New Dell E6400 makes little scratching sound noises.

If you can record the sound and put it here it would be great for us to know really at 100% what is the problem.
When you start a big application do you hear it more?
If so, than it's your HDD and it won't be nosier. if it is annoying, you can try to change your HDD to an SSD or quieter HDD but you need to read reviews and do some research.

 

It's not a bad thing, in the sense that it is not a malfunction or a reliability issue. And it may get better once the drive is indexed.

I have two E6400's, one with the Seagate 7200 rpm 250GB drive, the other with a WD 5400 rpm drive. The Seagate drive is much, much louder, to the point that I first thought there was a second fan in the laptop. Also the seeks were irritating. The WD 5400 rpm drive has a much more benign sonic character, although you can still hear it. I also have a E4200 with a SSD drive, and that is absolutely quiet when the fan is not on.

There is a setting in BIOS to force the hard drive into a quiet mode, so you may want to try that. If you have a Seagate drive, make sure you have the latest firmware.

 

LOL!!! CPUs dont make any noise. Too funny.

 

heu heu heu, Mr. I know nothing about electronics.
Go read a book on computers and electronics, THEN and only then you can come and present your argumentation or provide information.
Electricity can produce vibrations which translate into noise. Common components that produce noise is transistors (like what processors mostly have), and capacitors.

 

LOLz. CPUs simply do not and have not ever created any noise.

 

It's nice that you're helping to solve Sleepy515's problem ...

Anyway, fair enough, it may not be the CPU itself. However, there are reports that it's related to the CPU's sleep state, and as such there are workarounds which indicate the CPU is to blame.

Even a quick search shows that Intel's Core platform, whichever component it may be, has many reports across many manufacturers of a high-pitched noise. So maybe if you stop trolling and open your eyes then you might learn something

Like I said, I have never experienced this myself, but that's not to say there isn't some truth to it.

 

problem solved, i'm getting a replacement.

ps over the past 3 days my computer wouldn't produce audio from my dvd's and would display "preparing desktop" everytime i open windows.

tada!