What's whining in my comp?

[suszterpatt]

For a month or two now, I occasionally hear a rather loud, high pitched whine coming from my comp. Most of the time it starts at startup, about the time the WinXP login screen comes up (booting takes about 45-60 secs before that). It fades away after 10 or so seconds, and comes back only occasionally.


I'm pretty sure this isn't a fan for two reasons. For one, it's not constant, whereas all my fans run at a constant speed. Second, it seems to be somewhat related to certain events. For example, last night it started while I was browsing some sites. It went on and on, but as soon as I closed IE it suddenly stopped. Curious, I fired up IE again and closed it right away, and the whining restarted and went on for a couple seconds. I repeated this a couple times, and sure enough, it only happened when IE was open (strangely enough, opening My Computer didn't set it off).


Any ideas what could be causing this?

 

[essasin]

Check your hard drive

 

[suszterpatt]

Originally posted by: essasin
Check your hard drive

Highly unlikely. I changed HD's back around last October, and I heard the same kind of whining before that. The new one's a Samsung SpinPoint drive, quality stuff, I don't think that's the problem.

 

[essasin]

Originally posted by: suszterpatt

Originally posted by: essasin
Check your hard drive

Highly unlikely. I changed HD's back around last October, and I heard the same kind of whining before that. The new one's a Samsung SpinPoint drive, quality stuff, I don't think that's the problem.

Next guess is your bay drives, GPU fan, then chipset fan. Why don't you just open up your case and just put your ear next to it? It'll be better than just guessing

 

[ch33zw1z]

start unplugging fans one at a time. only so many mechanical devices it can be...

 

[suszterpatt]

Only other drive is a Samsung DVD burner I purchased not 3 months ago. I changed the GPU fan to a VF-700 about 3 weeks ago after the stock fan died, and my chipset has passive cooling. Basically, it seems that no moving part in my comp could cause this, which is quite a paradox.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

IDK suszterpatt.

I'm not comfortable OCing but sometimes backing down or bumping up a bit can cure the
whine, or so I've read.
If it only happens in IE, try another brouser. See if the whine is present in FireFox.
I've read that changing out the CPU has made the mainboard toroids stop thier whining/buzz.
I'm not saying run out and by a different CPU but only stating what I've read.

When some board componets start falling out of spec it *can/may* be reflected in toroid whine.

Try touching the toroids with something non-conductive while the whine is present. You might be able
to isolate it. You might find none of them vibrating. Who knows?? *shrugs*


...Galvanized

 

[ch33zw1z]

PSU fan?

 

[Cheesetogo]

I've had somthing like this happen to me, where certain webpages would cause a high pitched noise to come from somewhere.

 

[suszterpatt]

Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
IDK suszterpatt.

I'm not comfortable OCing but sometimes backing down or bumping up a bit can cure the
whine, or so I've read.
If it only happens in IE, try another brouser. See if the whine is present in FireFox.
I've read that changing out the CPU has made the mainboard toroids stop thier whining/buzz.
I'm not saying run out and by a different CPU but only stating what I've read.

When some board componets start falling out of spec it *can/may* be reflected in toroid whine.

Try touching the toroids with something non-conductive while the whine is present. You might be able
to isolate it. You might find none of them vibrating. Who knows?? *shrugs*


...Galvanized

Oh yeah, for the record, not OC'ing either. Now then...

/me fires up google image search to find out wtf a toroid is

Hmm, interesting. Didn't know those things could cause problems. On a side note, an upgrade would be really uncomfortable right now, so yeah.


And no, it's not limited to IE, I think I heard it during just about anything by now. Games, movies, etc.

 

[essasin]

Originally posted by: suszterpatt

Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
IDK suszterpatt.

I'm not comfortable OCing but sometimes backing down or bumping up a bit can cure the
whine, or so I've read.
If it only happens in IE, try another brouser. See if the whine is present in FireFox.
I've read that changing out the CPU has made the mainboard toroids stop thier whining/buzz.
I'm not saying run out and by a different CPU but only stating what I've read.

When some board componets start falling out of spec it *can/may* be reflected in toroid whine.

