A new sound from my computer

madbunny · Post by **madbunny** » Mon Mar 13, 2006 2:57 am

if it's the video card, and it's still brand new, take it back. These new cards have some serious leaf blowers on them, and in spite of what techies like to deny, self repair on this stuff is a pain.

Most likely it's something like one of your power cables that droops, a fan somewhere hits it untill it gets smacked back to where it came from. Lets face it, not many things in your case actually make a lot of noise. Oldwrenches idea of just running with the side off for a while is really the best one, just don't forget to put it back on since ideally your case is designed to pull air in a specific pattern and having it off just pulls warm air back in.

DriftRoot · Post by **DriftRoot** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 8:41 am

Well, there's good news and bad news:

It's definately not one of my fans or any other moving part. It is entirely an electronic sound. While my computer has stopped screeching so loudly and so often, maybe a good thing and maybe not - I say not - this morning it screeched...and it wasn't even turned on.

*crickets chirping*

I was walking by my desk this morning and heard this soft little *kkrraaannkkk* and stopped dead. My computer's on? It can't be on. I turned it off Tuesday night because I wasn't going to be around for two days. In a continuing state of denial, I checked, sure enough, it was completely NOT on.

Power supply is dying, you think? I haven't seen any signs of failure. And no, there are no critters living in my tower.

Keeper of Hellfire · Post by **Keeper of Hellfire** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:04 am

The power button on the front doesn't disconnet the PC from the mains. Parts of the mainboard are still supplied with power, so the power supply is active too. So it can be a dying power supply. Or something on your mainboard dies.

gangstaj8 · Post by **gangstaj8** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 2:20 pm

My Wife has a computer at work that makes cricket noises from the HDD. But I hope that's not your case, considering the machine was shut off.

oldwrench · Post by **oldwrench** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 2:36 pm

It does sound like you have a power supply problem. The supply has to feed some power to the motherboard for the switch circuit to work, so it is always on, unless you turn off the switch on the back of the supply. AC electricity can make things vibrate, like the hum from flourecent lamps when the balast gets bad. I would sugest you look into a new power supply, check online retailers like newegg.com or tigerdirect.com for prices. Get 400+ watts, computers are using more power as they get faster and better. I have an Antec supply, it's pretty qiet and stable.

DriftRoot · Post by **DriftRoot** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:00 pm

I wonder if this explains some laggy program response times. This would have to happen right when I finish upgrading my computer to its maximum capacity. Do you think stuffing in another 256 MB of RAM hastened the power supply to its grave? It did get worse after that was installed.

If all this had taken place nine months ago, I would have sold off the parts and just bought a new machine.

Time to upgrade/maintain...again. This power supply will probably boost my overall spending on this machine to over $2,000...$2,000 can buy a pretty nice computer, these days.

oldwrench · Post by **oldwrench** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:49 pm

If you check new egg, they may have an antec case with power supply for about the cost of the supply. That's how I got mine and this case is spooky quiet.

tyromaniac · Post by **tyromaniac** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 9:00 pm

I have that problem too. When it happens, I place a heavy object or say sit on my computer and it stops. As odd as it sounds, it usually works for some time. I also smack it on the top. I'm not sure if that's your problem...., but it seems to fit the description. Mine's like a low pitch monotonous machine gun

DriftRoot · Post by **DriftRoot** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 4:01 pm

hehe, machine gun! Nope, that's not my sound, but I DID figure out what it resembles:

In a cafeteria with a linoleum floor and chairs with metal legs, someone stands up, causing their chair to suddenly screech fingernails-on-the-chalkboard-style across the floor. THAT'S my sound. That's exactly the sound, with a bit of techno/electronica thrown in. I still haven't fixed it, btw. I would hate to buy and install a new power supply only to find out the noise doesn't stop.

CHAMELEON_D_H · Post by **CHAMELEON_D_H** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 5:33 pm

Have you checked the speaker in the case? This whole thing might be static electricety relesed near it, causing the sound, even when computer is off.