Yesterday I was sitting at my desk talking to my wife, the computer was in 'hibernate' mode when suddenly it started viberating and squealing to beat hell!!!

I executed an emergency shut down by holding down the power button bypassing the normal shut down sequence and turned it off.

I figured my hard drive was in the process of K.B.ing and really didn't expect it to start up again, but this morning I started it up and everything was normal, I didn't lose any info. or anything.

Any clue what happened??? Also isn't the hard drive supposed to be not running when the 'puter is in 'hibernate' mode??

I'm wondering if I should start shopping for a new 'puter', is there any thing I can do to 'repair' this one?? That is a silly question as I don't even know for sure that it was the hard drive as all seems to be okay right now.

So what do you all reccommend, run it till it dies?? or get it looked at now before it K.Bs, will they even be able to diagnose the problem when everything is running right??

Your insight would sure be helpful, and appreciated....

Thanks to all Azman......

I refuse to help until you change the title to "Attn. Computer Gods!!!"






But seriously my first guess would be a bad fan.  Most use cheap sleave bearings that wear out long before the rest of the computer.  If it does it again open up the case and see if you can figure out which one it is (you should be able to feel the fan running more rough, or gently stop the fan by hand to see of the noise stops).

turn the hibernation mode OFF

If you hadn't said vibrating, I would suspect a bad fan bearing, either in the power supply or one on the motherboard.  Replacement isn't usually a big deal.

Add in noticable vibration, and I have no clue.

could be a cooling fan.  When they start to wear out, the bearings loosen up and the blades can go into some wild (loud) oscillation mode.  It's a pretty buzzy sound.

1.  back up your important data first.


2. turn the system off.  take the case off,  turn the system on. make sure all the fans are spinning.  

3. disable hibernation mode,  its very unstable.   leave everything on, except the monitor have it turn off after half an hour or so.  


4.    again make sure you backup any important data

Quoted: Yesterday I was sitting at my desk talking to my wife, the computer was in 'hibernate' mode when suddenly it started viberating and squealing to beat hell!!! I executed an emergency shut down by holding down the power button bypassing the normal shut down sequence and turned it off. I figured my hard drive was in the process of K.B.ing and really didn't expect it to start up again, but this morning I started it up and everything was normal, I didn't lose any info. or anything. Any clue what happened??? Also isn't the hard drive supposed to be not running when the 'puter is in 'hibernate' mode?? I'm wondering if I should start shopping for a new 'puter', is there any thing I can do to 'repair' this one?? That is a silly question as I don't even know for sure that it was the hard drive as all seems to be okay right now. So what do you all reccommend, run it till it dies?? or get it looked at now before it K.Bs, will they even be able to diagnose the problem when everything is running right?? Your insight would sure be helpful, and appreciated.... Thanks to all Azman......

There aren't a whole lot of moving parts on a computer, so if you are hearing a funny noise but the computer still works it most likely is something fairly fixable.

A fan sounds like the most likely culprit, as hard drives don't usually make noises that loud even when they are going bad. The hard drives do not necessarily turn themselves off in sleep mode. It depends upon what your settings for the hibernate mode are in Windows. Usually it is set to leave the hard drives spinning.

Another source is optical drives. Sometimes a CD can get fouled up in those things and make all sorts of racket.

Check the fans and the optical drives first, then if you can't find anything there look at the hard drives.

Quoted: 3. disable hibernation mode,  its very unstable.   leave everything on, except the monitor have it turn off after half an hour or so.

If you're running XP (latest patches)
and you have NO issues with hardware (drivers) coming back from hibernation...

It works just fine.

I have 5 systems (2 are laptops) that use hibernation after 4 hours of standby and they all recover just fine.

YMMV depending on hardware.

Quoted: Quoted: 3. disable hibernation mode,  its very unstable.   leave everything on, except the monitor have it turn off after half an hour or so.   If you're running XP (latest patches) and you have NO issues with hardware (drivers) coming back from hibernation... It works just fine. I have 5 systems (2 are laptops) that use hibernation after 4 hours of standby and they all recover just fine. YMMV depending on hardware.

Some systems have real trouble with hibernate mode. The new desktop I just built has a problem with it, as do most of the Dells at work.

microsoft has had issues w/hibernation mode since its inception.
do not trust it.

about the vibration i say place the PC where you can work while it is running. remove the cover and run it until you hear that BAD noise. then you should be able to pin point the issue

Thanks all,
I'm starting to think you all are right in that it may be a fan, shortly after I bought this piece 'o shit the fan mount broke sending it crashing into all the other goodies inside causing considerable damage, I didn't care as it was still under warrenty and was quickly fixed. The main difference between then and now was last time it happened all of a sudden with no warning, it just fell of and went BOOM!!! 'puter died right then and there and didn't even try to restart.

Yesterday it was an audible high speed buzz, and vibration felt through out the whole case.  Today it's like nothing ever happened..  I guess I'll just keep an eye/ear on it and check the fans if it does it again.

Would it be possible to run this thing with the case open to try to visually see the problem, or is that not a good idea???....

Thanks, Azman....

Quoted: Yesterday it was an audible high speed buzz, and vibration felt through out the whole case.

CDrom or DVDrom

Would it be possible to run this thing with the case open to try to visually see the problem, or is that not a good idea???

Heck you don't even need a case for your computer.

Post edited.

You can try to replace the case fan yourself. It's quite simple. You can go to www.newegg.com or www.tigerdirect.com or Best Buy or CompUSA. Buy the same diameter fan. Unplug the wire going into motherboard. Unscrew the screws holding the fan to the case. Remove the fan. Put the new fan in. Screw the screws into the same holes. Plug in the wire from the new fan into the motherboard.

Quoted: Would it be possible to run this thing with the case open to try to visually see the problem, or is that not a good idea???.... Thanks, Azman....

The case cover helps to keep the computer stay cool. The fans on one end of the computer push air through the inside of the case. The case acts as a tunnel. If you took the case off, the cooler air is not able to flow over some components which will cause the temperature of components to go up.

Quoted: Some systems have real trouble with hibernate mode. The new desktop I just built has a problem with it, as do most of the Dells at work.

Ah, "there's your sign"  

You have entered Dell Hell.  Non-standard hardware and drivers.

Quoted: Post edited. You can try to replace the case fan yourself. It's quite simple. You can go to www.newegg.com or www.tigerdirect.com or Best Buy or CompUSA. Buy the same diameter fan. Unplug the wire going into motherboard. Unscrew the screws holding the fan to the case. Remove the fan. Put the new fan in. Screw the screws into the same holes. Plug in the wire from the new fan into the motherboard.

Thank you, I'll keep this in mind. We have a Best Buy here in town if this happens again I'll try this first as it's probably cheaper than letting it run till it dies......

ETA: Plus this sounds easy enough for me to do...(famous last words)....