My laptop started making a loud grinding noise
My laptop makes a loud grinding noise, it’s HP Compaq nx5000.
This laptop is about three years old. It’s been in for repairs multiple times, for everything from a dead LCD backlight to a destroyed keyboard (which, by the way, was my father’s fault; HE’S the one that sprayed it down with water). In fact, it just recently got back because of the keyboard.
So anyway, about a week ago, I was sitting on my laptop browsing the internet when I noticed it started making this loud grinding noise. Then the computer froze up. So, I popped out the battery, let it sit for a minute, and then put the battery back in and turned it on again. It started up without problems. Then, later on while I was using it that same night, it flashed this blue screen of death at me. I saw something about the kernel and memory dump, and then it turned off. When I went to turn it on again, the grinding noise was back and it wouldn’t start up, it would just say “Non-system disk or disk error.”
I let it sit for about three days over the weekend, and then come Monday I turned it on without problems. Then after a while it made the grinding noise again, so I had to pull the battery out again.
So now, it periodically makes the grinding noise when I’m using it, and it will freeze up. When I turn the laptop on and it’s not making the grinding noise right away, the fan IS spinning and I can hear it running and everything is normal. Usually the fan is spinning when I pull the battery out because of the grinding noise, too. I notice that everytime it makes the grinding noise, the laptop is hot when I turn it off. Sometimes letting the laptop cool off will fix it, and sometimes it won’t. Usually, if it persists in making the grinding noise, letting it sit overnight will fix it.
So I’m not sure if it’s the fan or not. I’ve noticed that tiliting the laptop will sometimes stop the grinding noise, but then it will come back and won’t stop no matter which way I move the laptop. When I listen it sounds like it’s NOT coming from the fan, but I could be wrong.
Any ideas about why my laptop sounds like it’s trying to eat its hard drive?
Here are some important moments you mentioned in the post above:
1. laptop started making this loud grinding noise
2. computer freezes up
3. laptop flashed this blue screen of death at me
4. “Non-system disk or disk error” on startup
I’m 99% positive that you have a failing hard drive. Back it up as soon as possible while you can access it, because the hard drive might fail any time now. Data recovery is very expensive, transfer data yourself while you can. After that replace the hard drive and reimage the drive using a set of recovery CDs or DVD you got from HP.
October 21st, 2008 at 8:12 am
??? is the above laptops on a level surface ???
I have the same problem with my HP Pavillion laptop… The computer only makes the grinding noise and advises me their is no startup disk in it when the laptop is not completly flat… I was able to back it up on a table and its been running good since, but if I even lift it up a bit it crashs… I don’t know if the fan is off of its bearings or what, but its got to be fixable…
Thanks,
October 21st, 2008 at 4:35 am
My laptop is making some digital noises and won’t turn on completely and says it is unable to find windows
September 5th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
HI there! i have an HP pavilion dv6000. my laptop has a loud sound whenever i use after a few minutes i hear the fans sound and its very loud.so can you plz tel me the problem and how to fix it? or should i just throw it away and get another laptop.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:07 am
hi there. I have an Acer Aspire 3630. Everytime I turn the laptop on it will make a terrible grinding noise which doesn’t sound healthy. It will become really hot after about half an hour and will contineously make the grinding noise if you lift it up or move it. I have had this problem for several months now. If anyone has a reply could you please help me overcome my problem.
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I have the same problem with the grinding noise. My laptop is an Acer Aspire 3000. This is the first time I’ve had this problem. I’ve had a couple of problems with the battery but that already fixed. I need help.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I have a Dell Inspiron 6000. I’ve had it for about 3 years now and I have had the exact same grinding noise. The first time I had it, I had to get my hard drive replaced(which is a saddening process, saying goodbye to everything on your computer isn’t easy). I got it about a year ago.
Recently, the grinding has been starting up. I’ve checked lots of websites and they all say that it’s either the fan or the hard drive, but most likely the hard drive. The grinding doesn’t happen often, and it’s a very very short grinding sound, unlike last time, where the sound was long and harsh. It usually makes the sound when I’m trying to load something on the internet or something very small on my PC. On rare occasions, the sound will persist and grind when I load up every single little thing, so I have to shut the lid of my laptop and wait for it to “fall asleep” before I can lift the lid again.
I, personally, do not want to go through the same process that I went though last year again.
There must be an easier way to fix computer issues.
And taking apart my PC isn’t an option for me. I don’t want to risk damage to my PC…or possibly me.
