Two more things that generate noise on your computer are your CD-ROM (and DVD-ROM) drives and your floppy drive (if you still have one!). These devices spin your media at phenomenal rotation rates, and generate heat as well as noise. However, these devices have a noise that you should become fairly familiar with. Any noise that appears abnormal from these devices probably indicates a problem with the device. For example, a grinding noise in the floppy drive may indicate a bad floppy disk, or a bad drive. CD-ROM is the same way ... a drive that has to be repeatedly opened and closed before it will access a CD could indicate a problem with the CD or the drive. In both cases, a careful examination of the media will help eliminate the media and point to the drive itself as the source of the problem. A good question to ask when encountering this type of issue is if the disk will work in another computer. If so, the problem is most likely your drive.

However, none of the things discussed so far describe the two most ominous sounds that can come from your computer: the whining grind of bearings going out, and complete silence. For the first issue, when the bearings in any of your fans start to go out, it starts to whine and grind. It will sound exactly like any other fan bearings that you might have heard go out ... from an air conditioner unit to a box fan ... the fan bearings all sound the same when they start to fail. At first this noise will be intermitten ... but after a while it will become severe and nonstop. At this point it is imperative that you purchase a fan to replace the one that is going out. Why? Because what comes next can be very destructive ...