Strange noises

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My computer is making some strange noise when booting up. Since a few months every time I start the computer a loud zooming, more rattling noise appears when booting then dies away when windows has been loaded.

I tried to look if there was something loose inside but I couldn't really find anything and I'm no expert and afraid to break something.

What could it be, and can I fix this myself. A discription of the component would be nice.

 

Have you tried booting it with the case off? If not that might allow you to get a better sense of where the noise is coming from.

My guess would be that there is something wrong with one of the fans but without hearing the noise I can't really say.

 

Your hard drive might be dying.

Make backups *now*.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I booted without the case and it's definately not my harddrive (phew), the noise seems to be eminating from my Nvidea 6600GT fan. Now it only makes the rattling when booting, never another time. It doesn't even make the sound if I reboot my computer within 30 minutes of switching it off.

Is my one year old videocard already dying or could it be harmless?

 

You said it yourself: the fan is keeping the noise, so there is nothing wrong in the card itself. In fact, my previous card had a similar problem when the moving parts got out of lubricant, resulting in this annoying, high-pitched noise.

Unfortunately, pretty much every video-card manufacturer has forgotten the aspect of maintenance. You can't remove the fan easily and you can't oil it without breaking it apart. The only solution would be to remove it completely and install a custom cooler or heat-pipes.

 

Yes you can oil it, just remove the card and apply some oil. Simple as that...