Buzzing sound - is this the SSD or a fan and what's my best course of action?

StarshipJake

Reputable
Sep 3, 2016
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Hello!

I own an Acer Aspire VN7-792G laptop, had it for over a year and a half. It's a great machine and never had any problems before, nor did I go for any "personalization", as in it's still just how I bought it in terms of setup and everything.

About two months ago, I noticed that whenever I boot the system, scanning and repairing of disk C, the SSD with the system starts automatically. I checked the drive with the Acer Care Center tool, and after scanning it determined that the status of the C drive is "good". So, perhaps foolishly, I ignored the scanning as I encountered no other problems whatsoever, even though it continued with every system boot.
A month ago, I noticed a buzzing sound coming from the laptop. It started very quietly, and I originally thought it's the optical drive, but it suddenly got somewhat louder after two minutes or so, and in panic, I turned off the laptop and the buzzing stopped. After a restart and scanning again, the laptop worked perfectly again for a week or so, until the buzzing came back. I realized that the buzzing only comes when the laptop is using a lot of resources, as in a lot of memory etc, and the fan is working fast. I closed all programs and unnecessary windows, and after a few seconds, the fan started to work slower, and after a few more seconds, the buzzing very suddenly stopped. Another thing about the buzzing is that it starts from silent and slowly gets louder until it reaches a certain loudness (not very loud, quieter than snoring), but it stops suddenly.

So which is a more likely culprit when it comes to the buzzing, SSD or the fan?
Check Disk 1.5 determined there are "problems" with the SSD, but every scanning and repairing that commences with the boot seems to be doing its job, there are no other problems, no file loss, no info about a failed repairing or anything like that. The fan, on the other hand, hasn't been properly cleaned, I like to think that the laptop is in a good condition, but it's quite difficult to disassemble this particular laptop and I am not comfortable doing it myself. And the buzzing only happens, when the laptop is getting warm to hot, and only when using a lot of resources.

Is there a tool, which would be able to try and fix problems with the SSD? Or at least decisively determine, that it is a problem that requires intervention?
Is it a good idea to use the canned air on the fan without opening up the laptop? As in from the "outside" of the laptop and onto the fan?
Should I be saying goodbye to my SSD, or is the fact that the only symptom is occasional buzzing a clue that things might not be that terrible?

Thanks in advance!
 
SSDs are solid state, no moving parts so should not have any noise unless you have electrical issues and electrical buzz is very different from a mechanical one. It is most often higher pitches and has no vibration when it happens.
It is pretty much guaranteed to be a fan issue, either the fan itself, or something is loose in the system and is vibrating.