Computer noises.........?

R

Robbie Roberson

Joined
Dec 27, 2003
Messages
1,983
Hello, I have a fairly new Dell, standard $599 model, could not tell you much more because I don't pay much attention to that stuff.

The thing I can't figure out is what is all the constant scratching noises going on inside my machine ? It scratches like mice trying to get out of a tin pan. Sometimes it is so noisy I can tell when I get emails just by the scratching :D ......I really don't like this machine, it is IMO not much better than my older one, and it had windows 98.

The thing that really drives me nuts is every day it tells me my firewall is not on, everyday I click to check and it says it's on. Then about every two days the time drops back an hour, never forward, always loses 1 hour ! I reset it and it's fine for a couple days. It also sends me messages that it has had a malfunction and ask if I want a report sent, I always say no.


My old machine was slow, but this thing is weird ! Over all it does the job and works fine but I thought computers had improved much more than this.

Robbie Roberson :(
 
I don't know about the firewall issue, though that seems to be more of a m$ problem than a dell one.

As far as the scratching noise, why don't you open up the case and see if there is a mouse in there. :D


j/k
Anyways, it is most likely your harddrive. When it is writing or seeking, it will make that clicking noise. Some of them are quite loud. Then again, this may not be the issue at all.

You can always try dell tech support, though I doubt they would be of much help.
 
Is that noise regular (like spinning fans or HDs) or irregular (head movement in HD or CD/DVD) ? I assume it's the latter. If that is the case you hould check to see whether HD light blinks when you hear that noise; also make sure your CD/DVD drive is empty and then wait for that noie to appear again if it doesn't you obviously nailed it).

"Mouse getting out of tin pan" unfortunately doesn't provide much clues :D
 
If you want, you could record the sounds that your computer is making if your computer has a microphone and your new computer came with a program named sndrec32.exe. Sndrec32.exe creates Wave (.wav) files, and has controls just like a rudimentry [and old-fashioned] cassette tape recorder.

I hate to say it, but if you've been hearing this noise ever since you first started your computer, you might just have a noisy one. Calling Dell and talking to them may be more help. They might tell you that they've received several phone calls about extraordinarily loud computers. If you might have one of a particularly noisy batch, then they may have a remedy for it...but if you're past the 30-day return "window," I don't know what your options might be.

Usually, failing hard drive sounds occur after several years' use and your computer sounds newer than that.

The thing that really drives me nuts is every day it tells me my firewall is not on, everyday I click to check and it says it's on. Then about every two days the time drops back an hour, never forward, always loses 1 hour ! I reset it and it's fine for a couple days. It also sends me messages that it has had a malfunction and ask if I want a report sent, I always say no.
Click to expand...

That stuff is too strange. It could be a Microsoft™ glitch or it could be a virus or a Trojan Horse. I'd definitely give Dell a call, tell them what you've told us, and see what happens.

Good luck!
GeoThorn
 
Yes, I know it's hard to pinpoint, it does sound like the hard drive writing, but what the crap does it have to write about when nothings going on it seems ? It 's not the fan motor I am sure because it seems to be silent sometimes.

It is constantly sending me false info. like the firewall stuff and it seems to be awfully slow starting up sometimes. I turn it off after use because I just don't trust it to run all the time. I have AVG and all the updates are recent and I have all the required windows stuff. I just think it has a glitch in it somewhere that resets time and gives notices.

What really gets me is this, I can be sitting reading a thread when all of a sudden it starts scratching like it's writing a book, I check for possility of ongoing updates being auto loaded and there is none, nothing going on, it's like something has all of a sudden kicked it in gear to write. :confused: It may be perfectly normal, just thought I would see if anyone else had any gremlins in their machines. :D I don't use CD/DVDs,it's empty, and it's about a year old now, it's always done it.

Thanks for your help,
Robbie Roberson ;)
 
While I don't have any solution to your problem, I will say that for $599 Dell is NOT giving people any frills. Those are bargain basement computers, meant strictly for entry level buyers. They use the cheapest components possible on those machines. That means, noisy fans, drives, etc...
 
Danbo, I think your right, and the other advice/info. is also probably correct. I'll just have to live with it I guess, but it is odd that sometimes while everything is perfectly quite, it all of a sudden sounds like someone dumped a hundred BBs in a pie pan, they roll for about 15 seconds and then it stops. It really hacks me off because I know it's doing something, like incoming email or something, it just makes me a nervous wreck because I know it's up to something. :rolleyes:

Robbie Roberson ;)
 
Didn't your computer come with a mouse? :D :D

** Rimshot **

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.



It definitely sounds like the hard drive. Even if you're not doing anything in particular, the swap file may be accessed, which would cause hard drive activity.

Not knowing how loud this is, I can't tell you the severity of the problem. An out of balance hard drive will die sooner (worst case). Vibrations from a loosely attached hard drive is just an annoyance (easy fix).

Can you open your case without voiding your warranty? Do you know what to look for inside? If so, try checking the screws holding the hard drive to the case. If they're loose, tighten them. If they're snug, you should contact Dell if it's loud enough to cause concern. Some hard drives do make a lot of noise just because, in which case you may want to look into a vibration dampening kit. Let me know if you want to go that route, I have a lot of experience silencing computers.
 
S2nd, thanks for the info. It's not loud, so I don't think it's going to crash, just annoying to me. I've also noticed it does it most of the time when I go to a web site, it scratches for a moment until the page loads.

When you say sharing, exactly what does this mean ?

Robbie Roberson ;)
 
Just maybe it could be your drive is fragmented and those are seeks you hear. You could try defragmenting your drive to seek if that helps. I think there is a free disk checker somewhere.

COuld maybe be spyware/adware mucking with you too.
 
what ever it is,, you probably should get an external hard drive and do one serious backup.

It won't fix it's self.....

It will fail.
 
Robbie Roberson said:
S2nd, thanks for the info. It's not loud, so I don't think it's going to crash, just annoying to me. I've also noticed it does it most of the time when I go to a web site, it scratches for a moment until the page loads.

When you say sharing, exactly what does this mean ?

Robbie Roberson ;)
Click to expand...
Not a problem :). Sharing = The swap file? If so, the swap file is essentially space on your hard drive that's used like slow RAM.
 
Thanks guys, doing some checking now, ran all the checks for spyware, all shows good, next I'll check hard drive.

Robbie Roberson ;)
 
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