OT nasty computer noise



T

The Reid

Guest
come back from hols and started PC, nasty wailing hum for a
couple of minutes, then stopped, and I notice its vibrating all
the time.

Must be a moving part. Fan or a disk drive?

One HD is very old, I could try and disconect it as a test. Sound
sensible?
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
 
"The Reid" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> come back from hols and started PC, nasty wailing hum for a
> couple of minutes, then stopped, and I notice its vibrating all
> the time.
>
> Must be a moving part. Fan or a disk drive?
>
> One HD is very old, I could try and disconect it as a test. Sound
> sensible?

Fans first to check probable just needs cleaning hopefully.

JS
 
On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 10:23:16 +0000, The Reid <[email protected]>
wrote:

|come back from hols and started PC, nasty wailing hum for a
|couple of minutes, then stopped, and I notice its vibrating all
|the time.
|
|Must be a moving part. Fan or a disk drive?
|
|One HD is very old, I could try and disconect it as a test. Sound
|sensible?

Probably the Hard Disk is on its way out.
Make sure you keep your backups up to date.
--
Dave Fawthrop <dave hyphenologist co uk>
Freedom of Speech, Expression, Religion, and Democracy are
the keys to Civilization, together with legal acceptance of
Fundamental Human rights.
 
In message <[email protected]>, The Reid
<[email protected]> writes
>come back from hols and started PC, nasty wailing hum for a
>couple of minutes, then stopped, and I notice its vibrating all
>the time.
>
>Must be a moving part. Fan or a disk drive?
>
>One HD is very old, I could try and disconect it as a test. Sound
>sensible?

This sounds like the usual "PSU fan on the verge of failing" syndrome.
IME the PSU fans only have an active life of a couple years, partly
because they are so cheaply made, partly because they are on for long
periods of time and partly because they attract a lot of dust. You could
try cleaning it, but I don't think it will do much good as it sounds
like the bearings are on the way out. I've lost count of the number of
PSUs I've had to replace because of this. In fact, my present PSU is
becoming noisy at turn-on, too, and I expect to have to replace that
before long.

Sadly, computer PSUs are not intended to be serviced. You just chuck it
away and buy a new one.

As to whether the noise is coming from a hard-drive, I suppose it's
possible, but I would expect you to be experiencing software errors -
either failure to boot or random crashes when running.
--
Chris Hill
 
Bitstring <[email protected]>, from the
wonderful person The Reid <[email protected]> said
>come back from hols and started PC, nasty wailing hum for a
>couple of minutes, then stopped, and I notice its vibrating all
>the time.
>
>Must be a moving part. Fan or a disk drive?
>
>One HD is very old, I could try and disconect it as a test. Sound
>sensible?

I doubt it's a (usable) disk drive - possible but unlikely. By the
time you are out of balance enough for a detectable hum/vibration you'd
probably have destroyed the heads. Much more likely to be a fan - try
stopping them one at a time for 10 seconds or so by =carefully= applying
pressure to the hub (NOT by sticking your finger in the blades!). You'll
probably not be able to get at the one(s) in the PSU. Depending on the
type/age of the PC you'll have CPU fan, motherboard fan, case fan(s),
graphics card fan, to choose from.

Replacement is not difficult, if you can get the right size/power fan
(the 40mm motherboard ones are hardest .. most of the others are far
more common).

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Contact recommends the use of Firefox; SC recommends it at gunpoint.
 
The Reid wrote:

> come back from hols and started PC, nasty wailing hum for a
> couple of minutes, then stopped, and I notice its vibrating all
> the time.

Check your air filter for peanuts.

Or was that in another newsgroup ?

