Loud fan noise

[DarkCloud]

My roommate has an HP Media Center desktop. It was bought a year ago so its fairly new. However, lately he's been having problems with his internal fan. There will be times at random when the fan just goes off very loudly, almost like when you use a vacuum. It will often stay that way for several minutes. He believes the fan noise started the minute he let another friend of his use his PC, thinking it may have to do with a virus of some sort. We've ran several virus and spyware checks, and all things seem normal. What could cause something like this, and is it cause for concern?

HP Media Center

[eyeball]

i suspect that if you open the computer and clean out the fans the noise will dissapear

[prx984]

Either the fan is dirty as Eyeball said, or the bearings in the fan are shot. Stuff isn't made the way it use to be, so I really wouldn't be surprised if the bearings are gone.

However, it does sound more like theres a large clump of dust caught in the fan and its rubbing against the blades.

Time for a cleanin' (don't have the computer sitting on a floor if it is either, that makes it much worse. Try to keep it on a desk if possible.)

Cheers

[Zxian]

Like what's been said, it could either be dirt or poor fan quality. It'd also suggest cleaning them out.

You'll have to identify the source of the noise if the cleaning doesn't get rid of the noise.

[ Moved to Hardware Hangout ]

[ripken204]

well if it only happens for a few min, it may also be due to overheating, considering its almost summer and all. the cpu gets hot and the fan will turn on high until the cpu is down to a certain temp. but definatly check to see if it needs to be cleaned.

[Ponch]

Usually, the fan goes full speed at startup untill the CPU takes control of it. If that noise now is different than it was before, it is a dirt/dust/hardware problem. If the noise is just the same but happens more frequently during normal use, then it's a heating problem. Or no problem at all.