Hard drive is humming on W98 computer...hard drive going bad?

[ba_50]

This Gateway 500 has been locking up a lot, and doing other strange things. It hums for 10-15 seconds on startup only. Thanks.

[Troy]

Sounds like you have a fan going bad, and therefore the computer is getting too hot and locking up your computer. Can you look at each fan to see which might be causing you trouble?

[ba_50]

Troy,

I took the side panel off and it is the Hard drive that is humming, for about 15 seconds on startup only. It usually does it, but not this morning.

[ba_50]

Troy,

since I got that worm called KAK off and removed the side panel it hasn't been humming. It could use a cleaning on the inside.

[Troy]

Have you defragmented that drive in a while? Wouldn't hurt

[Psycho0124]

The bearings on the spindle motor are going out. The humming you are hearing is going away as the bearings heat up and expand inside the race. They are still probably allowing the platter to vibrate and preventing the reader heads from keeping a smooth track over the data. The machine is locking up when it receives data from the drive it can't interpret. Alignment is critical in modern high-speed precision hard drives.

If you have any important data on the drive, copy it off now while the drive still works at all.

[Troy]

Originally Posted by Psycho0124

If you have any important data on the drive, copy it off now while the drive still works at all.

Always good advice!

[Sugar]

Do a search on "crashing hard drive sounds"
Hope this helps!

[JModason]

First and foremost, you need to give the inside of your computer a good cleaning. Disconnect everything, take it outside, and get all of the dust out of it. Vaccuum it out, blow it out with a duster, or pick it out by hand if you want, just get that dust out of there! Remember to get the fans nice and clean, so that there are no obstructions anywhere. After you've done that, reconnect everything and start it back up. If the noise still persists, then more than likely your hard drive is simply dying. The spindles could be wearing down, the motor could be dying, etc...I recommend that you quickly buy a new hard drive and transfer all of your important data to it ASAP. Hard drives are very cheap these days. You can get a 320gb drive for as low as $80.

[jawson76]

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