Chris
 
In message <[email protected]>, GSV Three Minds in a Can
<[email protected]> writes
>Bitstring <[email protected]>, from the
>wonderful person The Reid <[email protected]> said
>>come back from hols and started PC, nasty wailing hum for a
>>couple of minutes, then stopped, and I notice its vibrating all
>>the time.
>>
>>Must be a moving part. Fan or a disk drive?
>>
>>One HD is very old, I could try and disconect it as a test. Sound
>>sensible?
>
>I doubt it's a (usable) disk drive - possible but unlikely. By the
>time you are out of balance enough for a detectable hum/vibration you'd
>probably have destroyed the heads. Much more likely to be a fan - try
>stopping them one at a time for 10 seconds or so by =carefully=
>applying pressure to the hub (NOT by sticking your finger in the
>blades!). You'll probably not be able to get at the one(s) in the PSU.
>Depending on the type/age of the PC you'll have CPU fan, motherboard
>fan, case fan(s), graphics card fan, to choose from.
>
>Replacement is not difficult, if you can get the right size/power fan
>(the 40mm motherboard ones are hardest .. most of the others are far
>more common).

Some motherboards have fans on the Northbridge and sometimes they can be
replaced with heatsinks instead of a new fan. If you have a dodgy
Northbridge fan and can replace it that way, I'd recommend doing so.

See:

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/videonorthbridge/zm-nb

I think you might get the bits cheaper elsewhere though.

>

--
Surfer!
Email to: ramwater at uk2 dot net
 
Following up to Chris Gilbert

>Or was that in another newsgroup ?

must have been, I'm going for the fan option!
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
 
Surfer! wrote:

>
> Some motherboards have fans on the Northbridge and sometimes they can be
> replaced with heatsinks instead of a new fan. If you have a dodgy
> Northbridge fan and can replace it that way, I'd recommend doing so.
>

Is that magnetic Northbridge, or grid Northbridge?



druidh
 
On 22 Feb 2006 06:05:42 -0800, "druidh" <[email protected]> wrote:

|
|Surfer! wrote:
|
|>
|> Some motherboards have fans on the Northbridge and sometimes they can be
|> replaced with heatsinks instead of a new fan. If you have a dodgy
|> Northbridge fan and can replace it that way, I'd recommend doing so.
|>
|
|Is that magnetic Northbridge, or grid Northbridge?

Geographic Northbridge ;-)
--
Dave Fawthrop <dave hyphenologist co uk>
Freedom of Speech, Expression, Religion, and Democracy are
the keys to Civilization, together with legal acceptance of
Fundamental Human rights.
 
The Reid wrote:
> come back from hols and started PC, nasty wailing hum for a
> couple of minutes, then stopped, and I notice its vibrating all
> the time.
>
> Must be a moving part. Fan or a disk drive?
>
> One HD is very old, I could try and disconect it as a test. Sound
> sensible?

I'd say the CPU fan is favourite.

You may not need to replace it, the problem is most likely the
bearing lubrication has dried up. Something very simple and cheap
to fix.

Clean the fan then gently peel off the sticker in the centre of
the fan. Put a small blob of good old Vaseline on the bearing and
replace the sticker.

I have an 10 year old PC running 24/7 under my desk doing
sterling service as a document server. I've done the above repair
twice now in the years it has been running and the fan still runs
at full speed and quietly once serviced.

It might seem like a mean and cheeseparing repair when fans are
so cheap but I find it quicker and easier than buying and fitting
a new one and it works!

--
Regards

Nick
 
The Reid wrote:

> come back from hols and started PC, nasty wailing hum for a
> couple of minutes, then stopped, and I notice its vibrating all
> the time.

Yeah, I get that a lot, periodically. Going through a quiet period at the
moment though (recently disconnected the little fan in the removable hard
drive caddy that was driving me nuts!).

> Must be a moving part. Fan or a disk drive?

Fan, usually the power supply, as others have said. Just replace it, easy
to do.

> One HD is very old, I could try and disconect it as a test. Sound
> sensible?

