My grandfather's Dell started having trouble today. On startup the fan makes abnormal sounds as if it is stuck or hitting something as it turns. After it speeds up (15 seconds into boot) it begins to run normally. The motherboard (model e210882) also beeps repeatedly upon startup. The beeps are slow and regular (like an alarm clock). I have no clue as to whether the two issues are related. The fan/hard drive (not sure which) has been making funky noise as if it was rattling itself apart over the past few weeks as well. Any help greatly appreciated. Dell seems none too interested in helping me solve the issue. Thanks, Eric

I took the fan out, cleaned it, and it seems to have quieted down. With it the motherboard didn't beep upon reboot. This could just be dumb luck, or perhaps the issues were related.

The fan must have been the CPU fan. Without cooling the CPU overheated and the beeping was an alarm to signal you of the overheating. Get a can of compressed air and blow out the fan and heatsink better.

It was just the case fan malfunctioning. The CPU doesn't have a fan, just a giant heatsink. That's dell for ya.

Fans and hdd's are important. If they become noisy it is best to change soonest and they are usually inexpensive. If you do not change and then there is a failure, partularly of the hdd, the situation could then become an expensive nightmare. * You have been warned * Good Luck - Keep us posted.

You can enter the Service Tag on Dell's website and get all the information you need. The machine may still be under warranty. Life is more painless for those who are brainless.