Hi I was wondering if their is something wrong with my front pc fan. It makes this horrible grinding noise sometimes. I didn't have a problem with it until I replaced the hard drive which checks out fine with smart. This only happens occasionally. My hard drive is a WD red.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. A video is below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGvU-T3o_Ls
Sounds like a wire, cable or something is hitting the fan blades. Maybe when you installed the new drive.
Have you checked the fan for any interference?
I'm not sure where to start what do you mean by interference. The front was cleaned with compressed air because it gets very dusty because of my dog. Also some days it starts up fine. Im actually running it like this right now posting from there.
He means interference with the fan blades. Check inside the cabinet for misplaced wires interfering with the fan blades. Since it started after you replaced the drive, it's quite likely you may have moved some wires.
"Front PC fan".
I guess you mean it's an intake fan on the front side, not an exhaust and not a CPU fan.
I'd guess that PC is at least 4 years old? Fans go bad naturally sooner or later. If something is not actually striking the fan blades that may be what's happening. Check to ensure the fan isn't loose and vibrating in its mount and that the blades aren't striking something.
Otherwise, just replace it. A decent intake fan can be had for $10 or so. Scythe is a good brand.
Its probably a wire the computer is only 2 years old it has a 550 to 2 tb HD 6 core processor and 16 GB of ram it might be a bad fan I'll have to open the case later and check. Also does anyone have any tips for dealing with dust its in a basement and it gets a lot of it in the front.
I looked inside the computer for any interference and there is none. Also my computer has a translucent case with blue lights in some spots and the fans spin up fine. Yesterday it decided to grind again and I picked up the PC while it was running to move it out to inspect the inside through the see through case. Before I could get it out all of the way the noise suddenly stopped.
Does anyone know what this could mean?
Thanks Topazkitty.
If the fan blades aren't actually striking something, it's apparently an intermittent problem and they can drive you crazy.
If you are 100% positive it is a particular fan making the noise, I'd just replace it. Be sure to get a fan of the same diameter with an identical connector. All fans fail sooner or later and I wouldn't spend much time wondering why.
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