[cgwahl]

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it must be from a moving part, and there arent many of them in there, there is likely a 2nd fan (on your video card)

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I don't know a whole lot about the inside of computers, and I didn't know that video cards had fans... I think the thing making noise is the hard drive, but I don't really know what the various things look like so I hope I'm wrong?

Also, I have left the computer on nonstop for several days in a row... I'm wondering if this has caused some problems. I'll try leaving it turned off more over the next several days and see if the noise goes away...?

Worst case scenario is that my hard drive is dying I guess... what sort of a time frame am I looking at before it shuts down completely? I've had this computer for a bit less than four years... it seems like it's too young to be having these types of problems? But as I said, I don't know much at all about computer hardware...

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Hard drives being mechanical are real iffy on how long they will last. Personally if mine lasts 3 years I'm happy.

And I think people are still debating the plusses and minuses of whether or not to leave a computer on...I doubt thats what caused it to make noise.

What I would try is unplugging the hard drives power and turning the computer on. If no noise then yeah its the hard drive.

If the HD, replace it as soon as possible is my suggestion. You might be able to squeeze another day, week, month or more out of it but the longer you wait the less likely you will be able to salvage the data off of it. And be pleased that you are at least getting a warning of imminent hard drive failure... [img]/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]