Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years
now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?
--
Tim Lamb

On 08/09/14 09:56, Tim Streater wrote:
In article , Tim Lamb
wrote:

Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

I thought all towers sounded like 747s all the time. Is why I don't
have one.

Cooling fan never cleaned ...

Ah, well now ...


Open the case and take some compressed air to it - *outside*

Disk is simple ot replace if you get to it before the old one is dead
and hook both up and boot with some cloning software from a USB stick or CD.

On Mon, 08 Sep 2014 08:54:56 +0000, Huge wrote:

Reinstalling everything is a PITA, but not complicated.

Not necessarily.

Use Clonezilla and an external HD, and it's a doddle to just shift
everything. No reinstall needed.

Tim Lamb wrote:

Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises.

First thought ... how good are your backups?

Second thought ... if the machine is used to being left on, now would
not be a good time to start leaving it switched off.

Tim Watts wrote:

Open the case and take some compressed air to it - *outside*

Some warn that you shouldn't let any fans spin too fast in the
airstream.

You might want to pop on a dust mask, if it is anything like my
last neglected machine was. :-(

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

You might want to check that you can actually get one first.
If it's IDE (or was it EIDE?)

Don't know if you can them new any more as it's all SATA these days.
.......... looks like you can get refurbished ones.
Quite how you refurbish a HDD other than give it a clean up, format and
check for errors it's still going to be old and of unknown running hours
(years)

In message , Andy
Burns writes
Tim Lamb wrote:

Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises.

First thought ... how good are your backups?

Not very. I have a Seagate 500Mb but rely in visiting adepts (SiL) to do
the job.

Second thought ... if the machine is used to being left on, now would
not be a good time to start leaving it switched off.

Concur.

Recent struggles with corrupted Firefox and Norton required lots of
restarts.


--
Tim Lamb

On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?


On my last machine the case/CPU fans started getting noisy, and I
removed an astonishing amount of dust from the internals. I also removed
and re-seated the CPU with new thermal compound after cleaning only half
improved the fan noise. I assume your data are backed up?

8 year old machine is pretty dated now. You can get a pretty good deal
on tower units a couple of years old via eBay; these come from trading
rooms, server farms, rendering farms, etc, where they buy high-end and
replace every couple of years. I'm running a Dell Precision 490 which
came with a new graphics card, new Windows 7 pro, and quite a lot of memory.

In message , www.GymRatZ.co.uk
writes
On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

You might want to check that you can actually get one first.
If it's IDE (or was it EIDE?)

Don't know if you can them new any more as it's all SATA these days.
......... looks like you can get refurbished ones.
Quite how you refurbish a HDD other than give it a clean up, format and
check for errors it's still going to be old and of unknown running hours
(years)

Pass!

Hardware is described as NTFS 50GB

HDS 722540VLAT20

I can do the compressed air bit:-)


--
Tim Lamb

On 08/09/2014 09:56, Tim Streater wrote:
In article , Tim Lamb
wrote:

Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

I thought all towers sounded like 747s all the time. Is why I don't
have one.

Not if you buy the right case. There are some that are almost completely
silent.


--
Colin Bignell

On 08/09/2014 09:54, Huge wrote:
On 2014-09-08, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years
now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

Like for like? Trivial.

Assuming you can buy a like for like replacement for an eight year old
machine. I usually reckon that a hard drive playing up is a sign that it
is time to build a new machine.

Reinstalling everything is a PITA, but
not complicated.

+1

--
Colin Bignell

On 08/09/2014 09:56, Tim Streater wrote:
In article , Tim Lamb
wrote:

Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

I thought all towers sounded like 747s all the time. Is why I don't
have one.

Not necessarily. Mine is essentially silent since it has a physically
large fan and no fancy 3D gaming graphics card at all. It barely uses
60W and sometimes on cold mornings the thermostat stops the fan entirely
until the CPU gets to 40+C - leading to a fan has stalled warnings on
boot. It hasn't - the noise management is just being frugal.

Silicone gasket and soft bushes on the screws makes PSU noise inaudible.

Cooling fan never cleaned ...

Ah, well now ...

Perhaps not wise. Best bet is as someone else advised mirror the disk to
an external drive ASAP and then add another. You probably have space and
connectors for at least 2x HD in any decent tower box.

But it is best to have a very fresh backup before meddling with it.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 08/09/2014 09:54, Huge wrote:
On 2014-09-08, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years
now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

Like for like? Trivial. Reinstalling everything is a PITA, but
not complicated.


Like for like, and while the old disk is still working

USB cradle with new hard disk
Then clone the old disk
Then just fit new disk and switch on.

Clean fan (filters?) and more importantly the fan/heatsink on top of the
CPU.

--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 08/09/14 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

trivial, but replacing the data on it less so.


