scratching/grinding from laptop

Question

I Have a g3 3590. since a while I hear an irregular scratching noise coming from the top left part of the keyboard. I only hear it when the fans aren't on but it might be there all the time. It isn't loud but still annoying to hear.

I ran the hardware tests provided by Dell and they didn't show anything but I'm still slightly worried. Should I be worried and is there possibly a solution to this?

ejn63 · Accepted Answer

It's likely normal, as it's a part of the drive's logic board design, to prevent media damage.

If it becomes too distracting, replace the hard drive with a solid state drive -- these are silent, having no moving parts.

ejn63 · Answer

There are only two devices with moving parts in the system -- the fan(s) and if you have one, the hard drive.

If it's not the fan, it could simply be the drive -- which has a wear leveling algorithm that moves the heads at random so they're not always hovering over the same spot on the media.

fightingdutchman · Answer

EDIT: The scratching is coming from the bottom left.

fightingdutchman · Answer

Thanks for answering.

I think it has to be the hard drive cause I hear it even when the fans aren't moving.

If it is the hard drive is that sound normal or is something bad happening?

Again thanks for answering.

fightingdutchman · Answer

Thanks for taking your time to answer my question.

ejn63 · Answer

The only moving part inside the system is the fan.

Ludodell1 · Answer

@ejn63 I have a very similar issue but my pc only has a SSD, do you have any idea of where the noise could come from? Thanks in advance

Inspiron

scratching/grinding from laptop

Was this post helpful?