Odd noise coming from PC tower

[LBombo]

Hi Team
About 8 months after building my first PC, an odd noise began immediately when powering on the PC. It only happened occasionally and not for very long - so I ignored it. 14 months on, it’s gotten worse: happens every time the PC is turned on, lasts a lot longer and the noise has changed. See two short clips below:
2021 March
2021 July
Troubleshooting: - I’ve opened the case and stopped each fan to see if it stopped the noise and no joy. - I can feel a vibration on components for each ‘whir/buzz’ sound but vibration is almost uniform throughout the case. Suspicions: - I suspect either the Radeon Sapphire GPU or the power supply but the fans on both aren’t spinning on start-up so am not sure. This is my first PC build so not an expert in any way.

Thoughts?

[Bruce]

certainly sounds like a fan bearing to me.
how did you stop each fan? my preferred method is using a soft bristled brush, push it into each fan until it stops, making sure to do all the chassis fans (intake and exhaust), water-cooler radiator if present, and GPU and PSU fans.

I also spray WD40 or CRC20 (whatever pressurised can oil you have) into the bearings and that can stop noisy units.

[LBombo]

Cheers Bruce. Yeh, I used a soft cloth and stopped every fan I saw spinning with no luck. Only one I haven’t checked is the PSU cos it’s a pain to get to. Will try though.
Any other remedies if it’s a loose bearing and WD40 doesn’t fix it?
Also, any other ideas to what it might be?

[Bruce]

the brush idea is better as you can push the bristles right in to stop the blades, even into the back of a PSU.
if you can’t push it in far enough, turn off the PC, and use something longer, like a pencil, to prevent the blades from moving when you start the PC up.

if it is a fan, and I’m quietly confident it will be, and the WD40 doesn’t fix it (and if the bearing has collapsed, it will only be a short term fix), the only solution is to replace the fan.

[LBombo]

I believe I’ve traced it to the ‘EBR bearing’ fan on the motherboard (an ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming X). It’s under a metal guard and a pain to get to - would need to remove the graphics card - but I will and see if I can try your fixes. In the meantime I’ve logged tickets to the manufacturer and retailer. Fingers crossed. Thanks Bruce.

[Bruce]

yep, you’ll have to unplug a few things and take off that metal/plastic guard that should be screwed on from the side you can see, if it’s clipped on by lugs that go through to the other side, you’ll have to remove the whole motherboard - ugghh!

then the fan itself may be clipped onto the motherboard as well, but should be a serviceable part.

good luck and keep us informed on your progress. (y)