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6:06 am
March 7, 2011
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JWH
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I have an older 2004-2005 HP Pavilion desktop (a1010y Intel Pentium 4 (2.93 MHz) with 1 Gig ram and 160 GB hard drive plus CD and DVD Writer and Windows XP). For the last few years their is a loud fan that starts whenever I click on a link or ask the computer to do something. It is very loud and will run for an hour straight if you are at the computer doing research or reading E-mails. It may go completely quiet for a few seconds but then it takes off. It is very loud and the noise becomes torture after 10 minutes. I've opened the case and blown out the dusk to make sure it is not dirt heating up the processor and that doesn't help. I've even left the side off so that it could get more air; no help either.
Any ideas why this things sounds like an airplane getting ready to take off?
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7:51 am
March 7, 2011
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Ben Carpenter
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Post edited 12:53 pm – March 7, 2011 by Ben Carpenter
JWH said:
I have an older 2004-2005 HP Pavilion desktop (a1010y Intel Pentium 4 (2.93 MHz) with 1 Gig ram and 160 GB hard drive plus CD and DVD Writer and Windows XP). For the last few years their is a loud fan that starts whenever I click on a link or ask the computer to do something. It is very loud and will run for an hour straight if you are at the computer doing research or reading E-mails. It may go completely quiet for a few seconds but then it takes off. It is very loud and the noise becomes torture after 10 minutes. I've opened the case and blown out the dusk to make sure it is not dirt heating up the processor and that doesn't help. I've even left the side off so that it could get more air; no help either.
Any ideas why this things sounds like an airplane getting ready to take off?
JWH
I am wondering if it is the hard drive instead of a fan. You are there and hearing things and have opened the box so you can investagate. But your statement that it starts when you click on a link or ask the computer to do something, makes me think that when you do this you are asking the hard drive for information and before that the hard drive was in sleep mode and when it wakes up and runs it is noisy. I would think about getting every thing backed up if you do not already have it backed up.
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Ben Carpenter – http://www.benc.com
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9:57 am
March 7, 2011
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warrantyvoider
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Ben's advice about backing up your drive is sage, indeed. I doubt it's your drive, though. If your drive had been making a noise that mimics a loud fan, it probably wouldn't last a few years.
Some things that come to mind:
It could indeed be a fan (probably the processor fan). Can you crack the case open while the machine is running and verify which component is making the noise? Bear in mind that a wildly spinning CD/DVD drive can sound almost exactly like a fan. I think your pavillion has integrated graphics, so I also don't think it would be a GPU fan.
If it does turn out to be your processor fan (and I think it will), then it's possible that an application (like flash, for example) is pegging your processor at times and causing the cooling fan to kick in. Do this: Start task manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL) and click the processes tab. You'll see your CPU usage down at the bottom. See if there's any correlation between the fan speed and the CPU usage going to 100%. If your CPU pegs at 100% after opening Google Chrome, for example, I'd be suspicious that something else is ALSO opening (like probably flash). If you've never done a clean install of windows on this machine, I suggest you try it.
If there isn't any correlation between CPU usage and fan speed, you might have a hardware issue (bad processor or motherboard, bad fan, ineffective thermal paste between CPU and heatsink, etc…). If this is the case, you have to decide how heroic you want to be in repairing a 6+ year-old computer. New PCs are pretty cheap these days.
Best of luck!
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Warrantyvoider 27" Core i7 iMac
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6:01 am
March 8, 2011
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JWH
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Noice is not hard drive or DVD.
And for the record – I have an external HD and perform regular back ups; always have.
Well the CPU usage percentage was interesting.
Fan off = bouncing between 2-5-20% repeating
Fan running = Bouncing between 5-47-75% repeating
Click on a link = bouncing between 40-75-100% repeating
Scroll the mouse and jump from page to page = bouncing 75-100% repeating
I need to jump onto another PC to see if that is normal.
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9:28 am
March 8, 2011
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warrantyvoider
| | Detroit | |
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Those numbers don't sound TOO abnormal. In your original post, you mentioned that the fan will run at high speed for an hour straight under normal use. I was expecting to see that CPU usage at or near 100% for an extended period of time while the fan was running at high speed……..
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Warrantyvoider 27" Core i7 iMac
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5:54 am
March 9, 2011
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JWH
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The fan was running while bouncing 5-47-75 and 40-75-100. And if I am using the PC it will run for an hour straight or three hours straight. It runs continuously when watching videos on web pages or YouTube. I will be in another room and without PC activity (screen saver on) I will occasionally hear the fan cycle on and off. I am puzzled because I never hear a hi speed fan on my other desktop. I never hear a high speed fan on my work PC. I never hear a hi speed fan on my lap top. Today I used my finger to slow the fan down while running in airplane mode. Naturally as I slow it down it gets quieter but lift my finger and I am back on a crop duster. What is the hi-speed fan for? Can't believe I have high heat. Fan stops when usage stops. If heat was a factor it would take a few minutes for the processor to cool down.
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6:59 pm
March 9, 2011
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warrantyvoider
| | Detroit | |
| Member | posts 59 | |
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JWH said:…… It runs continuously when watching videos on web pages or YouTube. …….
That's kinda what I'd expect. YouTube (and most other streaming video sites) use Flash, which is probably the most CPU-intensive thing a general computer user will do on a daily basis. I keep returning to the thought that either your CPU is heating up, or your PC THINKS your CPU is heating up. I know you say you can't believe it's a heat issue, but that's the leading candidate as far as I'm concerned. That said, you're back to maybe checking that thermal paste between the CPU and heat sink.
I still think it MIGHT be worthwhile to back up and re-install Windows, just in case it's a weird software issue. Or, download a Linux liveCD distro and run THAT for a day or two while you observe what the fan does.
If it ends up being something else (the fan itself, the motherboard, or the CPU), I'd think long and hard about whether it's worth it.
Bottom line: Think excessive heat, or the PC's perception of excessive heat. Troubleshoot it from that angle. I think your answer lies there.
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Warrantyvoider 27" Core i7 iMac
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4:37 am
March 11, 2011
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JWH
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I'm wondering if it is a program I've loaded that stays running in the background. I am going to try starting in SAFE mode or somehow starting without loading all of the programs that have been installed over the years.
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4:54 pm
March 15, 2011
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asi
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JWH
Have you cleaned the dust and crap that accumulates off your fan blades? A little bit of inbalance can cause the fan blades to make strange noises.
A bad fan bearing can create the most unusual sounds and noises. Fans are cheep, have you tried swapping?
J. R.
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