[SOLVED] Computer Loud ONLY on Startup

[BigFattyPlus]

I've been noticing this issue for a few weeks. When I power on from cold (off for longer than four hours), it's VERY loud. But after a few minutes, it quiets down and then it's just a hum. I did have issues with two of the cooling fans (they shook and spun weird), but I oiled them and they don't shake. The CPU fan itself doesn't shake or look off balance. And I have cleaned it.

Should I worry about this, or is it common for 2+ years old computers to be loud on start-up, like us old people feel when we first get out of bed?
Just worried, and my anxiety is making the worry worse.

 

[tennis2]

My 7 year old PC is just as quiet as the day I built it

Describe "loud". Is it:
High fan speeds (if so, have you identified which ones?)
Untypical fan noise (if so, have you identified which ones?)
Noises from hard drive(s)
Coil whine from PSU/GPU

Did the noise recently start, or has it done this since day 1. If it recently started, did it gradually get worse, or did it occur suddenly? Was there a hardware/software change at the time that may be the culprit?

 

[alceryes]

Are you able to determine the exact source of the noise?

If not -
Grab the inner tube of a paper towel roll.
Open the side of the case.
Turn the power on.
Hold the tube to your ear while moving the other end around to the different fans in the case (without touching anything with the tube, of course)

Also, when oiling case fans, be sure to use the right kind of oil (sewing machine oil works well). Sleeve bearings can actually be damages by using the wrong oil (like WD-40).

As for worrying. I wouldn't worry too much as long as your temps haven't suffered. However, if it were me, I would just replace the fan that is starting to make noise just to be sure.

 

[Paperdoc]

I would bet that you are hearing the first symptoms of bearing wear in at least one fan.

For any fan the bearings wear slowly over time so that the clearance between the shaft and the bearing material bore gets larger. When the fan is cold, typically that's when the gap is largest. After a few years of use, it is large enough that, on a cold start-up the shaft "rattles" in the loose bearing sleeve for a short time. But as the bearings warm up, the shaft expands more than the bearing sleeve and the gap gets smaller, so the rattling stops and the fan get quiet. Typically this starts out with a noisy period of less than a minute, but its gets longer as the fan gets older and the bearings wear more. Eventually if nothing is done the bearings may get so badly worm that the fan seizes up and stops working entirely. Before that happens (could take months to a couple years) you should replace the noisy fan.

With today's fans usually you cannot oil the bearings and solve this that way. Here's another way to identify the noisy fan. Get a pencil with a soft eraser on the end. Open the case and start up. One at a time, gently reach in with the eraser and stop a fan for a couple of seconds, then let it go. You'll find the noisy one (MAYBE more) pretty quickly.

 

[BigFattyPlus]

Are you able to determine the exact source of the noise?

If not -
Grab the inner tube of a paper towel roll.
Open the side of the case.
Turn the power on.
Hold the tube to your ear while moving the other end around to the different fans in the case (without touching anything with the tube, of course)

Also, when oiling case fans, be sure to use the right kind of oil (sewing machine oil works well). Sleeve bearings can actually be damages by using the wrong oil (like WD-40).

As for worrying. I wouldn't worry too much as long as your temps haven't suffered. However, if it were me, I would just replace the fan that is starting to make noise just to be sure.

It's a loud sound like a fan, btu I am not sure. I will try the listening with a tube trick when I have the chance. I have been planing on replacing the fans when i got my tax check, though I have never done that before.

Also, i used some I think 3-1 oil and did the trick the first time.

 

[tennis2]

You can stop one fan at a time with your finger on the fan hub.

 

[BigFattyPlus]

UPDATE: I did the tube trick and it helped identify that the third cooling fan is the culprit. It's not shaking or looking off balance, so small miracle there. But I WILL be replacing all three cooling fans. Any recommendations on what brand to buy?

 

[tennis2]

If RGB isn't desired:
Low Price - Cooler Master
Mid Tier - Fractal Design
High End - Noctua

 

[Paperdoc]

I prefer Noctuas myself, but that's a preference. In general they deliver high air flow against good backpressure specs, use modest current, and generate lower noise than many comparable units. They have a wide range of models and features, so check their website to help you decide. They are more expensive than some, but durable - they come with a 6-year warranty and many people report they last a good time longer than that.

 

[BigFattyPlus]

I prefer Noctuas myself, but that's a preference. In general they deliver high air flow against good backpressure specs, use modest current, and generate lower noise than many comparable units. They have a wide range of models and features, so check their website to help you decide. They are more expensive than some, but durable - they come with a 6-year warranty and many people report they last a good time longer than that.