December 30th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
I recently received a used Dell Latitude Cpx laptop. I have quite a bit of experience with desktops, but virtually none with laptops. It doesn’t seem to have any major problems and runs just fine, but keeps making a loud grinding sound. My first thought is the hard drive, but I’d like a second opinion. It starts randomly every 15 mins or so and keeps going for 2-3 mins before quitting. No BSOD or freeze ups, but it’s still annoying and loud. A little nervous about storing too much info on it if the hard drive’s about to go. Any input would be appreciated!
Nora
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Hi,
My HP DV4272NR laptop is making grinding noise, Can anyone suggest a remedy.
Thanks
Puru
October 22nd, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Hi guys,
My HP nx5000 laptop won’t boot. When I press the power button, the fans will run and after few second the power will go off with a clicking noise. The screen doesn’t even come on. At the beginning, I will remove the battery for few hours and put it back in and power the laptop; it will come on again. But when the computer goes into hibernation, it will not come on. For two days now, I can’t power it up and removing the battery and putting it in back don’t work anymore. Someone save me please. I got my assignments in there people.
October 20th, 2007 at 12:53 am
How can I start the Laptop without using LCD Screen as after booting my s/w application does all the necessary things with the Laptop. So Human Interfereance is only for Switching on the Laptop. Any Sugesstions
July 18th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Yo,
I have a toshiba satellite a10 that works fine for the first 1/2 an hour, then starts to make a quite grinding noise that gets louder and louder, soner or later the computer will freeze and then the BSOD will come up and begin to dump physical memory…. please help>!>?!? p.s. i have already replaced the fan and that has not helped.
ARRGH>?
Cheers.
June 30th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
hello,I have a HP Compaq nx9008 and would like to know how to reimage it step by step if possible’thank you
June 24th, 2007 at 11:21 am
I own a IBM T30 Laptop which was recently replaced with another one and the hard drive swapped from the old T30 to the “new” T30 – The laptop randomly starts to get very noise and I can’t really determine if it would be the fan or the hard drive. I keep thinking the Fan because in the other unit I did not have any issues with loud noise during processing. So my quesiton is how can I make sure if its the fan or somehow during transfer of the hard drive to this LT it was damaged and its the drive making the loud noise? Also how difficult / easy is it to replace either or if need be and what kind of Fan would I need? This is a T30 2.4 GHZ 1000 RAM. Also on average what does it cost if I need to have somebody look at the unit to determin which it is? thank you very much for your feedback.
March 2nd, 2007 at 4:07 am
HP Compaq NX9010 with fans running al the time.
Yes this machine has 2 larger fans and 1 smalle fan. This laptop has a normal Pentium instead of a mobile processor. Just to save costs.
This normal processer produces a lot of heat which needs to get out of your laptop. The power adapter that comes with this computer is rated at 120W !
February 28th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Nick,
As soon as noise appear carefully stop the fan with your fingers and see if the noise is gone.
I think you can try this. You should get an access to the fan if you lift up the keyboard, it’s not difficult just remove a few screws on the bottom of the laptop. You can find this instructions in the laptop HMM. Turn on the laptop when the keyboard is still lifted and listen for the fan sounds.
The following test most likely is not approved by IBM engineers so try it at your own risk.
February 28th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
I have an IBM T30 that is making a noise that I think (hope) is the fan rather than the hard drive. What is baffling me is trying to figure out how to tell the difference.
It seems to be an intermittent noise that sounds almost as if the computer is working extra hard. However, it doesn’t seem to have impacted hard drive performance at all. I tried opening up the bottom and spraying a good dose of compressed air around the fan to see if that would fix the problem. It seems to have lessened it, but hasn’t eliminated it entirely. That being said, I’m not sure if that’s the only fan in there. It was the only one that I saw, but I only opened up the most obvious panel.
The noise itself is best described as an extremely high-pitched, but quite faint noise–almost like that very high pitch that you can sometimes hear out of older televisions. Sometimes it is combined with what seems like a faint whirring sound.
Any ideas what this might be and/or how to remedy it?
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:40 am
yah dude thats not a picture of the fans and i can see them underneath my laptop. Do you even know anything about laptop’s? even if my fan’s were suppose to run all the time it wouldn’t be this loud or at least it wasn’t when I had it for the first couple years.
February 22nd, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Brandon,
Are you sure you have two fans? I just checked the maintenance and service guide for HP Compaq nx9010 and it shows only one fan (page 123).
Maybe it’s normal that the fan is always running? Maybe thermal grease dried out and has to be replaced. That’s just a guess.
