PC noise

[Dizeee]

My 6 year old Acer has started making a noise. Its like that metallic noise you used to hear on old computers as they clicked and whirred, only this is now doing like the second hand of a clock, click, click, click in perfect time and formation. Its constant and never ends.

It came about when I opened the PC up around 2 years ago to clean it, every time I turned it on after that I had the Warning - Your Computer has been Opened message and if I didn't press F1 after a few minutes this whirring would escalate to a horrible noise. A few times it has re booted without us knowing, for an update or something, and we have come back in to the room to find it sat on the Warning - Press F1 screen and the PC sounding like it is chewing through a pack of paper cups.

I opened it up again tonight and the noise is coming from a beige box in the corner with two connectors into it. It says data and sart or something similar.

The PC is clearly fked anyway - question is, will it catch fire if left on?

[Dizeee]

No it's not the DVD or CD drive, totally different part of the PC. This box is on the bottom and not accessible.

[Dizeee]

Can do photo but to save me opening up the entire PC again I have just done a short video of the sound and popped it online as that's probably easier.

Here it is : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es0p3Kd_0KM

[Dizeee]

The fan I have turned and cleaned, its def not that. The sound is coming from inside a box unit in the corner - probably the hard drive based on previous comments. Could there be another fan in or near there?

[Dizeee]

Ok I have just prepared a nother vid with PC opened up. The thing making the noise is a box with Data /SMS cache and 320GB written on it. I have showed it in the video...

Thanks

Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovb1GEoEhE8

[Dizeee]

Yes cheers - if it goes now, we haven't lost too much.

[Dizeee]

I have passed the unit onto a local geek who has cloned the existing 320gb drive and replaced it with a terra byte drive, so no more noise. Annoyingly it has not sped up the computer which still takes an age to kick into life and get going, as well as opening programs etc.

[Dizeee]

Ssd?

[Dizeee]

Is there a way of cleaning or de fragging I can do?

[Dizeee]

That will involve taking it all apart and back to the geek and more money etc so I am going to have to make do.

[Dizeee]

It means taking the computer to a guy 8 miles away... being without it for a few nights and paying even more money for the privelage. I couldn't afford the 100 pounds he charged to clone the drive so I have no choice but to make so I'm afraid.