I am looking at Noctua fans I am liking what I see. Any particular ones? I have no clue what size I need as I have no way to measure mm.

 

[tennis2]

You don't have a ruler? Google can convert inches to mm also.

 

[Paperdoc]

You could use Google to convert inches to mm, but you could do it yourself easily. 1 in = 25.4 mm. So a 120 mm fan size measures pretty close to 4¾ in. A fan chassis is square, and that dimension is the length of one SIDE.

 

[BigFattyPlus]

..............derp. I am dumb. I think I have 120mm.

 

[BigFattyPlus]

Sorry for the double post, but I need to ask another question. One of my case fans has started making noise again. I had oiled it about 2 months ago and it stopped, but it's doing it again. How long can I wait to get new fans? My case has 3 fans PLUS the cooling fan on the cpu. The only reason I wait is because I am trying to find out everything about what I need because I don't want to make any mistakes when getting and installing the new fans.

I suffer from bad anxiety and the noise is bothering me a lot; I fear the vibration will damage my computer or cause other issues, but it also scares me that I might screw up getting the fans. I'm sorry if I sound annoying.

 

[Paperdoc]

My guess is that this noise problem has this pattern which MAY have started some time ago. The fan makes a lot of noise when you first start up the machine after it has cooled down completely, but then the noise goes away. As time went on the problem became worse and the period of noisy initial operation got longer. Maybe it has become a continuous problem by now. Is that the history?

IF that is what has happened, and IF the fan now makes noise for a few minutes and then gets quiet, you have a few months at least before it fails completely. But if the fan makes noise all the time, it could fail completely at any time. The vibrations it causes will not hurt your system, ASSUMING that the noisy unit is NOT the one mounted on your CPU. It is just annoying. If it does fail, normally that means it seizes up so badly that it just does not turn and is permanently quiet. Then you get no noise, but no cooling from it, either.

IF this actually is the CPU cooler, the vibration is still not a big issue for now. BUT it likely means that your CPU cooling is not as good as it should be, and that total failuire can leave you with NO cooling for the CPU quite suddenly. Then you could not use your system until the CPU cooler is replaced.

 

[nick_v15]

Does your bios have a fan controller?

 

[BigFattyPlus]

My guess is that this noise problem has this pattern which MAY have started some time ago. The fan makes a lot of noise when you first start up the machine after it has cooled down completely, but then the noise goes away. As time went on the problem became worse and the period of noisy initial operation got longer. Maybe it has become a continuous problem by now. Is that the history?

IF that is what has happened, and IF the fan now makes noise for a few minutes and then gets quiet, you have a few months at least before it fails completely. But if the fan makes noise all the time, it could fail completely at any time. The vibrations it causes will not hurt your system, ASSUMING that the noisy unit is NOT the one mounted on your CPU. It is just annoying. If it does fail, normally that means it seizes up so badly that it just does not turn and is permanently quiet. Then you get no noise, but no cooling from it, either.

IF this actually is the CPU cooler, the vibration is still not a big issue for now. BUT it likely means that your CPU cooling is not as good as it should be, and that total failuire can leave you with NO cooling for the CPU quite suddenly. Then you could not use your system until the CPU cooler is replaced.

No, every time there's noise, that's the first thing I check, but there's only fan noise coming from it. The offenders are the case fans. But should I replace the CPU fan anyway?

Does your bios have a fan controller?

I would imagine it does, since I got it 2017, but I am not sure.

 

[Paperdoc]

What I said about the pattern of noise applies to any fan, not just the CPU cooler. So the same thing can happen to a case fan.

If you can identify which fan is noisy (or more than one, replace that, but you do not need to replace any quiet ones right now.

Re "BIOS with fan controller". I presume what nick_v15 meant was, can the mobo fan headers control fan speeds according to BIOS configuration settings? I am sure the answer is yes. Further, most systems when delivered are set to do exactly that, and not to some other configuration. If you want to check for sure, you can observe carefully the start-up sequence becasue almost all mobos that CAN control fan speeds do this. Open the case if necessary so you can see the fans and hear them clearly. Boot the machine and observe each fan very carefully for the first 5-10 seconds. What normally hapens is that ALL of the case fans and the CPU fan will start up at full speed and stay that way for a very short time. Then, as the POST self-test process finishes, all the fans will slow down to a "normal" speed. After that their speeds will change a little from time to time as cooling needs change. IF you can observe the fast-then-slower speed changes, then your mobo IS doing automatic fan speed control.