--
Everything you read in newspapers is absolutely true, except for the
rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge. €“ Erwin Knoll

In article ,
"www.GymRatZ.co.uk" writes:
On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

You might want to check that you can actually get one first.
If it's IDE (or was it EIDE?)

Don't know if you can them new any more as it's all SATA these days.
......... looks like you can get refurbished ones.
Quite how you refurbish a HDD other than give it a clean up, format and
check for errors it's still going to be old and of unknown running hours
(years)

Last time I bought one, largest size available was 250GB (when SATA
had well passed that point).

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Mon, 08 Sep 2014 09:56:41 +0100, Tim Streater wrote:

In article , Tim Lamb
wrote:

Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

I thought all towers sounded like 747s all the time. Is why I don't have
one.

Sitting next to two large towers and I can't actually hear either of
them. Two more (SWMBO's) about 7 feet away and can't hear them either.

I did build them myself, and low sound emission was a goal. I agree that
built-down-to-a-price ones can be dreadful.



--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £30a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

Tim Lamb wrote:

Recent struggles with corrupted Firefox and Norton required lots of
restarts.

A few restarts are unlikely to see it off, but letting it go cold might.

Given this is a pretty old machine, still running XP, you could track
down an IDE drive, but is it worth it for a PC that owes you nothing?

I'd think about a new(er) machine - probably steer clear of anything
with Win8 as you're familiar with WinXP. Plenty of machines on eBay
along the lines of desktop 4GB memory, 500GB disk, Windows7 around the
£80-90 mark delivered.

Then ask the SiL to transfer the good bits you want (bookmarks, emails,
photos, documents, passwords etc) from old to new.

Tim Lamb wrote

Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises.
Whiny hum linked to hard drive while loading software.

That 'while loading software' is important.

Cooling fan never cleaned

That shouldn't see it make a noise only 'while loading software'

and m/c normally left running, about 8 years now.

That is unlikely to be relevant.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

Very easy if you know what you are doing.

But isnt likely to be the problem if you
only get the noise 'while loading software'

"Tim Streater" wrote in message
.. .
In article , Tim Lamb
wrote:

Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

I thought all towers sounded like 747s all the time.

More fool you.

Is why I don't have one.

More fool you.

Cooling fan never cleaned ...

Ah, well now ...

Shouldnt produce a noise only when loading software.

On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

Its easy if the old one is still working.

You fit the new one as a second drive, clone the old one onto it, refit
as primary drive.

It takes an hour or two depending on the size of the disk.

"www.GymRatZ.co.uk" wrote in message
...
On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years
now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

You might want to check that you can actually get one first.
If it's IDE (or was it EIDE?)

Don't know if you can them new any more

Corse you can.

as it's all SATA these days.
......... looks like you can get refurbished ones.
Quite how you refurbish a HDD other than give
it a clean up, format and check for errors it's still
going to be old and of unknown running hours (years)

Refurbished just means that its checked to see if its
working and sold as refurbished after formatting.

On 08/09/2014 10:45, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , www.GymRatZ.co.uk
writes
On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8
years now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

You might want to check that you can actually get one first.
If it's IDE (or was it EIDE?)

Don't know if you can them new any more as it's all SATA these days.
......... looks like you can get refurbished ones.
Quite how you refurbish a HDD other than give it a clean up, format and
check for errors it's still going to be old and of unknown running hours
(years)

Pass!

Hardware is described as NTFS 50GB

HDS 722540VLAT20

I can do the compressed air bit:-)

Its an IDE drive, Hitachi Deskstar.

As others have said, transfer or clone the drive onto a USB drive.

If your case is fine, then get yourself a motherboard bundle (with CPU,
CPU fan and memory), new SATA drive and CD/DVD drive. Most have
on-board graphics -check.

Your Power supply may be man enough, check with the motherboard manual.
In which case you'll need to make sure you have the right connectors
for the drives and the motherboard. You can get adapters.

Otherwise as other posters have suggested go for one on eBay, can be
good value if it comes with a genuine Windows 7.

On 08/09/14 11:05, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"www.GymRatZ.co.uk" writes:
On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

You might want to check that you can actually get one first.
If it's IDE (or was it EIDE?)

Don't know if you can them new any more as it's all SATA these days.
......... looks like you can get refurbished ones.
Quite how you refurbish a HDD other than give it a clean up, format and
check for errors it's still going to be old and of unknown running hours
(years)

Last time I bought one, largest size available was 250GB (when SATA
had well passed that point).

chances are that the MB has SATA sockets at that age even. But ATA still
available on ebay!.

I've got plenty of spares!

And SDRAM.

But if the drive is dead and the MB doesn't support SATA its almost
certainly new MB time.

Even if its a dirt cheap machine that is not new in itself.

