[Shinhwa LoVe]

I just happened to turn on my computer to find out that it's making a lot noise, this humming, whirring sound, and it's kind of loud. I don't remember it being this loud before. The only thing is that I just got it reformatted a couple of days ago! It is because of the hard drive or the fan? Or is it because I recently downloaded music which was a big file (zip)? Is it a virus or hacking?? Also, whenever I turn on the speakers, it makes a lot of noise too, maybe it's just the cable, I think?

[awdark]

Have you cleaned the computer fans recently? If you just had it formatted and lets say you moved it around you could have dislodged the dust on the fans to make them noisy.

[Shinhwa LoVe]

^ Hmm...well i kind of cleaned the outside of it before i took it to the store, but not the inside lol is it the fan? maybe it's the hard drive? The noise would be loud sometimes, then it would get quiet. I hope it's not a virus/hacking?? I'm getting worried, cuz i recently downloaded music n that's wen i noticed the noise coming from the comp. But i could be wrong...maybe i'm just being paranoid lol

[awdark]

You people are too paranoid... unless you use internet explorer and you click yes to everything online you're mostly safe.

If your hard drive is making abnormal noise, anything that sounds metallic would be from your hard drive... like screeches, clicks, and stuff and if thats the case your computer would probably be running really slow and your data is going to all go away forever soon.

If its buzzes or lower sounds then it could be like your drive spinning or your fans. The drive spinning does cause some vibration and sometimes your screws get loose causing more audible sounds.

If its a fan making the nose it would normally be loud when you start the computer, quiet down, then as you use it get loud again (because computers get hot as they run, especially if you go to sites or whatever that make the processor do a lot of work)

So we can't be sure unless you open the case and take a look for giant dust balls or carefully stop each fan with your finger (from the middle not the blade they hurt) to determine the cause.

[Shinhwa LoVe]

^ Oh i see...wow thanks alot for the info, sorry, i'm a bit paranoid...it's because up until now, i've been having some problems with my computer, in that, i had to actually reformat it like three times! no joke...so yeah...i just didn't want to go through all of that again...i apologize for the nuisance lol

[AzizOnDeck]

Instead of reformatting all of the time you're better off cleaning it using the guide located in the Trouble Shooting section I believe it will actually help a lot more than Formatting.

As for you're noise problem, do you have an air compressed can laying around anywhere? If so, unplug all the wires power plug first! and air can all the dust off of the parts and out... and to get all the excess vacuum out the rest. If you're not too paranoid about handling Computer hardware then you could try taking out the parts and dusting it out that way which would be more efficient.

But other than that, usually when I hear loud noises coming from it's just coming from a collection of dust or the computer is getting hot so the fan has to spin faster. If it's a collection of dust either clean it out or if you're lazy let the fan handle it and have it blow it out of the fan itself xD

[Carbinedevil]

Use a vacuum cleaner to suck the dust out from the outside.

[froggy604]

Vacuum cleaners are not good for cleaning computers since the belt on the Vacuum motor can generate a lot of static which can zap your computer parts. Unless the vacuum is a non-household non-static electronics rated vacuum desgned to vacuum sensitive electronic parts.

Plus, I read somewhere if the vacuum is a very strong it can suck up a capacitor, resisters, and tiny parts from your computers electronic boards which isn't good.

Using Compress air and bringing your computer outside (prevents you from inhaling the dust particles) to blow it is a better alternative.

[AzizOnDeck]

Plus I read somewhere that if you use a vacuum to suck out the dust from a fan, it'll cause the fan to spin too fast that it'll end up knocking off some life points. Don't really know how to explain >.< Just dust everything off

[froggy604]

It is also recommended to just use a little compress air to clean your computer since the fans were designed to only spin at a certain speed and compress air can make your fan over spin causing un-needed wear and tear.

Use short burts of air from compress air can to blow the dust out.

[Shinhwa LoVe]

^Wow thank you all for the advice, yea, i think i should get a fan to cool it down.