My computer is making ugly noises...

Factual Questions
1

My computer is periodically making rather loud “grinding” noises. It’s coming from the PC itself, not from the speakers. It makes the sound for a minute or two and then it goes away, striking up again several minutes later. I fear for my hardware’s life.

It started making a similar sound last year. I had the power supply replaced, which solved the problem until a couple of weeks ago. At least, the sound sounds similar. My tin ear can’t quite pinpoint where it’s coming from, so I’m assuming it’s the power supply.

OK, so I’ve got a few questions:

  1. Any ideas on how to get a firmer diagnostic on the problem?

  2. Assuming it’s the power supply, is there a faster/cheaper way to fix this without buying another damned power supply? If you have any ideas on this front, please be VERY explicit as I’m an idiot when it comes to figuring out where the doodad goes in the whatsamjigit.

  3. I had this also happen on another PC of mine several years ago. What the hell am I doing wrong? Why do the power supply gods hate me so?

2

Simple, Remove the Avril Lavigne CD from the CD-player, reboot.

But seriously folks, if it’s the EXACT SAME noise as before, and replacing the power supply fixed it, then it’s a pretty sure thing it’s the PS again.

I would lay blame on the quality of the incoming power. Do you have a surge protector? Did you pay more than $10 for it? Are there any weird things about you electrical hookup? (bad cord, no ground, old house with flaky wiring, etc.)

If the PS is toasted, there’s not much to do but replace it, not really any (average) user fixable parts inside. What you need to focus on is getting good power to it so you don’t burn out PS #3. Be sure to get a quality surge protector, a good cord that’s standard PC cord, 3-prong, no extension cords. Plug it directly into the wall and don’t put it on a circuit with large applicances or a lot of other stuff.

Also, pay a little extra for the new PS. Sometimes on the cheap ones the power part is not bad, just the fan that cools it. They use cheap fans and the bearings go quickly. Don’t buy the lowest priced one and don’t get an exact replacement for the one that’s there, upgrade and maybe try a different vendor. Directron.com is a great source (I’m not affiliated with them, just buy there)

Sorry I couldn’t be more help. I used to build PC’s for a living, but cracking open ps’s is usually not worth the trouble.

3

If you’ve got the guts, open up the case and power it up. You should be able to tell right quick where that sound is coming from.

No. If it’s the power supply fan, replace the whole power supply. Tampering with the inside of a power supply is going to be the 21st Century equivalent of cleaning a loaded gun, I predict.

Power supplies are made cheaply, in my experience. Cheap computers have the cheapest ones imaginable. If possible, replace with one from a reputable dealer with a good warranty. I like PC Power and Cooling.

4

Sounds like one of the fans. I’ve had the same problem on occasion myself. After the computer has run for a while, boot to bios and check the temperatures on different components. If one or more is running hot, you have faulty fans.

5

I have Motherboard Monitor set up…can someone define “running hot”? It’s a VIA-based Soyo motherboard (SY-6VCA) with an 866 MHz Pentium III.

MM is showing three sensors, one showing 69 degrees, one showing 84 degrees, and one showing 75 degrees. Assuming I’ve understood the references at the MM site, the 84 degree sensor is the CPU and the 75 degree sensor is the case. No idea about the first one.

Oddly, since I’ve posted, the PC has been suspiciously quiet. I think it knows I’m on to it. :slight_smile:

6

Also, re my wiring: well, I rent half of a two-family home; the homeowners live in the other half. It’s an older house, but they’ve did extensive remodeling, including electric work, before I moved in a year and half ago. And the PC that did this some time ago was about four years ago when I lived in Austin, so either I’m jinxed or it’s something else. I have a pretty good power strip, but it’s also kind of old – do those things go bad?

7

Hold it…It started making the noise and MM shows the temperature going to 87.

8

Jesus…the fan RPM is just bouncing all over the place. From zero to 5000 to 3000 etc etc etc.

9

CPU Temperature seems to range from 84 to 89, with 87 being most common.

10

Yep, that’d be the source of the problem. Which fan?

11

Only one fan sensor, so I guess it’s that one.

12

Dewey, you have a bad CPU fan. Sometimes it’s easy to replace, other times it’s a bit harder. Not bad overall though.

13

I agree. Mine does exactly the same thing; most of the time it runs quiet, but bump the desk with my knee, and it protests for a few minutes. Long as it doesn’t stop all together, I’m leaving it alone.

DD

14

There’s another possibility there - you have an number of cables and wires in there - one of them could be rubbing on the fan, causing the noise. If the fan really is going bad, however, I don’t recommend leaving it there. New CPU fans aren’t that expensive.

15

What everyone else has said, pretty much. I’ve been running a poor old 400 MHz eMachine almost 24 hours a day since last August, and it finally started making the noises you describe a couple of months ago. One of the fans is wobbling, and that’s it. It’s not like the hard drive is going to fail…

One of my coworkers tells me that fewer and fewer computers these days are being equipped with CPU fans, the manufacturers instead opting for the cheap scenario of hoping that a big heat sink will allow the power supply fan cool the CPU sufficiently. The cover is off this nearly-year-old 1.2 GHz Compaq that I’m using now, though, and I can see it’s got a CPU fan.

Actually, now that I think about it, it was a Compaq machine I ran into about 12 years ago which had big warnings against running it with the cover off, since that’d screw up the airflow internally. Maybe it was old machines which tried to get away with just the one fan…

Anyway:

Unless you are techincally skilled, Dewey, just take the machine in for servicing somewhere. Tell the people that you’ve got fan wobbles, or fan noise, occassionally. They’ll figure out which fan, if you’ve got more than one, if your ears aren’t good enough.

These fans are made pretty cheaply, with plenty of failure points where plastic meets metal. I suspect it’s mostly a matter of the fan’s axle managing to work itself a slightly bigger hole within the plastic of the fan blades piece, thus allowing for a wobble and all the bizarre torques that can put on a direct-drive DC motor.

I managed to “fix” a CPU fan wobble on an old 286 machine years ago with a piece of wire. Wrapped it around the fan, with a “bump” in the wire pressing on the center of the spinning fan itself. The noise never returned for the months I still had the machine (and yes, the fan would, indeed, spin), and I’ve got no idea if the present owner is experiencing nasty noises.

The bigger problem, of course, is if something lets the smoke out of your computer’s components. :wink:

16

It is definitely the CPU fan. I opened the case and watched the fans; when the noise started, one of the two fans on the dual CPU fan wasn’t spinning as smoothly as the others.

I’ve got a call into my local PC repair shop, but if I can avoid losing my computer for a day I’ll fix it myself. I’ve put in new cards and added hard drives and CD-RWs before, but haven’t ever messed with anything on the motherboard proper. Can I do this? How long will it take? Is there a good guide somewhere (preferably with lots of pictures) that I can refer to?

Again, my mobo is a Soyo SY-6VCA. It’s a Slot 1 board. Can anyone recommend a supplier and manufacturer? (I note that Knead has recommended PC Power and Cooling – in looking at their website, I believe I’d want the CPU-Cool M1; am I right? None of their CPU products have dual fans (as mine does now) – does that mean I shouldn’t use their stuff?