Its an HP laptop. I thought it was the fan too a couple of months ago and took it in because I was too chicken and they said it was fine. It hums but is also a kind of a puttering noise that sometimes sounds a little scrapey (oh oh). The only fan I know sounds like a fan, am I just hearing a lower speed thats running for some reason?

I have HP Health Check which is supposed to check the hard drive and last time it ran it said there were no problems. It hasnt been very long but I tried to run it again this afternoon and screwed it up too. I got tired of waiting and tried to cancel it and it didn't seem to stop so I clicked on the x on the little thing on the bottom right that tells you it is running and you click to view progress. (whatever that is called). Now I can't get it to open again at all no matter what I do.

If it doesn't snow too much I will have company on Saturday that may know what is going on. Please don't report me to the computer abuse hot line.

thanks
judi