Laptop making strange noises - any ideas? (Full Version)

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womble -> Laptop making strange noises - any ideas? (7/2/2008 9:19:26)

My laptop (a Dell Inspiron 1300) has developed a bit of a problem. A couple of months ago at times it started making horrible screeching/whirring/whining/rattling noises. Everything seems to be functioning okay (well, as okay as it ever does these days - it's about 3 years old now, the hard drive's almost full, and I've not got a huge amount of RAM in it - 760MB) and apart from the horrible noises it doesn't seem to be having any other problems apart from being slow at times, but it's never been super speedy).

It doesn't always do it - sometimes it can go for days or weeks without doing it, but at others it's every day. It tends to be particularly when I first switch on, though it doesn't start straight away, and sometimes it only kicks in after a number of hours. It'll boot up okay and start Windows, but after a few minutes it starts up with the whining etc. which gets steadily louder. Sometimes suddenly it'll stop, while others I have to reboot a few times to get to to stop (though I did discover the other day if I give it a solid thump on the casing near the keyboard, that sometimes stops it as well! [:D]). It doesn't seem to be linked with loading extra programs etc., and it doesn't seem to make any difference how many apps I've got open, or coincide with increased memory usage or CPU load (I've got the 'enhanced' task manager - Process Explorer - www.sysinternals.com - installed) which is leading me to think it's not the hard drive (she says hoping, with fingers crossed).

I've got the basic free SiSoftware 'Sandra' software installed as, and it's not reporting any problems on anything. The hard drive temperature it says is okay (currently 39 degrees, but there's no rise in temperature when the horrible noises start) and it's saying both the cooling fan and the hard drive's okay. It does tend to get very hot around the battery and also on the top on the left of the keyboard, but it's always done that.

I've sort of been guessing (hoping) it's just the fan that's a little unbalanced or something, and I've avoided taking it anywhere to have it investigated as because the hard drive's virtually full and it's not got a huge amount of memory (I can't add that much more apparently due to the configuration of the memory slots) it's next on the list for replacement, and I'm hoping I can nurse it through a few more months until I can afford to replace it.

Anyone any ideas?

...and onto my next question...Can anyone recommend anywhere in the UK for XP laptops? A couple of bits of my essential kit I'm fairly sure aren't Vista compatible (particularly Paint Shop Pro 8, which is essential, though I also use PhotoShop Elements as well), and the system I use to access work's servers when I'm working from home only works with XP, and I really don't want to go to Vista unless I really have to.



Donkey -> RE: Laptop making strange noises - any ideas? (7/2/2008 10:32:40)

I think the screeching sound is because the hamster has been running too fast and one side of his wheel has popped out.

These people are very good for laptops Novatech and they offer the choiceof XP or Vista on some models. They even do a Pink one.

Carol has one of their own brand laptops and is very pleased with it.

Also they are just down the road from your relatives. :~)



jaybee -> RE: Laptop making strange noises - any ideas? (7/2/2008 10:36:08)

Sounds like it's the fan but it could equally be the hard drive. I'll have a word with Harv when he gets home as he has the same machine and he used to fix em so he ought to know what's up. Better still. email him. I'll pm you the addy.



BobbyDouglas -> RE: Laptop making strange noises - any ideas? (7/2/2008 11:07:05)

Sandra won't tell you if something is loose, and I don't believe it would help you out with a dying hard drive either.

When you tap on your laptop case when this noise happens, does it stop?

If the sound you hear is more of a clicking sound, it is your hard drive. If it is a "screeching/whirring/whining/rattling" sound, then it could be the fan instead of hard drive. Dying hard drives usually click and whine, as opposed to rattle. You sometimes can hear the drives speed up and slow down periodically.

If you don't want to take it to a shop, the best thing to do in this case is see if there is a way to turn off a fan and see if the noise still happens. You need to make sure the laptop is still cooled, and I would probably do it when you initially turn it on, not after using it for awhile. (Don't unplug it while it is running, just take it out while the laptop is still cold).

As long as you don't hear a clicking sound, you should be ok, I would still suggest making a backup just in case though.



jaybee -> RE: Laptop making strange noises - any ideas? (7/2/2008 13:35:47)

quote:

see if there is a way to turn off a fan and see if the noise still happens.


Which is why I gave her Harv's email addy. He's an ex Dell engineer.



womble -> RE: Laptop making strange noises - any ideas? (7/3/2008 5:22:53)

Ta Banana-Lady - message received. [img]http://ecanus.net/smileys/coolup-blue.gif[/img]

Yep, I was just checking out Sandra to see if the hard drive temp looked okay Bobby. Personally, I think Donkey's probably right - the hamster's been running incredibly fast recently, so I suspect it's wheel. [:D]

quote:

If the sound you hear is more of a clicking sound, it is your hard drive. If it is a "screeching/whirring/whining/rattling" sound, then it could be the fan instead of hard drive. Dying hard drives usually click and whine, as opposed to rattle. You sometimes can hear the drives speed up and slow down periodically.


It's definitely more of a "screeching/whirring/whining/rattling" sound - no clicking. Even when there's no nasty "screeching/whirring/whining/rattling" there's still sometimes a periodic slight rattling. It doesn't seem to be connected with the drive speeding up - I spent half of an afternoon a couple of weeks ago after switching off the Akasa cooler I usually use it with off with my ear glued to the keyboard trying to figure out which bit of it seems to be making the noise (seems to be towards the left) and what brought it on/made it worse - with the result that my nephew now thinks I'm crazy and in the serious way only 8 yr olds can do explained to me that if if want to hear music on your computer you have to plug the headphones in. Bless! [:D]

Hmmm, I'll check out Novatech Donkey - I was looking at Mesh yesterday and their prices don't seem too bad - I'll probably be coming down later in the year anyhow to give my cousin some training on running a forum after I've finished his website. [;)]



BobbyDouglas -> RE: Laptop making strange noises - any ideas? (7/3/2008 14:56:13)

Replacing a fan on that laptop is a huge PAIN. Don't expect it to be an easy task, definitely not as simple as installing some extra memory.

It does sound more like a fan issue to me. It's unfortunate that it is a laptop, as they are much harder to fix, especially with weird issues like this one. Is it under warranty still?

Sometimes you can control the fan speeds via the BIOS, but I don't believe you are able to enable/disable the fan completely. The best thing to do is bring it into a computer shop that can detect where the noise is coming from (going to be fairly expensive to fix, probably $100-$200). If you don't want to do that, there are a couple things you can try yourself.

Every second your fan is turned off, it could cause overheating, so it is definitely not something you really want to mess with unless it really bothers you.

If you're savvy enough, you could just start taking the laptop apart (while it is powered off), look for loose screws, and hopefully find out where the noise is coming from. It isn't too complicated to take apart the laptop, you just need to make sure you keep track of how you take it apart, so you can put it back together correctly [8D]

Good luck [8|]



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