ASUS U43: keyboard keeps making beeping/screeching sounds (even w/ sound muted)

I purchased an ASUS Bamboo laptop from Best Buy about three months ago, and until recently it's been running without a hitch - no performance issues, and pretty silent overall.

Over the past couple weeks though, I noticed a faint beeping noise coming from the keyboard - it sounds a bit like an alarm clock going off. Oddly, after some troubleshooting, I found that the beeping only starts up (to my knowledge) when I use an Internet browser that isn't IE (I've tried Firefox and Chrome). I've been using Chrome on this machine since I purchased it, so I don't understand why this problem would have cropped up three months down the line. The beeping sound persists even with sound muted.

Apart from this, the previously silent fan has gotten considerably louder, and I consistently hear faint screeching noises from the computer - the sort you'd hear on an older machine if you opened up too many programs on it.

I have been very careful about handling the computer - it does not receive downloads and has an antivirus programming running at all times. I also only visit 'safe' sites as a precautionary measure.

I really don't know what's going on and would really appreciate some input. What sort of problem are these noises indicative of? Is it a serious issue? Thanks very much for taking the time to read.

 

The screeching sounds may be the hard disk, they normally make some noise.

The beep is probably the PC speaker, you may have a setting for this that is hidden in the mixer until you go to properties and check it. If there is no setting for it, you can either disable the Beep device in device manager (devmgmt.msc) or there is a registry setting that may work:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Control Panel \Sound
Beep = "No"

For the fan running higher, you can try cleaning out the vent area with some compressed air. Also check to make sure you have no programs that are using a lot of CPU. There are also cases where graphics drivers can cause issues with certain programs, and keep the system running at max clock speed when it should be throttled back.