I'll try that. I've got two bd/dvd/cd optical drives in it too that I unplugged a few minutes ago. It only does it on cold start after it's been shut down for several hours and it sounds awful. It sounds like a bearing eating itself. As I'm typing this it's so quiet I can barely hear it running. Hadn't thought about the power supply fan so I need to check that.
If it turns out to be the hard drive can I upgrade it to something better? If so, which one?
Thanks for the info. I should know what's wrong tomorrow when I start it up. Yes, it has regular SATA connectors.
Found it, it's the power supply fan. Looks like it's enclosed in it's case and I can't see a way to get it out. I guess I need to find a power supply for it and change it out as a unit. I'll be spending the day looking for the part number or a used one.Yeah its gotta be a fan or the hard drive. As for optical drives I'm doubting they would be that loud and awful sounding but unplug the power to them just to check
If it is the hard drive I would recommend backing up anything you care about to a online storage service while you can, or to a external hard drive or USB stick
Dell's website lists the storage as SATA 3.5 inch , so assuming they don't use some wacky proprietary connectors you should be able to use any 3.5 inch SATA hard drive.
If you want another 2TB hard drive I'd recommend this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H2RR55Q/ref=twister_B088VRPJCS?_encoding=UTF8&th=1
Just double check the connectors on the hard drive to make sure they're normal sata connectors. They should look like this:
https://previews.123rf.com/images/f...components-electronics-of-computer-equipm.jpg
Found it, it's the power supply fan. Looks like it's enclosed in it's case and I can't see a way to get it out. I guess I need to find a power supply for it and change it out as a unit. I'll be spending the day looking for the part number or a used one.