PSA: That loud clicking noise might just be a paperclip stuck in your fan

So last week my old desktop started making this awful rhythmic clicking sound (like a tiny machine gun in my PC case). I was about to order a new fan for $25 on Amazon, but I decided to pop the side panel first because I'm cheap like that. Turns out my cat had knocked a paperclip off my desk and it landed perfectly through the top vent of my case. The fan blade was literally whacking that paperclip every single rotation (took me a solid 5 minutes to spot it wedged in there). I pulled it out with some tweezers and the clicking stopped completely. Has anyone else found random junk inside their tower that caused a fake-out hardware failure?

2 comments

2 Comments

sage_perry6h ago

Ha! I read somewhere that finding a paperclip in your PC is basically a rite of passage at this point.

holly_gonzalez613h ago

I had a buddy who built his first gaming PC back in 2019 and he used a paperclip to jump the power switch header for three months because he lost the case cables. The thing about paperclips is they hold up way better than you'd think inside a case. A little bent but they'll work. Honestly, I think every tech person has that one weird fix they keep around long after it should be replaced. Paperclips and zip ties are just the unofficial tools of the trade at this point.