Intermittent wobbly metal spring-like noise coming from PC

[sentur]

Every so often I hear an odd spring-like noise coming from my PC tower. It sounds a bit like the noise a metal or plastic ruler would make when flicked of the end of a desk. Or a bit like a spring returning to it's relaxed state. It's quite a metallic and long sound, mid-pitchish and with some up and downs in the pitch, I think.

It happens at irregular periods, lasting about 5-10 seconds. I can't find a pattern to when it happens, ie it's not happening at 10 mins after booting up. Sometimes I'll hear it once in an hour and then other 3 or 4 times in the space of 10 mins.

I'd read around it being a potential issue with a Seagate drive I had installed, but I suspect that's not the case. I recently replaced the Seagate drive, and disconnected the power to it. But still the sound persists intermittently.

Any ideas what else it could be?

 

[Jesse_20]

Case fan going bad maybe? The bearings go out after awhile and they will wobble, sometimes making contact with something, like wires or the housing.

 

[sentur]

Any suggestions on how to test if this might be the case?

 

[Jesse_20]

Opening the case and trying to hear where the sound is coming from is the best method, but you can unplug a suspect fan when you hear the noise and see if it stops. You should leave the side of the case off so you can get in to check faster since the sound is only intermittent.
You can also try to lightly tap on the middle of each fan while it's running and see if that sound occurs.


There are only a few actual moving parts inside your case, and they are mostly fans. Other possibilities could be the Power Supply or disk drives.