Static/Hissing noise from PC

[ant3b]

one of my 3d cards had a whine once.. got rid.. ha

[DejaVu]

My Ex missus was always on the Wine... Also got rid - Ha!

[n00bz0rd2]

Ok. To update:

I've cleaned my heatsink - no joy
I've adjusted my fans/stopped it - no joy

This is seriously bugging me now!

The CPU whine thing seems to apply to Core 2 Duos. I have a Quad Core.

[Mickey]

found wot i was on about

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead

[DejaVu]

I've cleaned my heatsink - no joy
I've adjusted my fans/stopped it - no joy

PSU/GPU Fans?
Have you made 100% sure as it sounds like a rapid 'clicking' noise to me. Have you a stray piece of plastic on the fans making contact slightly?

Going by sound is difficult.

I'm gonna listen again and this time I'll squint - I tend to squint when I concentrate! It's nicknamed my "Bog Face".

[TwoPlAnKs]

Ok. To update:

I've cleaned my heatsink - no joy
I've adjusted my fans/stopped it - no joy

This is seriously bugging me now!

The CPU whine thing seems to apply to Core 2 Duos. I have a Quad Core.

I know you're sure its the CPU but that noise isn't the high pitched sound that some electrical devices can make - it's clearly a mechanical rattle. I've had TVs that make that noise before, and my car makes it sometimes, and that is not it. It's a bit like the highest pitch you can hear, very annoying and not a mechanical rattle.

Have you definitely stopped every fan? There's likely to be one on the back and bottom of the PSU, a tiny one on the bridge chip on the MB, one on the graphics card, and possibly one in the front of the case as well as the back.

Obviously turn off any speakers you have attached - that level of interference could only make an audible sound if it is being amplified. It's a long shot but I am sure I have seen speakers that crackle or make an earthing sound on mouse movements before, due to the cables being loose or broken and the mouse cable touching them. Try with them turned off anyway, and any internal speakers disconnected.

If it's not the fans my money is still on the hard drive though, but on listening to it again it sounds more like a totally screwed motor and less like a legitimate hard drive noise. Put it this way, I'm surprised the hard drive works if it is making that noise, whereas earlier I didn't listen with as much care and was a bit more certain it was just the common dodgy hard drive sound.

[Little John]

Personally I would be taking it back to bare bones, board, cpu, memory and graphics and take everything else off including fans other than the cpu cooler, remove power and data cables not used unplug everything from the back and see if it still happens saying its this and that may help point you in the right direction but you need to be systematic in your approach to find whats causing the problem or you will just keep going round in circles.

If it still happens with everything removed then pop the graphics card out. it will beep and not boot but will run switch on without the vga card
Disconenct the cpu cooling fan, just not for too long
pull the memory out again it will run but beep like mad see if you get the noise in there.

even go as far as disconnecting the case front connections and pc speaker, use somthing to short the power switch pins to switch it on.

[n00bz0rd2]

I've stopped EVERY fan. Speakers don't make a difference.

I've done another recording (this time with the case cover on so it's not as loud). What I've done this time is record while I'm downloading stuff with Alt.Binz. You will notice that on the last 5 secs that the sound stops, thats because I've closed Alt.Binz. The noise also seems to coincide with the bars move up in the program.

That might make it a bit clearer.

[TwoPlAnKs]

I've stopped EVERY fan. Speakers don't make a difference.

I've done another recording (this time with the case cover on so it's not as loud). What I've done this time is record while I'm downloading stuff with Alt.Binz. You will notice that on the last 5 secs that the sound stops, thats because I've closed Alt.Binz. The noise also seems to coincide with the bars move up in the program.

That might make it a bit clearer.

Download the Ubuntu live cd, set to boot off cd in bios settings, and boot into Ubuntu with your hard drives all completely disconnected. Piss about in Ubuntu and see if you hear the noise. If not, it's hard drive noise and you need to be backing up and replacing asap.

[TwoPlAnKs]

I've stopped EVERY fan. Speakers don't make a difference.

I've done another recording (this time with the case cover on so it's not as loud). What I've done this time is record while I'm downloading stuff with Alt.Binz. You will notice that on the last 5 secs that the sound stops, thats because I've closed Alt.Binz. The noise also seems to coincide with the bars move up in the program.

That might make it a bit clearer.

Actually, are you talking about the high pitched noise or the rattling noise?

If it's the high pitched noise that changes everything.

[n00bz0rd2]

Actually, are you talking about the high pitched noise or the rattling noise?

If it's the high pitched noise that changes everything.

It's actually both. But mainly the rattling.

[TwoPlAnKs]

It's actually both. But mainly the rattling.

Ok. Rattling noise still hard drive in my opinion.

You could get a quick answer by just booting without any hard drives attached, but that won't put any load on the system, hence ubuntu cd idea.

[furrry]

might be a long shot...it sounds a bit like a dodgy capacitor or swollen capacitor thats leaking. have had that in the past and it can make a similar noise. although seing as its a quad core its not that old and u tend only to get cap problems later rather than sooner. have a look round the cpu for swollen/leaking capacitors its worth a try

here is a pic of what u lookin for notice the brown shit leaking out

caps.jpg

[n00bz0rd2]

Ok. Rattling noise still hard drive in my opinion.

