Sometimes while loading something or “working”, I hear a loud scratching noise from the computer that last a second or two. It’s not frequent, but it kinda freaks me out when it does it. The computer is three and half years-old. Should I be concerned?
Occasional scratching noise from computer while loading
noise
Related Solutions
If it's not something emitting from an actual built-in speaker on the motherboard or another part, I'd look next to moving parts. The only part that moves fast enough to sustain a noise of that high frequency would be your hard drive. Try running the following (Windows) command:
CHKDSK /R
This should scan for bad sectors on the hard drive, and attempt to recover information if any are found. If the scan does find bad sectors (a report is generated when the scan is completed) then this is probably your problem. Shut down the system until you've found a replacement drive.
Other than the hard drive, I don't know what might specifically cause that sort of noise. If it is indeed in one of the non-moving parts of your system, the only solution may be to try listening more carefully or swap out parts until the noise stops.
Based on the description and tests, it sounds like that particular model of drive just happens to vibrate more than average (high vibration is normal for a 10,000RPM drive, but even a 7,200 can be kind of noisy).
Try mounting it with some rubber grommets/shims (or something) to absorb the vibration instead of passing it through to the case. Also, if the case has hard-plastic feet, replace them with rubber ones or put the whole thing on a soft surface (keeping airflow in mind). If the sound and vibration are reduced to nominal levels, then it is probably not something to be worried about (only annoyed at).
If you are concerned about the health of the drive, check the SMART data (e.g. with SpeedFan or SeaTools), to see if there are any warnings about its actual health since any delays in spin up and such would be logged there; though it is probably going to check out as okay.
(Based on the following description from someone else with this issue, it may be due to a slight misalignment.)
Oscillating hum. it makes a loud hum that then gets soft, then goes back to loud. this cycle (that is about 3 seconds long)
Best Answer
if it's software e.g. windows, then it could be this https://superuser.com/questions/333880/what-is-the-source-of-this-funny-scratching-card-shuffling-noise-in-windows
In which case, it's the dog in the windows xp search. You hear it more if you have opened many searches which can happen accidentally too. After some time the dog scratches himself and it makes a noise like scratching or shuffling cards.
if it is not from a speaker of any kind, but it is coming from the computer box, then open it up and listen for it and try to find it. Have the box near you when it happens. Fans are a moving part..see that nothing is knocking any.
Hard drives don't make a scratching sound but they can click.. it's worth using software like speedfan and checking the SMART data on the hard drive.
You need to do some troubleshooting to isolate where the sound is coming from. Time how long between one sound and another. If you get to a point where you can predict it then that will help you to isolate the place it is coming from.