February 21st, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Hi I have a HP compaq nx9010 and the fan runs constantly and is loud I’ve cleaned it out, opened the computer up and cleaned it out and i just bought a new hard drive so i know it’s not the problem. Um I know I have two fans underneath but only one seems to run constantly, do you think my heat sink is shot or something like that where it is constantly hot so the fan is always running or do I just need a new fan?
February 16th, 2007 at 3:06 am
hi
my acer (aspire 5571 AWXMi) laptop hard disk is making a slight noise(“…krr..kkkrrr..) at the time of loading windows or working on internet, and when i m using some applications. is it a sign of hard disk failing?? the hard disk in it is hitachi-120GB.
should i go for a replacement? please advice.
February 15th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Kyle,
The laptop is making noise as soon as you turn it on? Can you remove the hard drive and test the laptop without it? If the laptop is still making the same noise even without the hard drive installed, probably you have a bad fan.
For some reason I think that you might have a failing hard drive. I think you see 50-70% CPU usage then the laptop is having some trouble accessing the hard drive. BSOD errors and “serious system error” also can be related to the failing hard drive.
Download Hitachi’s drive fitness utility and test the hard drive, run an advanced test. You’ll find a link to this utility in the “Useful Links” on the right side.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Hello,
I have a HP-dv1420us laptop that i bought one year ago. It is for everyday use, and mainly for school (Pre-med student). About 4-5 months ago I got a Blue screen talking about A “KERNEL” and after rebooting a window opened telling me “your system has recovered from a serious error…” I do not know what to do about that, and it has become less frequent (i think its been a month since the last one). I got a under-the-laptop cooling dock for x-mas with two fans in it, it connects via USB port to power it. It def has cooled down my laptop, but recently there is that ambiguous grinding noise everyone is talking about. I am unsure if it is the fan (Why would it be on if the laptop is cool??) but it is really annoying…I noticed my CPU usage was around 50-70% when it continually did this (i had a tutorial cd-rom in for a biology class)…after closing out of the tutorial program the noise stopped and my CPU usage went to 5-24%, is it the fan, hard-drive, or some other problem?? ALSO, if you can help…I have been (recently, as in the last 2months) getting a blank window come up in my toolbar. It has no words or icon in the space, but has the little blue box you see when an installation is about to open, then nothing happens and it disappears…it happens many times a day, a few times an hour, what is it and how can i get rid of it??
Thanks for any help.
February 13th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Hi,
I have a HP Pavilion zd7058cl laptop. I love it but the fan is soooo loud! It is constantly on and spinning. It isn’t grinding but I just don’t know why it has to be running ALL the time. I want peace and quiet but this white noise is too much. I listen to other computers and they don’t seem so loud.
Is there anything I can do to get some peace ?
Thanks,
Cathy
February 3rd, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Jay,
Did you look for the laptop maintenance manual on HP website? Their manuals usually have step-by-step disassembly instructions.
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:36 am
How about Compaq laptops…1700 series. I tried to dissemble it, but could not separate the 2 pieces after unscrewing them all.It seemed to be joined from the back (where the Screen meets the base)
January 29th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Peter,
I haven’t worked with Tiny laptops yet and cannot guide you through the laptop disassembly. Most likely they are not much different from Toshiba laptops.
January 29th, 2007 at 4:06 am
hi there,
i read the original problem where the grinding noise is the problem. the tilting thing is exactly the same thing i get with my Tiny A360+ laptop! but ive no trouble with disk errors/crashing. i believe its a fan problem. i had the fan replaced last year to try solve the grinding, it worked for several months but now its back. and it drives me mad. can i get to the fan myself on my Tiny as easy as it seems with the toshiba or must i go to a repair man??
thanks a million
January 11th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Jed,
Of course it’s possible to replace the fan, but unfortunately I don’t work with Fujitsu laptops and cannot guide you. I’ve created a few disassembly guides for Toshiba laptops and if you read through you can get an idea how to disassemble the laptop. I think that all laptops are kind of similar.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Hi there. I have a Fujitsu Lifebook S6120 D with the same loud fan problem. Is it possible to replace the fan in this notebook? would you be able to show me how?
thanks!
December 19th, 2006 at 9:34 am
I have a COMPAQ Presario laptop for… going on two years now. However, whenever I power up, it will make a loud grinding noise. I don’t know whether or not the fan is making the noise. The noise goes on until I’m at the accounts screen for login, then quiets down a little bit. At that point, I would shut down my computer and start up a second time, and then there would be no noise for the second time. The laptop works fine, with or without noise, but it would always make noise on the first start up. Do you think you can tell me what the problem might be?