You could get a quick answer by just booting without any hard drives attached, but that won't put any load on the system, hence ubuntu cd idea.

I've confirmed that it is not the HDD. Disconnected them both and ran the Ubuntu CD. Same thing.

might be a long shot...it sounds a bit like a dodgy capacitor or swollen capacitor thats leaking. have had that in the past and it can make a similar noise. although seing as its a quad core its not that old and u tend only to get cap problems later rather than sooner. have a look round the cpu for swollen/leaking capacitors its worth a try

here is a pic of what u lookin for notice the brown shit leaking out

caps.jpg

I've already checked for that as it came up a lot when I was Googling the problem. All of my capacitors are fine. No bulging or splitting.

I once again stopped every single fan in my computer. The noise is still happening. The fans make no difference whatsoever!

[TwoPlAnKs]

might be a long shot...it sounds a bit like a dodgy capacitor or swollen capacitor thats leaking. have had that in the past and it can make a similar noise. although seing as its a quad core its not that old and u tend only to get cap problems later rather than sooner. have a look round the cpu for swollen/leaking capacitors its worth a try

here is a pic of what u lookin for notice the brown shit leaking out

caps.jpg

That's a definite contender for the high pitched noise, but the rattling is getting to a mystery as he's ruled out every moving part.

Final idea from me: a vibrating transformer causing something to rattle. Modern transformers are very good at not rattling, but they will if something goes wrong. This could also explain the high pitched noise as there will be big capacitors inside the power supply. Sounds like an almost perfect diagnosis to explain both noises in a single part.

You could disconnect the power to every component and power up the power supply on its own to test that. If it has a 20-pin motherboard plug you can make it power up with no motherboard attached by shorting the green wire on the 20-pin plug (pin 14) to any of the black ground wires with a paperclip. Put the paperclip in place with it turned off at the wall and then turn it on. It won't hurt you if you touch the paperclip when it's working fine but since yours is possibly broken best not take that risk.

I don't know how you could put it under load with only the PSU though, but if you hear any sort of noise you don't like you know for sure it's the PSU. You can get new PSUs very cheaply so it's good news.

It really would be a very convenient diagnosis, because it is right next to the CPU which would explain the results of your toilet tube test, and it combines the vibrating rattling with the high pitched squeaking.

[furrry]

I agree with TwoPlAnKs given the loudness of the noise i am suspecting the caps in the PSU there are a couple big ones in there and are very prone to swelling. the metal chassis could be throwing the sound around in there m8 misleading you to the source, there isnt much else motherboard wise that could be causing this. is the noise directly from inside or is this what you hear through your speakers.

disconnect the PSU from the mobo and devices and hold a paperclip or similar with rubber handled pliers short out the green pin14 to ground this has the same effect and pressing the power on the PC dont hold it in place though cause that will shut it down again after a few second if the noise is stil there then you found the culprit.

hope that helps

[n00bz0rd2]

Ok. I had a tiny feeling about my PSU not being very strong to power all of my components so I think over time it was going down the shitter.

With the methods you guys mentioned, to be honest, I wouldn't have a clue what to do (despite you telling me) and to be frank I would shit myself doing it
Scratch that. I'll attempt it tonight. Would I have to disconnect the power supply from everything, including the mobo and CPU?

Here is my rig:
Core 2 quad Q6700
4Gb Ram
2 HDDs - 1 sata and 1 ide
1 DVD drive
512Mb nVidia 8800GT
Audigy 2 ZS soundcard

My PSU is a Corsair HX520W, so 520W. Think the lack of power might be something to do with it?

[TwoPlAnKs]

Would I have to disconnect the power supply from everything, including the mobo and CPU?

Aye just pull all the power cables off everything. They will only fit in the right places so if you just plug everything back in after you should be fine. You might want to count how many you unplug so you can count them back in again, or take photos.

My PSU is a Corsair HX520W, so 520W. Think the lack of power might be something to do with it?

520W will power any computer several times over, unless you deliberately take the piss. The big problem with PSUs is that they do dirty tricks to get that magical wattage number up because people count their PSU wattage as one of their PC's specs and boast about it to their mates.

The problem could be that yours is just fucked, or it could be that it's not really man enough for the job because most of those watts will only be available on a power rail you aren't using or they just won't be available at all.

We can add up your power requirements once you know for sure the PSU is the issue but if it was me I'd just buy another one of roughly 500W to be honest. That should be about right for the 200W or whatever your computer actually uses.

I think my PSU is something like 300W and my spec is similar to yours, except I have 3 hard drives.

EDIT: Mine is actually 500W

[n00bz0rd2]

Yeh, I knew I wouldn't need more power. I'm starting to go crazy.

Will try the method tonight and check it. Hopefully this is the problem then I can just go and buy another. If not then....

[furrry]

this might help m8,i the kid makes it sound harder than it really is ...all your doing in shorting the green to ground(any black wire).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoIMk...eature=related

let us know the results