This machine here us a scrapper that my PC supplier gave me in exchange
for some DDR3 RAM in a an old machine whose MB had gone. So far its cots
me 30 quid for 4MB new DDR2 RAM. The supplier threw in a scrap network
card because the onboard chipset had blown.

It used to run XP on 2MB, now it's flying with mint 17. and 6MB RAM!!

just needs a new graphics card now. Onboard cant quite keep up with 3d
adventure games;-)

The point I am making is that in the case where you have a dying hard
drive (BTDTGTTS) and an obsolete motherboard, its probably cost
effective to upgrade mire than just the disk.

pre-owned motherboards work, but pre-owned disks are not such a good idea.

Of course moving Windows to a new platform costs money usually, but then
its time to go linux anyway isn't it?


--
Everything you read in newspapers is absolutely true, except for the
rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge. €“ Erwin Knoll

On 08/09/2014 10:45, Tim Lamb wrote:

Pass!

Hardware is described as NTFS 50GB

HDS 722540VLAT20

I can do the compressed air bit:-)

If it's connected by a wide ribbon connector that also goes to your CD
drive it's EIDE (lots of pins on the back of the drive)

I'd buy/build a new machine and clone everything across then keep that
one as a "live" back-up should your new one die.

In fact my "old" pc running Vista was officially retired 2 years ago but
remains hooked up to the LAN and is still being used daily for shop
duties.

On 08/09/14 11:11, Andy Burns wrote:
Tim Lamb wrote:

Recent struggles with corrupted Firefox and Norton required lots of
restarts.

A few restarts are unlikely to see it off, but letting it go cold might.

Given this is a pretty old machine, still running XP, you could track
down an IDE drive, but is it worth it for a PC that owes you nothing?

I'd think about a new(er) machine - probably steer clear of anything
with Win8 as you're familiar with WinXP. Plenty of machines on eBay
along the lines of desktop 4GB memory, 500GB disk, Windows7 around the
£80-90 mark delivered.


+1

Then ask the SiL to transfer the good bits you want (bookmarks, emails,
photos, documents, passwords etc) from old to new.



--
Everything you read in newspapers is absolutely true, except for the
rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge. €“ Erwin Knoll

"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...
In message , www.GymRatZ.co.uk
writes
On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years
now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

You might want to check that you can actually get one first.
If it's IDE (or was it EIDE?)

Don't know if you can them new any more as it's all SATA these days.
......... looks like you can get refurbished ones.
Quite how you refurbish a HDD other than give it a clean up, format and
check for errors it's still going to be old and of unknown running hours
(years)

Pass!

Hardware is described as NTFS 50GB

HDS 722540VLAT20

It's an IDE and a quite small one at that, 40MB.

I can do the compressed air bit:-)

Unlikely to be that.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

This machine here us a scrapper that my PC supplier gave me
It used to run XP on 2MB

Impressive!

"Nightjar "cpb"@" "insert my surname here wrote in message
...
On 08/09/2014 09:54, Huge wrote:
On 2014-09-08, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years
now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

Like for like? Trivial.

Assuming you can buy a like for like replacement for an eight year old
machine.

You don't need to. And half way decent cloner doesn't need like for like.

I usually reckon that a hard drive playing up is a sign that it is time to
build a new machine.

More fool you.

Reinstalling everything is a PITA, but not complicated.

+1

And cloning to a non like for like drive is even easier.

"alan_m" wrote in message
...
On 08/09/2014 09:54, Huge wrote:
On 2014-09-08, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years
now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

Like for like? Trivial. Reinstalling everything is a PITA, but
not complicated.


Like for like, and while the old disk is still working

Doesn’t need to be like for like.

USB cradle with new hard disk
Then clone the old disk
Then just fit new disk and switch on.

Doesn’t need to be like for like.

Clean fan (filters?) and more importantly the fan/heatsink on top of the
CPU.

That is unlikely to be the cause of
a noise only when loading software.

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"www.GymRatZ.co.uk" writes:
On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years
now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

You might want to check that you can actually get one first.
If it's IDE (or was it EIDE?)

Don't know if you can them new any more as it's all SATA these days.
......... looks like you can get refurbished ones.
Quite how you refurbish a HDD other than give it a clean up, format and
check for errors it's still going to be old and of unknown running hours
(years)

Last time I bought one, largest size available was 250GB

Doesn't matter in his case, he only has a 40/50GB drive.

(when SATA had well passed that point).

"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...

Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to hard
drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?


When I plumbed in my external air line for pumping up tyres, I put it on QD
fittings and keep a blow off gun next to it. Makes blowing out computer
cabinets very easy and it's amazing what volume comes out! Being external
all the grot disperses and doesn't get all over the office!

Andrew

In article , Andy
Burns scribeth thus
Tim Lamb wrote:

Recent struggles with corrupted Firefox and Norton required lots of
restarts.

A few restarts are unlikely to see it off, but letting it go cold might.

