How can I tell if my mini computer is dying or it is just the fan?












1














I have a small Zotac mini computers, one of those computers that is in a small box like a book. Everything is crammed in there in a tight space.



The computer is making some scary noises. How can tell if it is just the fan going bad or the hard drive is dying?










share|improve this question
























  • Is your computer running slowly and/or freezing up?
    – juniorRubyist
    2 hours ago










  • @juniorRubyist No, just a lot of bearing noise, but I don't know if its the bearings of the fan, or the bearings of the hard drive.
    – Tyler Durden
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    You might be in luck. The fans are probably jammed with dust or whatnot, otherwise just going bad. Do check the S.M.A.R.T. status on the drive, though, just to be sure.
    – juniorRubyist
    1 hour ago
















1














I have a small Zotac mini computers, one of those computers that is in a small box like a book. Everything is crammed in there in a tight space.



The computer is making some scary noises. How can tell if it is just the fan going bad or the hard drive is dying?










share|improve this question
























  • Is your computer running slowly and/or freezing up?
    – juniorRubyist
    2 hours ago










  • @juniorRubyist No, just a lot of bearing noise, but I don't know if its the bearings of the fan, or the bearings of the hard drive.
    – Tyler Durden
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    You might be in luck. The fans are probably jammed with dust or whatnot, otherwise just going bad. Do check the S.M.A.R.T. status on the drive, though, just to be sure.
    – juniorRubyist
    1 hour ago














1












1








1


1





I have a small Zotac mini computers, one of those computers that is in a small box like a book. Everything is crammed in there in a tight space.



The computer is making some scary noises. How can tell if it is just the fan going bad or the hard drive is dying?










share|improve this question















I have a small Zotac mini computers, one of those computers that is in a small box like a book. Everything is crammed in there in a tight space.



The computer is making some scary noises. How can tell if it is just the fan going bad or the hard drive is dying?







fan desktop-computer






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 56 mins ago









fixer1234

17.9k144681




17.9k144681










asked 2 hours ago









Tyler Durden

2,37793063




2,37793063












  • Is your computer running slowly and/or freezing up?
    – juniorRubyist
    2 hours ago










  • @juniorRubyist No, just a lot of bearing noise, but I don't know if its the bearings of the fan, or the bearings of the hard drive.
    – Tyler Durden
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    You might be in luck. The fans are probably jammed with dust or whatnot, otherwise just going bad. Do check the S.M.A.R.T. status on the drive, though, just to be sure.
    – juniorRubyist
    1 hour ago


















  • Is your computer running slowly and/or freezing up?
    – juniorRubyist
    2 hours ago










  • @juniorRubyist No, just a lot of bearing noise, but I don't know if its the bearings of the fan, or the bearings of the hard drive.
    – Tyler Durden
    1 hour ago






  • 1




    You might be in luck. The fans are probably jammed with dust or whatnot, otherwise just going bad. Do check the S.M.A.R.T. status on the drive, though, just to be sure.
    – juniorRubyist
    1 hour ago
















Is your computer running slowly and/or freezing up?
– juniorRubyist
2 hours ago




Is your computer running slowly and/or freezing up?
– juniorRubyist
2 hours ago












@juniorRubyist No, just a lot of bearing noise, but I don't know if its the bearings of the fan, or the bearings of the hard drive.
– Tyler Durden
1 hour ago




@juniorRubyist No, just a lot of bearing noise, but I don't know if its the bearings of the fan, or the bearings of the hard drive.
– Tyler Durden
1 hour ago




1




1




You might be in luck. The fans are probably jammed with dust or whatnot, otherwise just going bad. Do check the S.M.A.R.T. status on the drive, though, just to be sure.
– juniorRubyist
1 hour ago




You might be in luck. The fans are probably jammed with dust or whatnot, otherwise just going bad. Do check the S.M.A.R.T. status on the drive, though, just to be sure.
– juniorRubyist
1 hour ago










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















1














If your hard drive is dying, you would hear repetitive clicking or buzzing noises and the computer may occasionally freeze up, getting worse as it dies. You can also tell that your hard drive is dying because of extremely slow transfer rates. You can try checking the S.M.A.R.T. status of your drive (almost like the "Check Engine" light on a car) by using the Command Prompt (or PowerShell) with the wimc utility in Windows. Corrupt files can also be a warning sign of drive failure. Linus Tech Tips does a good job explaining all sorts of hard drive issues. If you determine that your hard drive is dying, stop using it immediately and go buy yourself an external drive (1 TB+) to backup your data ASAP. Try not to rock the computer or drive around to prevent further breakage of your drive.



If your fan is broken, no big deal; just replace it. You could try opening up the case and watching the fans spin up to watch for any issues. If you have a solid state drive, then any noises would be from the fan (but you said you have a hard drive, so...).






share|improve this answer





























    1














    You open it up,stop/disconnect the fan from spinning (fo a few secs). If thenouse stops it's the fan.If not,try disconnecting thepiwerfrom the HDD to confirm the diagnosis.





    share





















      Your Answer








      StackExchange.ready(function() {
      var channelOptions = {
      tags: "".split(" "),
      id: "3"
      };
      initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

      StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
      // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
      if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
      StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
      createEditor();
      });
      }
      else {
      createEditor();
      }
      });

      function createEditor() {
      StackExchange.prepareEditor({
      heartbeatType: 'answer',
      autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
      convertImagesToLinks: true,
      noModals: true,
      showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
      reputationToPostImages: 10,
      bindNavPrevention: true,
      postfix: "",
      imageUploader: {
      brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
      contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
      allowUrls: true
      },
      onDemand: true,
      discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
      ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
      });


