Computer making grinding noise at start up

[HaZeDProPH3t]

Hey guys,

I just got my computer back from repair a few weeks ago, and all of a sudden when my computer has been off for the night, and I switch it on, the computer makes a grinding noise inside for a few minutes and then stops. Is it the fans, or could it be something else?

Regards,
Faris Al-Ahmadi

 

[mantadog]

It could be a wire catching on a fan, open up the side panel and see if you can see anything hanging close to a fan.

More worryingly, it would be a HDD on its last legs. What HDD do you have? if its a performance drive it could just be 'normal', it really depends on the exact noise.

 

[HaZeDProPH3t]

I've opened the side panel, there's nothing hanging close to the fan. It's weird that it only happens after its been left over night. I have:

1st Hard Disk 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

I just bought the computer in February, so I guess it really shouldn't be on its last legs. As soon as it starts up, there's this grinding noise that i hear close to the top of the PC, and then it gets a little worse but then stops suddenly after around 2 minutes.

 

[mantadog]

start the machine with the side panel off and stick your ear right in... depending on your case it very well could be a HDD noise.

I'm not familiar with the generic ones, but I know my caviar black goes mental for a couple of minutes as windows loads everything in at startup.

 

[Karnor00]

As mantadog mentioned, it's probably either a fan or the HDD.

If it's the fan, then it probably means the fan bearing isn't working properly - this is a fairly common issue. On the plus side this won't cause a performance problem, but obviously the noise is very annoying. And probably it's going to get worse with time. However it's fairly easy to get fixed.

If it's the HDD then it's typically a sign that the HDD is about to fail. Which could take all your data with it.

Either way I'd suggest calling PCSpecialist about it - since you only bought it in February, it should still be in warranty. They will probably be able to help you determine whether it's the fan or HDD.