Given this is a pretty old machine, still running XP, you could track
down an IDE drive, but is it worth it for a PC that owes you nothing?

I'd think about a new(er) machine - probably steer clear of anything
with Win8 as you're familiar with WinXP. Plenty of machines on eBay
along the lines of desktop 4GB memory, 500GB disk, Windows7 around the
£80-90 mark delivered.

Then ask the SiL to transfer the good bits you want (bookmarks, emails,
photos, documents, passwords etc) from old to new.

Second that, leave 8 alone, 7 works very well indeed...

Glad to see the back of XP here..
--
Tony Sayer

www.GymRatZ.co.uk wrote


On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

You might want to check that you can actually get one first.
If it's IDE (or was it EIDE?)

Don't know if you can them new any more as it's all SATA these days.
......... looks like you can get refurbished ones.
Quite how you refurbish a HDD other than give it a clean up, format and
check for errors it's still going to be old and of unknown running hours
(years)


Old Sky+ white boxes have IDE hds inside - think they're selling for
under a tenner on Ebay.

On Mon, 8 Sep 2014 10:35:43 +0100, Tim Lamb
wrote:


Recent struggles with corrupted Firefox and Norton required lots of
restarts.


I had similar problems a few years ago, I replaced everything except
the PSU, then discovered that the problem was the PSU, the only
failure I've had in more than 20 years of building my own PCs.

First find out what is making the sound. If you are lucky its the fans. A
good clean and stuff does wonders
If it is a drive, well it can be fiddly depending on how cramped the case
is, but the biggest test of human patience is cloningover the hard drive.
Take some advice and do it sooner rather than later, or you will need to
reinstall everything and that is a pain in the backside as most things are
out of date, cd discs lost etc etc, and many windows updates to download.
Set aside a couple of weeks for this alone!
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to hard
drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years
now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?
--
Tim Lamb

In message . com,
"Dennis@home" writes
On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8 years now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

Its easy if the old one is still working.

You fit the new one as a second drive, clone the old one onto it, refit
as primary drive.

It takes an hour or two depending on the size of the disk.

Hmm... running quietly now.

Help coming Thursday so I'll get things backed up and then review the
situation.

One problem for upgrading is Turnpike (mail and news reader) current
version will not easily work on a 64 bit system.

Amazing how many posters know more than I do about computing... or
perhaps not?

--
Tim Lamb

Tim Lamb wrote:

One problem for upgrading is Turnpike (mail and news reader) current
version will not easily work on a 64 bit system.

While 64 bit makes it possible to expand memory above 4GB later without
a re-install, not that many people need more than the 3.5GB limit of a
32 bit machine, so you could use win7 32 bit if you do decide to update
the machine, and stick with tripnuke.

On Monday, September 8, 2014 9:56:41 AM UTC+1, Tim Streater wrote:
In article , Tim Lamb

wrote:



Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to

hard drive while loading software.



I thought all towers sounded like 747s all the time. Is why I don't

have one.


They used to, but now they can be whisper quiet, you can go totally silent with a fanless PSU, fanless cpu cooler, SSD instead of a hdd etc. if you want.



Cooling fan never cleaned ...



Ah, well now ...



--

"Once you adopt the unix paradigm, the variants cease to be a problem - you

bitch, of course, but that's because bitching is fun, unlike M$ OS's, where

bitching is required to keep your head from exploding." - S Stremler in afc

wrote:

you can go totally silent with a fanless PSU, fanless cpu cooler, SSD
instead of a hdd etc. if you want.

At the moment something which is solid-state makes the most noise in my
tower PC (SSD, spinny discs all disconnected, slow 250mm case fan, CPU
fan on minimum, no graphics card, no control over PSU fan).

Doing an "ls -lR /" is annoyingly noisy, whether the SSH contents are
likely to be cached or not ... it could be the RAM or CPU, or maybe the
voltage regulator or capacitors on the motherboard, can't really get my
lug 'ole near enough at the moment ...

On 08/09/14 14:05, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message . com,
"Dennis@home" writes
On 08/09/2014 09:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
Desk top computer tower emanating strange noises. Whiny hum linked to
hard drive while loading software.

Cooling fan never cleaned and m/c normally left running, about 8
years now.

How difficult is replacing a hard drive?

Its easy if the old one is still working.

You fit the new one as a second drive, clone the old one onto it,
refit as primary drive.

It takes an hour or two depending on the size of the disk.

Hmm... running quietly now.

Help coming Thursday so I'll get things backed up and then review the
situation.

One problem for upgrading is Turnpike (mail and news reader) current
version will not easily work on a 64 bit system.

shove it in WINE under linux then ;-)

Amazing how many posters know more than I do about computing... or
perhaps not?



--
Everything you read in newspapers is absolutely true, except for the
rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge. €“ Erwin Knoll