Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Resolved Question

PC fan suddenly making lots of noise, sounds overworked

Feb 26, 2015 8:49AM PST

Hi everyone,

The fan in my PC has suddenly become very loud occasionally. When it does make noise, it very suddenly sounds like it is being overworked and moving much quicker than normal. My PC has always ran very quiet and this has never happened before. It seems to happen most frequently when I'm acting on webpages, like pulling up something on Youtube or looking at things on ebay.

Just now, all of a sudden, without doing anything besides writing this message, the fan just now started doing it again.

...still going... >_>

Ugh, done.

Each spurt of noisey-ness lasts about 30sec-1min and then it stops for a time. The intervals in between each episode are varied.

I haven't relocated my PC in several months and this problem just started occurring about a week ago.

Only one thing has changed in how I operate my machine in the last week, and that one thing is that my PC performed an auto update. I am now running Windows 8.1 vs Win8 I was using up until about a week ago.

Could this be the cause? And then, if it is probable, would anyone happen to know how I can downgrade back to my previous settings for free? I'm not trying to buy Win8 after updating unknowingly >_>

I've looked at some options only, but most seems higher level than necessary. Or at least I hope. I was considering a System Restore?

I'm looking for advice and suggestions Team! If we need some other info please let me know and I will provide.

My PC:
http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c03499587

I'm running the stock model. No upgrades.

CPU Usage is pretty constant around 27-37%

Discussion is locked

Zanoske has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

- Collapse -
check fans for dust buildup
Feb 26, 2015 8:59AM PST

check all fans to see if there is a dust buildup on the blades. could be out of balance.

- Collapse -
Answer
At 3 years...
Feb 26, 2015 8:53AM PST

might be be time for the canned air and thermal paste.
Dafydd.

- Collapse -
Answer
This isn't an answer, but thank you both!
Feb 26, 2015 8:29PM PST

Thank you both very much for your input and ideas. I would have liked to say both of you answered my question correctly, but alas I can only say 1 did. And I don't know what thermal paste is =P

However, after 2 full cans of canned air, some wiping down, and some dust to my face, my PC seems to be running quietly again.

I really thought I had cracked this 'ol boy open about a year ago for a wipe down, but I definitely had not. Dust was caked on pretty heavy.

Thanks guys!