My computer literally sounds weird!

[alexadi]

Brand new Gigabyte nforce2 400 The mobo has no fan, just a heatsink
xp 2400 at default frequency
512 mb ddr
MSI ti 4200 64 meg
Sb live 5.1
Chiefteck case with 360w psu
All voltages and temperatures are fine, as reported by Gygabyte's own utility.
No alarm set to go off in bios.
No program running in background.No virus.No spyware.
All drivers and bios up to date.

So:
I first noticed a weird wihistling sound while playing Unreal Tournament 2003. It was wery loud while the game dispayed the menu and a little quieter during the actual game.

Then I found it sounded the same during the direct draw tests in directxdiag, and during pauses in 3dmark 2003( when it loads the new test)And it was friggin LOUD!

Almost fearing I'll smell something burning any minute, I begun searching for the culprit.

So I first removed the cdrw and cdrom.
Then the hard drive( still attached it to the mobo, in order to hear if it was making the sound)
nope.
Thought it may be the sistem speaker.removed that. No go
Then removed the case fans.
Then swaped the cpu cooler fan with another fan.
Same thing.
Triple checked every fan( including the videocard one), every nut and every cable to make sure it was not stuck/loose.

Finnaly removed everything but the hd and videocard.
To no avail.

I am now officially and completely, puzzeled.

What could be making that sound?

 

[alexadi]

I have to mention that the sound was coming from inside the computer case, not from the speakers. The first thing I did was to remove the speakers thinking the amplifier was melting or something like that.

Also, the videocard worked (with no weird sound or anything) for a year on another computer.

 

[BadBigBen]

Hola, I'm no expert, but I've got a notion that it could be one of you capacitors leaking... inspect them very carefully (including the ones on the GFX card)... if they leak or are bulging replace mobo...

Ben

 

[Jontmke]

This may sound goofy, but if you can get your hands on a stethoscope, use it to pinpoint where the sound is coming from. Or for a "poor man" solution use a tube from a paper towel roll.
It could be a hard drive, and also the fan on the videocard.

Jon

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. (Bertrand Russell)

 

[mainegeek]

"Brand new Gigabyte nforce2 400 The mobo has no fan, just a heatsink"

Are you saying that you are running "with out" a cpu fan installed?

 

[garebo]

I caught that too! YOu shouldnt be running an XP 2400 without at least, minimum, a combo heatsink/fan.
On the noise issue, im sure you will eventually find it but i do believe its as the other fellow said, you have a bad cap that is gonna blow. Right now it is "whistling", kinda sounds either like steam coming out, like a hot water kettle, or a screaming noise. That would be my guess. The good part is they are only a few cents to buy and faily easy to solder off and solder back on! But you should try and find it as soon as possible as I hear they can leak all over your mobo and could cause a short.

 

[paparazi]

I will guess and say the video card is the culprit.
I had a 4200Ti with this fault only a few months ago.
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[alexadi]

Thanks for the suggestion mainegeek, but I meant that the northbridge+southbridge nforce2 thingie has only a heatsink as opposed to a small fan on more expensive implementations.
The cpu has arctic alumina + a big copper base + aluminium heatsink and a 8cm thermal take fan running at 3300 rpm. 53'C while encoding divx, so I think it's adequate.

I followed jontmke's advice, using a plastic pipe and sort of (not really sure)eliminated the videocard as the culprit. No way to determine which capacitor/coil on the mobo is making the noise due to the air blown by the fan,so all I'm hearing is a shhhhhhh noise everywhere around the cpu.

Gotta remove the motherboard from the case and maybe then I'll find out where it's coming from.

Capacitors don't seem to be bulging, cracking, leaking...
Anyway, assuming one does blow, did anyone actually replaced a capacitor on a mobo? I'm asking because a mobo is multi layer and I dont't know if it's the same soldering procedure as with a single layer ordinary board.

 

[paparazi]

You have a new motherboard, in warranty, so should not be attempting to repair it in any way.
I still dought that the mainboard is at fault here but taking it out of the case to give unrestricted access may indeed help to pinpoint the fault.
Martin


Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[cbs604]

What about the power supply?



Cheers,
Brodie

 

[alexadi]

Paparazi you are ofcourse right, no way I'm going to void the warranty, I was just curious. However, I'll have to wait until it actually stops working because it's just too easy for anyone at the service center to say: well yeah, it sounds funny, they all do, don't worry.

The psu is ok, I'v tried another one and the sound was clearly coming from the mobo, not the psu.

I searched a bit on Google for "nforce2 weird sound" and it seems Asus boards have the same problem, just worse. Apparently (at least on some boards)there's a faulty coil that vibrates...and leads to crashes in 3d applications. I should count myself lucky then, mine just whistles, without crashing.
Touching all coils with a pencil eraser didn't change the sound so on my board it's probably not a coil at fault...

 

[HardKnox]

What about the power supply did you check that? The power supply have coils, capacitors and at least one fan.

The only other thing I can think of is a CD audio lead that is not properly shielded. This is normally a 4 wire lead that connects your CDROM and Sound card. if it is not shielded other devices could make electric noise that would sound like a high pitched noise. If you have XP or Windows 2000 install on your computer you don't need this lead as you can play the audio via the IDE cable just set it in your MS Media Player as Digital Playback. However since you unplugged the Speakers it should not happen