Wierd Noises

My computer is making a humming sound. It is intermittent and sort of …rrrr…rrrr…rrrr… like a rotating disk going bad or rubbing something. I have checked all the obvious devices with moving parts including the hard drives, CD ROM drive, floppy drive, power supply (replaced) and CPU fan by physically disconnecting the power to these units then turning the power on the noise persists. It seems to be coming from the motherboard in the area of the I/O ports (???)

Since I am unaware of any other moving parts in this area I am perplexed as to the source of the problem. Suggestions?

 

Noises like you described are usually caused by loose part/object that likes to vibrate at a certain frequency,a few culprits are loose motherboard mounting screw/brass standoff,just tighten them all up or a molex that is touching part of the case.

 

It could be the fan inside the power supply!!! You unplugged all the other moving parts...but you can't unplug the psu fan so everytime you fired it up to test your theory...it is also running the fan inside the psu...so if that is the culprit...then you will get the noise no matter what you unplug!!!!

I've got a friend that has a psu with one of those stupid light up fans in it...the fan actually spun off it's axis and banged around inside the psu box!! And ofcourse (not meaning to scare you), but...it started with a little unusuall noise and graduated to a helicopter landing in his living room, followed by the gawd aweful crunching noise when it flew off the axle!!! It was quite funny...had to laugh at him!!!!

Like I said....I wasn't trying to scare you, but...sometimes people tend to forget about the fan in the power supply!!!

Roger

 

Thanks - I have already replaced the entire power supply with a new one and the noise persisted. Since the last time I was banging around inside the box it seems to have quieted down (for now ???)

 

Agreed but when I unplugged the power from the CD ROM drive so the unit couldn't spin what-so-ever the noise continued.

 

Makes sense. I'll try tightening standoff screws. THANKS, Rikky
Molex ???

 

A molex is just a power plug from your power supply,it could be any plug or wire thats touching a metal part of the case,when it starts to vibrate it beats it like a drum

 

check to make sure your case fans are not lose. i had my rear fan come lose and it would make a noise and i thought it was somthing eles but when i put my hand on the fan the sound stoped so thats how i found out it was it. so make sure your fans are on good

 

Folks,

Thanks to all of you for the responses.

I started to tighten the motherboard standoff screws this morning and decided since I haven’t heard my rrr…rrr.rrr noise for a few days to wait. I have learned the hard way “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

The cessation of the noise seems to largely have coincided with the installation of a new power supply and attendant moving around of molexes. Pesky critters, I didn’t even know I had any.

Nice call, Rikki!

 

Arrrugh

I spoke too soon. The noise is back. I opened the box and tightened every screw I could find. Some were a little loose so I felt pretty confident. When I turned it back on, rrrr….rrrr….rrrr, same as before.