Quote:
Originally Posted by cadaveca or capacitors..they have been known to make a sound that could be said sounds like a fan rubbing or some such thing. There are a few capacitors that will "click" when used...one of my clients shuttle does this, as well as old P1-P2 cpus |
Could be them, but they ussually produce a high pitched sound. Having 3 dead psus, all with the capacitors dieing, they DO produce a lot of noise like a dead fan. In fact I got one for free from a computer store, and the guy said all I need to do is replace the fan, but it was the capacitors that were dead. Fixing that is easy and cost only about $1-3 per capacitor from an electronics store. Here is what I would do if you have the time.
First, if you happen to have a multimeter, power the computer, clip the ground wire to the case, and check the voltages, make sure they are stable. You dont have to do this, but it would rule out a bad
psu faster.
Strip the computer down to the motherboard,
cpu,
ram, and connect the
psu. Have no fans attached, and either disconnect or stick something to stop the
psu fan from starting. Power up the computer and check for noise, dont let it run long, as there is no
psu fan. If nothing, then try again with the
psu fan on. Keep adding one thing at a time, until the sound occurs. IE, one hardrive at a time, then one cdrom, then one fan. If you still can't find what is causing it, you should check the
psu caps. A bad filter cap could cause power fluctations that could cause components to make regular patterns of noise and vibration. This happened on one of my psus and a harddrive, but it was very noticable and the computer wouldnt boot.
Checking the caps, take out the
psu, and take precaution as the capacitors can hold a charge that will hurt you. Just take off the top cover with the 4 screws and look at the capacitors, pay attention to the smaller sets. What you are looking for is rounded tops, brown tops, or brownish liquid coming from these. If you see any of those, you have a failed capacitor. You can either get a new
psu, or replace them yourself with a soldering iron, and a some time.
If it is the powersupply, I can provide you with information on fixing it and soldering if you wish. It's really easy to fix, you just need to have an electronics store to get capacitors, radio shack does not carry computer grade capacitors.
- good luck -