But then again, knowing how old your computer probably is, you never know!
What size hard drive is it, one of those huge 500 megabyte jobs? Using that
modern FAT16 file system? ;-)

Paul
 
On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 10:45:39 +0000, Chris Hill burbled:

<snip>
> In fact, my present PSU is becoming noisy at
> turn-on, too, and I expect to have to replace that before long.
>
> Sadly, computer PSUs are not intended to be serviced. You just chuck it
> away and buy a new one.
>
<snip>

I have changed the fans in several PSUs over the years. They are usually
quite easy to do and usually just a normal 12v fan. Sometimes the
connections are soldered to the board. In those cases I have just cut the
old fan wires out and used the old twist&tape technique to connect the new
wires onto the remaining ends. Make sure you cable-tie the fan leads away
from the heatsinks before reassembling.

I had an old computer that I used as a router for quite a while. I
quietened the PSU fan using the above technique, but connecting the black
wire to +5, so running the fan on 7V instead of 12v to make it a lot
quieter (and probably hotter, but I wasn't bothered about that!).

--
Mick
(no M$ software on here... :) )
Web: http://www.nascom.info
 
I'd concur with the other thread posters - most likely the fan on the power
supply - expect 12-18 mth life normally.
Normal fault- cheap bearings used on the fan. They can be fixed, but for the
PSU replacement cost (approx £20 for a decent one) it's not worth the
hassle/worry.
Swopping it out is a 10-20 min job.

Normal symptoms - rising/falling noise that comes and goes. Don't leave it
too long though - normally they would just fail, but i had one go over a few
months and it killed the hard drive as well. Usual signs on this - rising
temperatures on the cpu and motherboard (use the free utility SiSoftware
Sandra to monitor temps it if you're concerned -
http://www.sisoftware.net/ )

Oh - and if you do buy a new one. don't leave it lying around. I only made
that mistake once & the new one lasted 2 mths
;-(

"The Reid" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> come back from hols and started PC, nasty wailing hum for a
> couple of minutes, then stopped, and I notice its vibrating all
> the time.
>
> Must be a moving part. Fan or a disk drive?
>
> One HD is very old, I could try and disconect it as a test. Sound
> sensible?
> --
> Mike Reid
> Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this
> site
> Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all,
> it's a spamtrap
 
What? Does that mean my Oric Computer that utilises a mono tape cassette
recorder to play ping pong has been superseded? Must nip down to Rumbelows
to see if they have they can get this. Actually, I've still got some Marconi
valves on back order, so hopefully they will have been delivered by now.

R.Hill Esq.


"Paul Saunders" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> The Reid wrote:
>
>> come back from hols and started PC, nasty wailing hum for a
>> couple of minutes, then stopped, and I notice its vibrating all
>> the time.
>
> Yeah, I get that a lot, periodically. Going through a quiet period at the
> moment though (recently disconnected the little fan in the removable hard
> drive caddy that was driving me nuts!).
>
>> Must be a moving part. Fan or a disk drive?
>
> Fan, usually the power supply, as others have said. Just replace it, easy
> to do.
>
>> One HD is very old, I could try and disconect it as a test. Sound
>> sensible?
>
> But then again, knowing how old your computer probably is, you never know!
> What size hard drive is it, one of those huge 500 megabyte jobs? Using
> that modern FAT16 file system? ;-)
>
> Paul
>
 
Following up to Paul Saunders

Thanks for all the ideas, everyone.

>Fan, usually the power supply, as others have said. Just replace it, easy
>to do.

I'll look in a catalogue and probably come back with questions!

