 2 gig flash drive thingies and then I send my picture files to a compressed file and store them on those as backup.

[AsmViktor]

This is one of my biggest faults. I don't have enough of my data backed-up, nor do "I back-up" as often as I should. I do have a portable MiniDisc USB player/recorder now which holds a gig of raw data or audio, 675 songs in ATRAC3plus format, on each disc. It's so much easier having a few little MDs in the shelf than dozens of CDs that risk being scratched. So I really don't have an excuse not to back up critical information. I may have to start doing this today.

I would like to invest in an external USB hard drive, just so I can go around and backup various stuff in bulk... but for now the Hi-MD is so much easier to tote around. Did I mention the discs are really cheap? Anyway, I better get busy.

[elektikakass]

I back up photo's & documents to my second HD & I throw those to a set of DVD+RW's when I feel like it.

As long as I keep the rewritables scratch free I can just keep re-using them for data that changes regularly.

[siklop]

I back up photo's & documents to my second HD & I throw those to a set of DVD+RW's when I feel like it.

As long as I keep the rewritables scratch free I can just keep re-using them for data that changes regularly.

So you've had good luck thus far with the DVD+RW? Personally I've never used or bought them.

[Gaxiciverfere]

Kay, were you able to remedy your problem yet or are you still working on it?

[Cemeuncex]

So you've had good luck thus far with the DVD+RW? Personally I've never used or bought them.

Didn't see this.

Yes, I've had good luck with them as long as I put them in a case & only touch them to burn to them or read from them then immediatly put them back in their case.

If I don't, they get scratched & then they may or may not work anymore.

[CealialactBek]

Didn't see this.

Yes, I've had good luck with them as long as I put them in a case & only touch them to burn to them or read from them then immediatly put them back in their case.

If I don't, they get scratched & then they may or may not work anymore.

That's fine...
Yea, I've had about the same problems with regular CD+RW's. Even the slightest smudge on them will deem them almost useless. Good to know though, thanks! I may have to invest in some for backup purposes. Right now I'm just using standard DVD+R's and thats fine for now, but not as cost effective given the price.