Dude, that sucks.
I'm on my second Ps3, but my first was screwed up from the start. The fan sounded really messed up, like it was bent.
It was all like SHIKASHIKASHIKASHIKA
That lasted for about 3 months, then the fan stopped working, then started, then stopped etc. etc. etc. until it finally crapped out. I sent it to sony, and what do you know, it started working again when they got it. (ps3 from hell!) When we described our earlier situation, they sent a new one anyway, even though they couldn't find any problems with the first.
What a nice bunch of folk.