Why is my PC constantly making a "zooming" sound?

JohnJSal

Active Member
So this only seems to have started today. Every 5-10 seconds I hear my PC -- pretty sure it's a cooling fan -- make a "revving up" type of sound, then it dies down, then a few seconds later it does it again. It's been doing it all day and it worries me. I restarted, but it still does it. Is there anything that might be causing this that I can fix, like a software issue perhaps? It hasn't done this before.

Thanks!
 

JohnJSal

Active Member
Check for dust in your fans.

I cleaned out the two dust filters in my PC and so far I'm not hearing that noise anymore! Do I feel embarrassed not to have thought of that myself? Perhaps. Do I care? No, because it seems to have worked and you are a genius!

I don't know why my mind immediately went to "Oh no, the fans are about to fail!" but I'm glad I was wrong! :)
 

JohnJSal

Active Member
::sigh:: Well, yesterday it was quiet and not doing that on/off sound anymore, but today there seems to be a fan running loudly constantly. Almost like it would if I had a game running, but I have nothing open at the moment and I even restarted the computer. :(
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Is it the cpu cooling fan? Are you sure all the dust has been blown out of it and the heatsink? It just might be time to remove the old thermal paste and apply new.
 

JohnJSal

Active Member
Is it the cpu cooling fan? Are you sure all the dust has been blown out of it and the heatsink? It just might be time to remove the old thermal paste and apply new.

I'm not sure, but based on how it sounds when I get close to it, it seems like it's one of the case's exhaust fans.

Edit: Hmph, now it quieted down. I did tap on the fan a bit. Perhaps it was just rattling, which it's been known to do but hasn't done in a *long* time! I'll keep an eye/ear on it, but I'm just glad the "zooming" issue has stopped!
 
Last edited:

gillmanjr

Member
Your case fans may be controlling off of CPU core temperature directly and if you don't have enough of a delay time in the control loop the fan speed will jump around like crazy. CPU temps fluctuate, even with the PC just sitting idle temperatures will jump around a little bit. Then when you open something like a browser window your CPU temp might spike 10-20 degrees in a second and then back right down. If your fans are controlling based on that temperature they will do the same thing (ramp up quickly for one second and then right back down). Do you know how your case fans are being controlled?

If all your case fans are plugged into your MOBO you need to go into your BIOS to see how they are being controlled and you can make adjustments.
 

JohnJSal

Active Member
Your case fans may be controlling off of CPU core temperature directly and if you don't have enough of a delay time in the control loop the fan speed will jump around like crazy. CPU temps fluctuate, even with the PC just sitting idle temperatures will jump around a little bit. Then when you open something like a browser window your CPU temp might spike 10-20 degrees in a second and then back right down. If your fans are controlling based on that temperature they will do the same thing (ramp up quickly for one second and then right back down). Do you know how your case fans are being controlled?

If all your case fans are plugged into your MOBO you need to go into your BIOS to see how they are being controlled and you can make adjustments.

I'm not sure how mine are controlled, but today is another quiet day. I'm hoping things are back to normal!
 
Top