Noisy Computer

by **UofMLaxGoalie11** on Tue May 15, 2007 8:04 pm

I was wondering if anyone has tips for quieting down what appears to be a noisy hard drive. It only has to work for a short time as I am seriously looking for another computer once I get a little extra cash.

**Sponsor**

by **Adam Gamradt** on Tue May 15, 2007 8:30 pm

If your hard drive is actually making the noise, you should back up your data immediately. It's about to fail.

It could be the fan as well.

But if it's the drive, you'll need to replace it. Try www.newegg.com for the best deal.

by **UofMLaxGoalie11** on Tue May 15, 2007 9:11 pm

Its been making noise for a while, but i just installed a new network card and it suddenly was worse. I moved it around a little bit and it is much more reasonable. Ill be fine until I can get my new computer. With this guy running strong for over 8 years, I expect it will be fine for another month or so.

by **Champ** on Tue May 15, 2007 10:42 pm

Hard drives get louder as they get more data. Try to defragment it so the data gets grouped together.

And if that doesn't work, back it up and format it. And if it is still loud after that, then your hard drive is probably failing as per what Adam said.

by **LAXDawg14** on Wed May 16, 2007 11:19 pm

is it the fan? you can replace those if its the fan, the fan runs more, the harder your comp is working

by **UofMLaxGoalie11** on Wed May 16, 2007 11:25 pm

putting my ear up to the inner workings of my computer, the noise seems to be coming from the hard drive. also, when i tweak it a little, it noise changes considerably.

by **Campbell** on Thu May 17, 2007 8:58 am

you could open your case up and turn the machine on. This might help you determine where the noise is coming from, like your HD, a broken fan blade, too much dust on your fans, etc. If your machine is under warranty then you probably shouldn't open the case as it would probably void your warranty.

by **Beta** on Thu May 17, 2007 9:02 am

UofMLaxGoalie11 wrote:putting my ear up to the inner workings of my computer, the noise seems to be coming from the hard drive. also, when i tweak it a little, it noise changes considerably.

Sounds like the fan. But with the price of hard drives you might as well get a new one of both.

www.pricewatch.com

bam!

by **horn17** on Thu May 17, 2007 11:50 am

Dan,

If your drive fails...ping me if you want the data....

Its what I do...and can help a buddy out occasionally....

Drives tend to run very noisey before they fail - like adam said, and if its running slowly...its probaly too full

Whats the noise sound like?

by **UofMLaxGoalie11** on Thu May 17, 2007 12:45 pm

Campbell wrote:you could open your case up and turn the machine on. This might help you determine where the noise is coming from, like your HD, a broken fan blade, too much dust on your fans, etc. If your machine is under warranty then you probably shouldn't open the case as it would probably void your warranty.

Firstly, I dont think many cars have warranties this long, as its still running windows 98 (98SE, thank you) and I have done other things (install more hard drives, install RAM, new video card) to void the warranty if there was one to start with. Also, the case is open right now and thats what I meant when I had my ear up to it. I am like 99% sure it is the hard drive.

I am not sure if it is my 80 gig or my 120 gig, but both are quite full. Ive actually been going through and deleting stuff recently to make more room. I think it is most likely the 120 as it is smaller (read:looks newer) and not secured very well (read:installed by someone lazy, me). Currently it is sitting at an angle, but if I bring it to level, it sounds like someone is using a router or other high speed cutting device under load. Every time I try to run a defrag, it comes back and says it has restarted 10 times and blah blah blah.

Also, I have heard that older files are not compatible with Vista, or at least you cant just throw and old hard drive in your new computer. Any word on this and what to do for data migration if I get my new computer soon?

by **Beta** on Thu May 17, 2007 12:51 pm

you can add a hard drive with any data (windows data at least) onto a system that's running windows.

windows 98 with 200 gigs (almost full) of HD space and factory RAM. That's like the hoover dam...made of balsa wood and bubble gum.

by **UofMLaxGoalie11** on Thu May 17, 2007 1:04 pm

Beta wrote:you can add a hard drive with any data (windows data at least) onto a system that's running windows.

windows 98 with 200 gigs (almost full) of HD space and factory RAM. That's like the hoover dam...made of balsa wood and bubble gum.

I upped the RAM, so now its at 384 I believe, rather than the 128 I think it came with. I know this system still sucks, but its better than the one I had up until 8th grade (2000, mind you). It was a 486 with 8 megs of RAM, a 1X CD-ROM (2X was a much more expensive upgrade when we got it), still had a 5 1/4'' drive and probably a 500 meg hard drive or so. We got it probably in 1992 or earlier, when CD-ROMs were pretty new, and I think we spent about $2000 on it then. I would pay $20 for it now.

by DG on Fri Aug 03, 2007 1:51 pm

Just a shout out to all Collegelax fans out there...I used Rob Horn to save my hard drive, and got EVERYTHING back. Rob is the man!

DG

Noisy Computer

Noisy Computer

Rob Horn is the man!

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