Question on PC & Peripherals:

I have an almost 3-year old Dell Dimension 5150. Recently it has been making a loud airplane-noise, and when it does that there is some noticable slow down in overall performance. Is this the fan or the harddisk? Will this pose a future problem if left as it is?

Submitted by Reader

Answer:

The issue is definitely the CPU or graphics card fan, as a harddisk which sounds like an airplane will probably have failed by now. The issue is probably a buildup of dust in the machine and a simple cleanup should resolve the issue. Otherwise, it could be that your hardware is failing and the resulting heat buildup is causing the fan to work harder.

We suggest opening the chassis (if you have the technical skills to) and clean it up to see if this solves the problem. Otherwise, you may also want to call Dell for technical assistance, but take note that your set is probably out of warranty so there may be costs involved.