How to Fix It When Your Computer Is Making a Buzzing Noise. When your desktop computer sounds like a jet taking off, there are a couple of likely culprits: fans and the hard disk. These components are more likely to be loud if they’re older, when wear and tear and dust settles in. If your laptop is loud, it’s best to contact the manufacturer, as the solutions for laptops can be different.
Diagnosing the noise
Many different reasons could cause a buzzing sound coming from your computer.
- A loose component in the case
- Fan-related issue
- Failing hard drive
- Power Supply
Usually, it’ll be something innocuous and easy to fix, but there’s always the possibility it could be a sign of something more serious going on.
The first step to fixing excess noise is to pinpoint the issue. It’s likely you have a problem with your fans or the hard drive. The two biggest culprits for excess noise in computers are fans and the hard disk. Fans are used to move the heat produced by the processor, motherboard, and graphics card out of the computer. If the fans are loose, too small, or not powerful enough, they can create noise. Hard disks can also make noise as the platters spin and the head seeks data. Loud noise is generally a very bad sign and should be dealt with immediately.
Computers can also make noise if any components have come loose and are vibrating against the frame of the computer. If the computer is in the wrong area, any noise from inside the computer can become amplified.
As computers age, they acquire dust, pet hair, and lint, which can block fans from running efficiently. Parts can also come loose, or just wear out, increasing vibrations and noise.
How to Fix Your Computer When It’s Buzzing
A general buzzing sound isn’t an apparent symptom of a problem. Therefore, it’s not a great way to diagnose an issue. However, here are some things to check and look for and some potential solutions to those problems.
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Rattling, vibration, buzzing: If you’re hearing a buzzing sound that sounds like something is vibrating or rattling around inside your PC, it could be there’s a loose screw or cable that’s moving around or stuck in a fan.
An excellent way to test for this is to turn your PC off and tilt it forwards, backward, and side to side to see if you hear a screw or something else rattling around as it falls or moves around the case.
If it sounds like something’s loose in there, all you need to do is unplug your PC’s cables and open up the case. Then use a light to see if you can find the errant screw or object causing the rattling or buzzing sound. You should also check any fans you have to see if any cables or other things are obstructing them and causing them to make a noise when they spin up.
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Loud fans with buzzing: If your computer’s fans are running faster and louder than usual with a buzzing sound, it could be that they’re clogged with dust, or the bearings are starting to go. The best way to check this is to turn off and unplug your computer, then open the side panel.
Look at the metal heatsinks on the graphics card and CPU and see if they’ve collected dust. It can also be good to check the intake vents at the front of the PC to see if any dust filters are clogged. If any of them are, use a can of compressed air to clean them out. You can also use a lint-free cloth to wipe down the fan blades, but be careful, as they are pretty delicate.
If the sound persists even after you’ve cleaned your PC in this way, it may be a specific fan’s bearings are failing. The only way to fix that is to replace the fan.
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Grinding, clicking, buzzing: If you hear an irregular ticking or grinding sound along with the buzzing, it could be that one or more of your hard drives (if you have them) are starting to fail. Before investigating further, be sure to back up any information to a separate drive or cloud storage option to ensure your data is safe. Then run a disk checking application to test the health of the drive. If it is starting to fail, you’ll need to replace it.
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High-pitched buzzing: If the buzzing you’re hearing is high-pitched, it could be what’s known as coil whine. It isn’t necessarily a problem, even if it is annoying, as coil whine is merely an electronic phenomenon when components vibrate at the exact frequency to produce the high-pitched whine.
Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do short of replacing the offending component, as most manufacturers don’t offer warranties or guarantees for coil whine.
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Buzzing from your power supply: Regardless of what kind of buzzing you’re hearing, if you deduce it’s coming from your power supply, then you should replace it with a high-quality PSU as fast as possible. Excessive coil whine, a broken fan, or other component degradation could lead to your power supply failing, which has the potential to damage the rest of your PC.