      }
      });














      draft saved

      draft discarded


















      StackExchange.ready(
      function () {
      StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f1391064%2fhow-can-i-tell-if-my-mini-computer-is-dying-or-it-is-just-the-fan%23new-answer', 'question_page');
      }
      );

      Post as a guest















      Required, but never shown

























      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes








      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes









      1














      If your hard drive is dying, you would hear repetitive clicking or buzzing noises and the computer may occasionally freeze up, getting worse as it dies. You can also tell that your hard drive is dying because of extremely slow transfer rates. You can try checking the S.M.A.R.T. status of your drive (almost like the "Check Engine" light on a car) by using the Command Prompt (or PowerShell) with the wimc utility in Windows. Corrupt files can also be a warning sign of drive failure. Linus Tech Tips does a good job explaining all sorts of hard drive issues. If you determine that your hard drive is dying, stop using it immediately and go buy yourself an external drive (1 TB+) to backup your data ASAP. Try not to rock the computer or drive around to prevent further breakage of your drive.



      If your fan is broken, no big deal; just replace it. You could try opening up the case and watching the fans spin up to watch for any issues. If you have a solid state drive, then any noises would be from the fan (but you said you have a hard drive, so...).






      share|improve this answer


























        1














        If your hard drive is dying, you would hear repetitive clicking or buzzing noises and the computer may occasionally freeze up, getting worse as it dies. You can also tell that your hard drive is dying because of extremely slow transfer rates. You can try checking the S.M.A.R.T. status of your drive (almost like the "Check Engine" light on a car) by using the Command Prompt (or PowerShell) with the wimc utility in Windows. Corrupt files can also be a warning sign of drive failure. Linus Tech Tips does a good job explaining all sorts of hard drive issues. If you determine that your hard drive is dying, stop using it immediately and go buy yourself an external drive (1 TB+) to backup your data ASAP. Try not to rock the computer or drive around to prevent further breakage of your drive.



        If your fan is broken, no big deal; just replace it. You could try opening up the case and watching the fans spin up to watch for any issues. If you have a solid state drive, then any noises would be from the fan (but you said you have a hard drive, so...).






        share|improve this answer
























          1












          1








          1






          If your hard drive is dying, you would hear repetitive clicking or buzzing noises and the computer may occasionally freeze up, getting worse as it dies. You can also tell that your hard drive is dying because of extremely slow transfer rates. You can try checking the S.M.A.R.T. status of your drive (almost like the "Check Engine" light on a car) by using the Command Prompt (or PowerShell) with the wimc utility in Windows. Corrupt files can also be a warning sign of drive failure. Linus Tech Tips does a good job explaining all sorts of hard drive issues. If you determine that your hard drive is dying, stop using it immediately and go buy yourself an external drive (1 TB+) to backup your data ASAP. Try not to rock the computer or drive around to prevent further breakage of your drive.



          If your fan is broken, no big deal; just replace it. You could try opening up the case and watching the fans spin up to watch for any issues. If you have a solid state drive, then any noises would be from the fan (but you said you have a hard drive, so...).






          share|improve this answer












          If your hard drive is dying, you would hear repetitive clicking or buzzing noises and the computer may occasionally freeze up, getting worse as it dies. You can also tell that your hard drive is dying because of extremely slow transfer rates. You can try checking the S.M.A.R.T. status of your drive (almost like the "Check Engine" light on a car) by using the Command Prompt (or PowerShell) with the wimc utility in Windows. Corrupt files can also be a warning sign of drive failure. Linus Tech Tips does a good job explaining all sorts of hard drive issues. If you determine that your hard drive is dying, stop using it immediately and go buy yourself an external drive (1 TB+) to backup your data ASAP. Try not to rock the computer or drive around to prevent further breakage of your drive.



          If your fan is broken, no big deal; just replace it. You could try opening up the case and watching the fans spin up to watch for any issues. If you have a solid state drive, then any noises would be from the fan (but you said you have a hard drive, so...).







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 1 hour ago









          juniorRubyist

          656928




          656928

























              1














              You open it up,stop/disconnect the fan from spinning (fo a few secs). If thenouse stops it's the fan.If not,try disconnecting thepiwerfrom the HDD to confirm the diagnosis.





              share


























                1














                You open it up,stop/disconnect the fan from spinning (fo a few secs). If thenouse stops it's the fan.If not,try disconnecting thepiwerfrom the HDD to confirm the diagnosis.





                share
























                  1












                  1








                  1






                  You open it up,stop/disconnect the fan from spinning (fo a few secs). If thenouse stops it's the fan.If not,try disconnecting thepiwerfrom the HDD to confirm the diagnosis.





                  share












                  You open it up,stop/disconnect the fan from spinning (fo a few secs). If thenouse stops it's the fan.If not,try disconnecting thepiwerfrom the HDD to confirm the diagnosis.






                  share











                  share


                  share










                  answered 29 mins ago









                  davidgo

                  42.8k75289




                  42.8k75289






























                      draft saved

                      draft discarded




















































                      Thanks for contributing an answer to Super User!


                      • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                      But avoid



                      • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                      • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                      To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





                      Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


                      Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


                      • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                      But avoid



                      • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                      • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                      To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                      draft saved


                      draft discarded














                      StackExchange.ready(
                      function () {
                      StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f1391064%2fhow-can-i-tell-if-my-mini-computer-is-dying-or-it-is-just-the-fan%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                      }
                      );

                      Post as a guest















                      Required, but never shown





















































                      Required, but never shown














                      Required, but never shown












                      Required, but never shown







                      Required, but never shown

































                      Required, but never shown














                      Required, but never shown












                      Required, but never shown







                      Required, but never shown







                      Popular posts from this blog

                      Costa Masnaga

                      Fotorealismo

                      Sidney Franklin