hi, i am new to the forum but this thread caught my eye immediately. i am an hvac-r technician. i am a certified refrigeration technician. the problem with your freezer is most likely a evaperator fan issue. the evaperator fan takes the cold and circulayes the air off of the coil, your coil if freezing up due to fan not moving the cold air off of the coil. the noises you heard were most likely the fan bearings making noise as they are most likely worn out. you can have a technician verify by taking a look at it face to face and most likely have to replace the fan for you, relatively inexpensive repair. hpe this helps you and good luck.