Try touching the toroids with something non-conductive while the whine is present. You might be able
to isolate it. You might find none of them vibrating. Who knows?? *shrugs*


...Galvanized

Oh yeah, for the record, not OC'ing either. Now then...

/me fires up google image search to find out wtf a toroid is

Hmm, interesting. Didn't know those things could cause problems. On a side note, an upgrade would be really uncomfortable right now, so yeah.


And no, it's not limited to IE, I think I heard it during just about anything by now. Games, movies, etc.

Can't you just open up you computer and put your ear next to it because it really could be anything.

 

[SaiNRuB]

Could be the mosfets on the board, Im currently experiencing that with my A8R32-MVP.

 

[suszterpatt]

Can't you just open up you computer and put your ear next to it because it really could be anything.

I could try the next time it happens (been nice and silent lately), but if it really isn't any of the larger components, then it's going to be pretty hard to pinpoint it by sound.


Thanks for everyone's advice so far.

Could be the mosfets on the board, Im currently experiencing that with my A8R32-MVP.

How can mosfets whine? More importantly, how do you stop them from doing so?

 

[SaiNRuB]

Originally posted by: suszterpatt
How can mosfets whine? More importantly, how do you stop them from doing so?

Well in my sistuation there is nothing i could do but rma the board.
I dont believe there is any other alternative to this unless you can live with the noise our send the board back for a replacement.

What i did to diagnose my problem was determine what action would make the whining go away (one example of this is just simply right clicking a folder our file in windows exoplorer would make the whining stop) and then removed my side panel from my case to listen as i would redo that action. The source of the sound in my situation was right next to the hsf in the cpu socket are where the mosfets reside.

 

[imported_Imp]

Kind of sounds like coil whine. My PSU/mobo had it constantly, but now it's only once in a while for short durations. If everything works properly, it might just be the coils. Google coil whine and search it on www.silentpcreview.com forums, see if what you're getting matches the description.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Imp
Kind of sounds like coil whine. My PSU/mobo had it constantly, but now it's only once in a while for short durations. If everything works properly, it might just be the coils. Google coil whine and search it on www.silentpcreview.com forums, see if what you're getting matches the description.

good advice.

 

[imported_horhay]

i'm with the dude that suggested the toroids, i have worked on 2 gateways in the past that would take a crap and emit a high pitch as soon as any type of graphic was displayed, usually the windows loading screen or a graphical setup interface like windows for instance.

you would only hear the whine when something was being displayed on the screen other than black and white dos stuff. you could touch it with your finger and make the whine rise and fall in pitch. the first one would work for a 2 or 3 mins after the whine and then die, the 2nd one would just squeal and die immediately.

sounds really similar to me. also one of the first computers i built would sort of sound like a vacuum cleaner when i would scroll in any window, IE especially. kind of like when you put the vacuum head down on something and it begins to suck hard and the motor whines in response. it was like scrolling drew more power from the computer or something, never heard it again once i got rid of the generic power supply and put a 550 in it.

 

[suszterpatt]

Originally posted by: Imp
Kind of sounds like coil whine. My PSU/mobo had it constantly, but now it's only once in a while for short durations. If everything works properly, it might just be the coils. Google coil whine and search it on www.silentpcreview.com forums, see if what you're getting matches the description.

Awesome, thanks.

 

[thescreensavers]

do u have a CRT monitor?

 

[Brian48]

It could be the PSU itself. I had one that did that. Very low pitch, but noticable whine when running. Sometime, it would do so even while the PC was in standby. Took it back to the dealer for another one and the problem went away.

 

[Oyeve]

Turn off the monitor and see if the whining goes away. If it does, try changing the refresh rate.

 

[suszterpatt]

Originally posted by: thescreensavers
do u have a CRT monitor?

Yes, and it has some display problems too, so it may very well be the culprit. Though I'm fairly certain that the whine is coming from the case, I'll see if shutting it down helps. Never thought of that, thanks.

 

[suszterpatt]

Ha! It is the blooming monitor. RMA time I suppose.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: suszterpatt
Ha! It is the blooming monitor. RMA time I suppose.

Try changing the refresh rate. Or smack it on the side (hey, it works sometimes! )

 

[daniel49]

last time I had that problem was bearings on cpu fan.
used a little 3 in one oil and problem solved.

NM I see you found problem