HP Pavilion Gaming desktop makes big whining/rattling noise occasionally

[vrajkuma]

When the system is running for some time, it starts making this rather load whining/rattling noise (seems like should be the fans but not sure). It only happens occasionally and goes away after a reboot. I am just using it for regular workloads (email, document editing, browsing etc) and not gaming. So CPU is not being taxed a lot. Appreciate any pointers on what could be the issue.

Video of this happening posted here: https://youtu.be/MsVOEIollAc

[itsmyname]

@vrajkuma -- your video shows a lot of dust on top of the computer, and, more importantly, a lot of dust plugging some of the holes in the side-panel. That dust is limiting the air-flow through that side panel.

The presence of dust on the outside of your computer suggests that there is a lot of dust in the heat-sink and in the fan on top of the computer's processor. That dust limits the distribution of the heat being generated by the processor. When the motherboard detects the "too-high" temperature of the processor, it increases the speed of the fan on top of the heat-sink. More speed of the fan implies more noise, as you have observed.

Please post a short video of the inside of the inside of the computer (when it is powered-off), to see if there is a lot of dust inside the computer's case.

[Prométhée]

hi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHV39wXOZ8g

[vrajkuma]

Hi, I checked the inside (pic below) and it was not dusty. I cleaned the external vents and will need to narrow down which fan is causing the rattling when it happens again.

 

[itsmyname]

@vrajkuma --  cleaned the external vents and will need to narrow down which fan is causing the rattling 

The cleaning should help, and you have a good plan to be ready for "next time".

Keep the side-panel connected to the case, but not screwed-in, so that you can quickly slide/lift it off, when you hear the noise.  Be very careful when getting your fingers near any fan-blade that is spinning.