>> One HD is very old, I could try and disconect it as a test. Sound
>> sensible?
>
>But then again, knowing how old your computer probably is, you never know!
>What size hard drive is it, one of those huge 500 megabyte jobs? Using that
>modern FAT16 file system? ;-)

The oldest one is a hardcard from the previous machine in 32
MBtye partitions, the newest is a USB multi gigabytes one full of
digital photos :)
Just been to northern Spain, took 200 photos at 20Mbytes, copied
to TIFFs to work on, main disk full !
I'm now up to drive M, anybody got to Z? :)
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
 
The Reid wrote:

> The oldest one is a hardcard from the previous machine in 32
> MBtye partitions,

Oh dear, oh dear... <shakes head in despair>

> the newest is a USB multi gigabytes one full of
> digital photos :)

Multi? You mean you've got more than 1 gigabyte? <shock>

> Just been to northern Spain, took 200 photos at 20Mbytes, copied
> to TIFFs to work on, main disk full !

Good grief! Get yourself a decent hard drive man!

Look, 300gig drive - £83 - order it now!
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MAX-P8L30

> I'm now up to drive M, anybody got to Z? :)

I used to be like that, but now I've stopped bothering, so I just have one
partition per drive. Currently I have 840 gig on four drives. Nearly full
again though, so now I need two more removable 300 gig drives. Should last
me a little while longer, until the 1 terabyte drives come down in price.

Paul
 
Following up to Paul Saunders

>Look, 300gig drive - £83 - order it now!
>http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MAX-P8L30
>
>> I'm now up to drive M, anybody got to Z? :)
>
>I used to be like that, but now I've stopped bothering, so I just have one
>partition per drive. Currently I have 840 gig on four drives. Nearly full
>again though, so now I need two more removable 300 gig drives. Should last
>me a little while longer, until the 1 terabyte drives come down in price.

I only have one partition per drive now but the old drive is
d,e,f,g, the one in the box is C, floppy is A, CDs I,J,K. L is a
memory card reader, M is a big USB that I couldnt scandisk till I
got more memory.

Where have you got all that stuff backed up?

PS the box has stopped vibrating and making noise, thats either
good or very bad!
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-photos UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-photos Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
 
The Reid wrote:
> Following up to Paul Saunders
>
>
>>Look, 300gig drive - £83 - order it now!
>>http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MAX-P8L30
>>
>>
>>>I'm now up to drive M, anybody got to Z? :)
>>
>>I used to be like that, but now I've stopped bothering, so I just have one
>>partition per drive. Currently I have 840 gig on four drives. Nearly full
>>again though, so now I need two more removable 300 gig drives. Should last
>>me a little while longer, until the 1 terabyte drives come down in price.
>
>
> I only have one partition per drive now but the old drive is
> d,e,f,g, the one in the box is C, floppy is A, CDs I,J,K. L is a
> memory card reader, M is a big USB that I couldnt scandisk till I
> got more memory.
>
> Where have you got all that stuff backed up?
>
> PS the box has stopped vibrating and making noise, thats either
> good or very bad!

That's often the case with fan noise, if they've been off for a
while they squeal when you start them up again but after a while
they settle down. Lubricate the bearing and it'll be fine.

--
Regards

Nick
 
Paul Saunders wrote:

> I used to be like that, but now I've stopped bothering, so I just have one
> partition per drive. Currently I have 840 gig on four drives. Nearly full
> again though, so now I need two more removable 300 gig drives. Should last
> me a little while longer, until the 1 terabyte drives come down in price.

Have you given any thought as to how on earth you back up 1TB of data
with what's available for the average PC?
1TB will take about 218 x 4.7GB DVD's, 1500 x 700MB CD-R's, or about
728,000 x 1.44MB floppy disks :)

Scary stuff! It's not that long ago (well, about 20 yrs!) when I was
lucky enough to get one of the first new hard drives for my pc at work,
size of a house brick, with a *massive* 10MB of storage, and I had to
lose one of my *two* 5.25" floppy drives to make it fit.
General comments along the lines of 'what on earth do you want that for?
You'll never, ever fill 10MB as long as you work here, etc. etc.' were
uttered by all who came to see how much quicker it was than their floppy
drives. :)


--
Dave McLaughlin

**** Sapiens Non Urinat In Ventum
 
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