Asus N56 Laptop HDD Clicking/Fan Noise

I purchased an Asus N56JN-EB71 on Newegg in mid-November of 2014 because it was on sale for $700 and the specs were in the range I needed. This past week I noticed the fan has gotten a little louder than usual. It's not ridiculously loud, but when I first got it the fan was pretty much dead silent... now it makes an audible humming-type noise. I have Speccy installed on it and hardware temps are within the normal ranges, so it's not overheating. I'm wondering if this is normal?

When I was listening for the fan the other day, I noticed that a soft clicking/tapping noise coming from the laptop. This particular noise can only be heard when I have my ear against it. I'm 95% sure it's coming from the hard drive because the sound is loudest on the little section of the laptop where the HDD and RAM are supposed to be. Again, I'm wondering if this is normal? I can't hear the noise during normal usage I have not had any errors telling me there's an issue with the HDD.

Sorry if I sound overly paranoid, but should I call Asus/Newegg and ask for a replacement/repair? Or are these sounds normal? I just don't want my laptop to die on me.

 

Any advice at all?

 

All right. Here is a thought. It sounds like you are not 100% sure if the sound is coming from the fan or the hard drive. You might be able to determine the source of the sound if you can disable the fan in the BIOS. Go into your BIOS and see if there is an option for disabling the fan. If so, go ahead and disable it, then continue to load Windows. Run your computer for a short time while keeping an eye on temps. Listen carefully for the sound while the computer is still running. If you still hear the sound, then it must be coming from the hard drive. If the sound went away, then you know it was coming from the fan.

 

How do I access the bios? Is that even safe? I suppose I should just call their customer service and ask.

 

1. You cannot disable the fan from within BIOS. The only way to disable it would be to disconnect it from the board (not recommended).

2. If you're not experiencing any problems and your temps appear to be within reasonable range, then chances are nothing is wrong. Mechanical drives are always liable to make noise. As for your fan, it's nothing to worry about as long as your laptop is not running excessively hot. You may be able to abate the noise level (and the temps, for that matter) by applying a better thermal compound, but then that will require disassembling the laptop enough to access the heat sinks.

By and large, as long as no problems are ensuing, I wouldn't stress. And remember, you do have your warranty to fall back on in case you begin noticing problems, whether they're directly related to these things or not.