Since a few days my computer makes a rather heavy "snoring" sound while stating up. If I turn off the computer and take off a side-panel the snoring sound stops. At other times there's no snoring sound while starting up. What can be the reason of this unusual sound ? Could it have to do with the cold ? (I live in the North.) And does it sound like a serious problem ?

One of the fans needs lubrication or replacing.

One of the fans needs lubrication or replacing.

Have you checked for this:-

Most likely a loose cable caught by a fan.

take the cover off before you start it in the morning while it is cold. Start it and locate which fan is the problem.

The fan is the likely cause, does the noise appear to come from that component. Other likely suspect is the hard disk, although newer HDD are less noisy when they fail these days.

My Toshiba Satellite has done this for over two years now.

Worried me at first but now I'm used to it.

Too lazy to get the fan sorted.

Is this while its in the sleep mode ! .mine sometimes sounds like a motorbike going up the road complete with gear changes,. i think its the cooling fans,.

My Toshiba Satellite has done this for over two years now.

Worried me at first but now I'm used to it.

Too lazy to get the fan sorted.

I wouldn't let it go, if the fan stopps completly it will be much more expensive to fix, but if it has been doing it for 2 years maybe it is getting time to update anyway.

One of the fans needs lubrication or replacing.

Can a simple man do this by himself and what kind of lubrication do I need ?

One of the fans needs lubrication or replacing.

Can a simple man do this by himself and what kind of lubrication do I need ?

Usually there is a sticker in the middle that fan be pealed off, but you really need to take the little clip off the shaft which can be a bit fiddly, then you can pull the fan off the shaft and clean the shaft and bearing. Then oil with light machine oil, sewing machine oil is ideal and reassemble and replace the sticker with a small piece of tape.

But new fans are quite cheap.