One thing that isn't often talked about is that over time, ink can go bad...so check the expiration date on the ink carts.
Also, an important maintenance procedure is to take ink carts out of the printer and do a gentle agitation by rocking them back and forth to make sure the ink emulsion is evenly distributed. So, if you don't use the printer for a period of time, make sure you re-mix the ink when resuming printing.
Note that the head movement of printing isn't enough to re-agitate the inks...the head moved left/right while the best agitation if front to back.
This process can actually work up to and even after (for a short period anyway) extending the expiration date of the ink. However, the thing that you stated that would indicate a problem unrelated to ink mix is the noise...don't know what that could be, but odd noises are _NEVER_ a good sign...