My CPU is suddenly very loud
 

My PC froze on me and I had to physically turn it off to reboot. When it came back on, it was generally much louder. Not the fan necessarily (no grinding or friction noises), but a generally louder "whining" sound. High pitched and rather loud.

Besides popping it open and using some compressed air on it, what can I do to quiet this thing down again?

Ok ... lets get this out of the way ..

cpu = Central Processing Unit ... aka processor.

they have no moving parts in themselves, and afaik there is no way to make one make noise.

now...your pc/computer/box/whatever ...

open up the case and poke your ear around in there, try to figure out where it comes from.

harddrive is likely.

^
What she said.

Very likely.

To add (and this is general advice to ANYONE), backup your data, NOW.


(that is unless you do frequent backups already....)

Thanks, I will. Why would the hard drive just crap out on me?

It's been a couple days since your warranty ran out. ;)

Hard drives can randomly stop working. Some brands seem to do it less often (Western Digital, Seagate) and some more often (Maxtor). I have a Maxtor, and after all I've heard about it, I'm counting the days until my megabytes run away.

It's always been backwards for me. I've seen a few Western Digitals crap out on me but the Maxtor 40 GB that my brother bought YEARS ago is still running fine. My current Western Digital Caviar is running fine for me now, however.

I agree with the hard drive. It could be a fan despite the noise. Rubbing and/or broken fans can generate noise that can only be described as inhuman.

-Lasereth

I gotta admit that HD's are perhaps the most bizarre computer part in terms of stability/behavior. I mean, it's old technology... information on a spinning platter...

The maxtor 10 gb I've got in mine has been making a high pitched whine for about 4 1/2 years. Back when it started I found it was a common problem with this line or something, hasn't quit on me yet!

Just one more year until I graduate...please...

(Of course I've backed everything up onto my other 60 GB HD...and everything especially important is on the flash drive as well..)

My PC isn't as loud as some of you are imagining. It doesn't sound like it's going to blow up or anything. It just has more "white noise" than you would expect

I had this problem just a few days ago... the problem was simply that the screws holding the power supply in place had loosed slightly, so the power supply box was vibrating a bit and making some extra noise. I tightened it up a little bit and the noise was gone.

So, yea, just listen around inside your computer to find out where the noise is coming from, and work from there.

The white noise is still probably your hard drive. May be a sign of trouble, may not be.


To add to some of the Maxtor/WD issues. I know that Maxtor had some problems recently. The 40gb model that Dell got from them has been a major issue. It is one of the thinner models and the motor is known to die. No warning, just die. Whatever info you had on it is gone.

Every time I send back a Maxtor to Dell, they send me back a Western Digital.

Such cheery news. Gotta love the technology!

If that's the case, and it's constant, I'd say it's more likely to be a fan that's dirty or about to die. A sick harddrive would not make constant noise, but a fan would. Get a can of compressed air and give your computer a long slow blow job.

I get to deliver that news to people quite a bit. Our standard policy here is to not keep any information on the C:\ drive, mainly for that reason.

Most workers, quite luckily, follow policy and make my job easier when swapping the drive. Yesterday I had to swap the drive of the City Administrator, who didn't follow policy. That was a looooong meeting. :eek:

What kind of drive do you have in your PC?

Have you been able to isolate the source of the noise yet?

I haven't had a chance to crack it open yet, no. I'll update when I do.

In regards to the second post, the cpu does have a fan on it though, 99% of the time. I bought a 100$ computer from a graduating college student, he sold it cheap because it made a shitload of noise. Twenty dollars later, I replaced the power supply and the cpu fan - now my 2.4gig athlon is practically silent.

Not discrediting your advice; I agree that it's probably the hard drive or something. But silicon chips *can* make noise, and my computer is a prime example. The processor (Barton 3200+) emits a high-pitched whine (I'd guess around 20kHz, barely within hearing range) that changes based on CPU load. As the CPU gets more load, the pitch lowers into a very noticeable whine and makes almost a scratchy noise. At first I thought it was the power supply (I use watercooling so there isn't a fan or anything over the CPU) but after swapping the PSU out with a brand new Antec, I get the same thing. I rolled up my mousepad to make a crude directional microphone, and was able to zero in on the waterblock.

So yeah...CPUs (and other chips) can make noise, though when they do it's most likely a sign that they're about to self-destruct. I've been patiently waiting on my barton to fry itself for about 6 months now. I'm shocked that it still works.

It's probably the capacitors on your motherboard making that noise. The ones in my Dell laptop are especially obnoxious, and they always have been.

a good way to pin point noise is to use a ruber or plastic hose
about two feet long...hold it to your ear and move the other end around in there....useful on cars, also...

hopefully it is the fan - thay are easy to replace -and cheap too :)