Best way to troubleshoot humming noise?

Black Panther · Mar 19, 2011

My desktop's developed a low-pitched hum, which gets slightly worse after a couple of hours (unless it's me who starts noticing it more).

I'm thinking it's one of the fans; I've got a 140mm and a 90mm intake, another 90mm exhaust, 140mm exhaust PSU fan, the cpu cooler fan and the gpu fan... which is quite a lot to check.

If I increase a fan's rpm and notice that the hum remains at the same noise-level/pitch is it safe exclude that fan from being the culprit? I tried it with the GPU and with the 140mm intake. I can also test the cpu fan that way (through a manual controller inside the case) but then there's no way of testing the rest of the fans. I can unplug them, but not the PSU fan...

Though I'm assuming it's a fan-bearing noise, is it possible that it's something else?

garyinhere · Mar 19, 2011

so you got yourself a hummer ehh :roll:

I'd jst unplugged one by one that will isolate even if it's a vibration hum too

sy5tem · Mar 19, 2011

what i usually do is first put weight on my casing with both hand to see if its some kind of low pitch vibration , then i put my finger in the middle of 1 fan and push gently until it stops ,,

if its the power supply fan , to test it you would have to stop computer , use a plastic stick of some sort and block fan completely and start to and listen...

_JP_ · Mar 19, 2011

My chassis humms (considerably, might I add), but it's vibration cause by the hard drives. I can't really do anything about it. It's caused by having the hard drives being installed too high on the chassis. It stops the moment I put the computer in stand-by. That rules out all the fans.
By lifting the center of gravity of the chassis, it get subjected to parasite vibrations more easily.

FreedomEclipse · Mar 20, 2011

_JP_ said:
My chassis humms (considerably, might I add), but it's vibration cause by the hard drives. I can't really do anything about it. It's caused by having the hard drives being installed too high on the chassis. It stops the moment I put the computer in stand-by. That rules out all the fans.
By lifting the center of gravity of the chassis, it get subjected to parasite vibrations more easily.

^ same here -- same problem, nothing i can really do about it

stevednmc · Mar 20, 2011

Its also possible that a mosfet could be making the noise. They are known to humm when going bad.

xBruce88x · Mar 20, 2011

lets hope for his sake its just a fan...

i usually just stop the fans one at a time with my hand.

Mussels · Mar 20, 2011

i also get hard drive hum. all i do to fix it is make sure all drives are screwed in securely, and use pieces of folded paper or cloth wedged in the tight spaces (say, between a HDD and its mount) to reduce the vibration

stevednmc · Mar 20, 2011

xBruce88x said:
lets hope for his sake its just a fan...

i usually just stop the fans one at a time with my hand.

Agreed!

Couldnt you just unplug one (fan) at a time and see if the noise disappears? All except the psu fan of course.

xBruce88x · Mar 20, 2011

i'd would say do that... but some dongles are flaky and any devices down from them cut out when u mess with em. (mostly those cheap $2 Y splitters and such)

Namslas90 · Mar 20, 2011

Nice tool for finding noises;

automotive stethoscope, 5$;

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002A1IQ58/?tag=tec06d-20

mlee49 · Mar 20, 2011

Best way to analyze might be to pull everything and re-build the system.

Might double check the fans, try unplugging one at a time.

Edit, it's probably your Corsair Thumb drive lol :roll:

System Name	Black Panther
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Best way to troubleshoot humming noise?

Black Panther

garyinhere

sy5tem

_JP_

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

stevednmc

xBruce88x

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

stevednmc

xBruce88x

Namslas90

New Member

mlee49

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