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epricot · 03-25-2009, 12:03 PM

I'm not sure if I have this question posted in the right support section. I am very ignorant in the whole IT field, and so have truly no idea how to categorize my question.

Here's my problem:

I have been using my Dell Inspiron 6400 for almost three years now. So far, it has been serving me very well. One thing I really like is how quiet it is. Granted, there is the gentle humming in the background. But it came that way and is not disruptive at all, so it's all good.

Around two years ago my laptop started having occasional (once or twice every month, or less) weird little periods of very very loud humming. This would happen when I'm turning it on and it reaches the black page with the windows logo and the loading bar. It'd just be loading quietly and all of a sudden it'll start making this very loud humming sound - sort of like the kinds you hear with old desktops. This also sometimes happens when I start my computer after standby, or even in the middle my work.

Whenever this loud humming happens, everything on my laptop slows down a lot. My cursor moves less smoothly, all applications take a much longer time to load (if they load at all), and generally it becomes almost impossible to work. Usually I would be sort of worried that I hurt my laptop someway (by having it on too long, loading too many programs, something) and since the humming never goes away on its own, I'd shut my laptop down and restart it. (Shutting down the normal way often does not work - it loads so slowly it's just stuck there. I'd do it the manual way.) Usually that resolves the problem - the humming is gone after restarting. For the past two years it's been like that, on and off, now and then, humming, loud humming, shut down, restart.

I've let it stay like this so far. But in the past year this insane humming is getting a lot more frequent. It would happen from 7-8 times a month to sometimes 7-8 times per week. I really just want to know what is going on, and whether there is anything I need to fix - with the laptop, or my own computer-working habits. Except for the humming, my Inspiron is working perfectly. I would really appreciate it if someone could please tell me what is wrong with it.

Thank you in advance.

-Epricot

03-25-2009, 12:03 PM	#1 (permalink)
epricot Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 3 OS: Windows XP; Version 2002; Service Pack 3	Humming I'm not sure if I have this question posted in the right support section. I am very ignorant in the whole IT field, and so have truly no idea how to categorize my question. Here's my problem: I have been using my Dell Inspiron 6400 for almost three years now. So far, it has been serving me very well. One thing I really like is how quiet it is. Granted, there is the gentle humming in the background. But it came that way and is not disruptive at all, so it's all good. Around two years ago my laptop started having occasional (once or twice every month, or less) weird little periods of very very loud humming. This would happen when I'm turning it on and it reaches the black page with the windows logo and the loading bar. It'd just be loading quietly and all of a sudden it'll start making this very loud humming sound - sort of like the kinds you hear with old desktops. This also sometimes happens when I start my computer after standby, or even in the middle my work. Whenever this loud humming happens, everything on my laptop slows down a lot. My cursor moves less smoothly, all applications take a much longer time to load (if they load at all), and generally it becomes almost impossible to work. Usually I would be sort of worried that I hurt my laptop someway (by having it on too long, loading too many programs, something) and since the humming never goes away on its own, I'd shut my laptop down and restart it. (Shutting down the normal way often does not work - it loads so slowly it's just stuck there. I'd do it the manual way.) Usually that resolves the problem - the humming is gone after restarting. For the past two years it's been like that, on and off, now and then, humming, loud humming, shut down, restart. I've let it stay like this so far. But in the past year this insane humming is getting a lot more frequent. It would happen from 7-8 times a month to sometimes 7-8 times per week. I really just want to know what is going on, and whether there is anything I need to fix - with the laptop, or my own computer-working habits. Except for the humming, my Inspiron is working perfectly. I would really appreciate it if someone could please tell me what is wrong with it. Thank you in advance. -Epricot