PC Help Required
 

Hi all,
I need some advice. My PC has been giving me all sorts of problems lately. One in particular is that when I power it up there is a rather loud grinding/rumbling noise coming from it. This noise lasts up until the password entry screen appears and then stops. However during use there is a faint rumbling every so often.

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what could be causing this as I can't afford a new system and can't really be without one.

My computer is an Emachines E2230 (a little outdated),
It has an Intel Celeron D Processor running at 2.5GHz,
0.99GB of Ram,
160GB Hard Disk Drive,
A CDR/DVD Combo Drive,
and a DVDR Combo Drive.

Any help would be greatly appreciated because I am a little lacking in the hardware department.
Thank You.

Re: PC Help Required
 

The problem, IMO, is the brand of your pc. Notorious for power supply and hard drive failures. Speculation is that they put cheap power supplies in them which fail an in turn cause motherboards and hard drives to fail. I'd make a backup of anything you don't wanna lose real quick.

I always keep a backup just incase there are problems with it. I should have mentioned previously that I have replaced the Power Supply Unit and the Hard Disk Drive in the past. The PSU was acting up but I only changed the Hard Disk because I needed more space.

Thank you for the quick response.

Re: PC Help Required
 

Sounds like a harddrive to me, as there is a lot of harddrive activity during startup, and Windows has a tendency to access the hard drive even when you aren't doing anything. Maybe you should try running a couple defrags?

Re: PC Help Required
 

If you're really worried, you could give something like SpinRite a shot.

Re: PC Help Required
 

I have been through 2 eMachines computers and both have had hard drive problems. Like Jabo said, I would make daily backups.

Re: PC Help Required
 

Diagnosis:
I agree with the others, it's your hard drive. Also once it starts rumbling you can bet there is going to be bad sectors.

Prognoses:
Backup and get new hard disk drive.(The drive will never really be a unit you can count on keeping your data safe.)

Re: PC Help Required
 

Thank you to everyone who replied to me thread. I am going to take all your advice and have the hard drive replaced. I think I will eventually get a new more reliable system.

I don't think this problem is Emachines specific as my brother had a Packard Bell and it went through the same thing. He now has an E-Systems computer running Windows Vista whereas my Emachines is on Windows XP.

Re: PC Help Required
 

You should stick with the OS you are happy with.

When replacing your HDD try looking for a popular name like Seagate or WD as their drives usually carry a good return - in waranty.

Re: PC Help Required
 

I'm partial to WD. The first WD drive I ever bought, back in 1999, just died like 4 months ago. That's pretty good service considering it was first used for about 3 years on a WinME machine; I hope I don't have to explain why that's an issue.