PC making noise, is it okay? (Potentially Hard Drive)

Moonlight

Moonlight

Member
My PC has been making noise recently, I believe it's coming from the hard drive although I'm not 100% sure. It's sort of a grinding/whirring sound. Is this okay? I'm worried about the hard drive potentially dying. I've had this pc since March 2022 that I got from this site. I've heard some people say that some noise is normal, and some people say any noise is a bad sign.
I would've sent the audio file in this post but it doesn't let me.

These are my specs:
Case: COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU): AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU
Motherboard: ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI
Memory (RAM): 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card: 10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive: 4TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive: 500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe
Power Supply: CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
 
B4zookaw

B4zookaw

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
To confirm it's the HD that's causing the noise, unplug the sata cable to it (when PC is turned off) and then restart PC. IF the noise is absent, then you've confirmed the HD as source.

If it is the HD, then a grinding sound is not good, and generally indicates drive is failing. Having said that, the Ironwolfs are noisier than other HDs, so might be worth loading your recording to youtube or somewhere and link here?
 
Moonlight

Moonlight

Member
IRLRobinS said:
To confirm it's the HD that's causing the noise, unplug the sata cable to it (when PC is turned off) and then restart PC. IF the noise is absent, then you've confirmed the HD as source.

If it is the HD, then a grinding sound is not good, and generally indicates drive is failing. Having said that, the Ironwolfs are noisier than other HDs, so might be worth loading your recording to youtube or somewhere and link here?
Click to expand...
I'm not good with computers and I don't think I should be trying to unplug the sata cable. I'll likely break something.
Here's the link to the sound my computer makes:
The mic was placed next to the pc, it's not super loud normally but definitely noticeable at times.
 
B4zookaw

B4zookaw

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Moonlight said:
I'm not good with computers and I don't think I should be trying to unplug the sata cable. I'll likely break something.
Here's the link to the sound my computer makes:
The mic was placed next to the pc, it's not super loud normally but definitely noticeable at times.
Click to expand...
Sounds pretty normal to me
 
S

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Yeah Iron Wolfs are really loud for internal storage they are designed to go on server racks not really into regular desktops so they are quite a bit louder than other drives
 
Moonlight

Moonlight

Member
I was using my pc earlier today, no problems but it was dusty, so I cleaned it with some compressed air. And when I turned it on later it started making some loud sounds. They stopped after a short moment. I thought perhaps it was just the loose dust or something, but then I tried playing a game and the loud sounds continued very loudly. Here is the link to how it sounds:
(You may have to increase the volume, my microphone doesn't pick it up very well but it's louder than how it sounds)
I tried playing a game installed on the HDD and SSD, neither of them changed how it sounds.

These are my specs:
Case: COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU): AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU
Motherboard: ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI
Memory (RAM): 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card: 10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive: 4TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive: 500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe
Power Supply: CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
 
B4zookaw

B4zookaw

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Martinr36 said:
Sounds like a cable is touching a fan possibly
Click to expand...
Yeah I'd agree, not the best of recording but it's a strong possibility. You might have dislodged a cable and now a fan on the GPU or case is hitting off the cable as the fan spins. Either that or you damaged a fan by allowing it to spin in the compressed air and it's been knocked off its bearings.
 
Moonlight

Moonlight

Member
I couldn't hear any noises from any of the fans when I flicked them, and I don't see any cables touching the fans.
It makes the noise on startup for a few seconds then stops until I play a game, and then stops again shortly after I close the game.
It sounds like it's coming from one of the 3 front fans.
Would manually setting the fan speed to something a bit slower with a program be okay? To see if it works. I'd watch the temperature to make sure it doesn't overheat.
 
Moonlight

Moonlight

Member
Nevermind, it does sometimes make the noise for a moment when I open something like chrome, most of the time it doesn't.
Is there any way I can get this repaired? I still have the 1 year parts warranty but I don't know if that will cover this since it was probably my fault.
I can't really afford expensive repairs anymore
 
B4zookaw

B4zookaw

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Did you check the GPU fans? IF it occurs when you play a game, that's normally when a GPU fans start (other times they are idle)
 
B4zookaw

B4zookaw

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
If it was me, I'd be trying to narrow down the source of the noise. Play a game with the side panel off and stick your head in to see if you can pinpoint where it's coming from. Then trace it down. You could always use fan software to ramp each fan up one by one and see if that helps locate it.

Once you're aware of the noise, it would wreck your head listening to it I bet, so be good to get it resolved.
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
IRLRobinS said:
If it was me, I'd be trying to narrow down the source of the noise. Play a game with the side panel off and stick your head in to see if you can pinpoint where it's coming from. Then trace it down. You could always use fan software to ramp each fan up one by one and see if that helps locate it.

Once you're aware of the noise, it would wreck your head listening to it I bet, so be good to get it resolved.
Click to expand...
Yeah, same here, even being a third party, it'd love to know what's actually causing it, and yeah ramp each fan up using the software
 
SimonPeters116

SimonPeters116

Enthusiast
Martinr36 said:
Yeah, same here, even being a third party, it'd love to know what's actually causing it, and yeah ramp each fan up using the software
Click to expand...
I'm intrigued as well now.

@Moonlight, when you say "front middle fan", are you referring to your front of case fans?
Or is it that your GPU is right there in front of you, when you take the side cover off, so that is "the front"?
 
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