Funny sound from inside my pc (and I don't like it)

[Black Panther]

It's a bit difficult to describe, and it like only happens once during the time when the pc is switched on, or none at all (or maybe I miss it by not being in the room when it happens). It happens after the pc has been running for more than one hour or two. Never happened before.

The sound is like a "tssk", sharp, short. Loud. Similar to the sound you make when you 'click' your thumb and third finger. But sounding somewhat 'metallic'... or maybe it's more like the sound when one throws a small pebble at a glass window. Or when a hungry bird chirps. It's loud enough to startle me.

Otherwise pc works normally, no problems at all (except for the DVD Drive not wanting to burn but it's always been like that).

What do you think that noise is?
I'm thinking.... capacitor? and am hoping not...

I've checked inside my pc but caps seem ok unless I missed something? And there aren't any chirping birds inside either...

[jbunch07]

might be a bearing going bad,
but that would would be a more continuous sound,
does it sound like an electrical shock?

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by jbunch07

might be a bearing going bad,
but that would would be a more continuous sound,
does it sound like an electrical shock?

I don't know how an electrical shock sounds... fortunately

But my sound is loud and sharp, just for a split-second and never happens again. And very similar to the single chirp of a hungry baby bird...

[jbunch07]

hmm thats very interesting, ha and i guess its a good thing u dont know what that sounds like because its the last thing you wanna here your computer do!
might wanna look inside your case and make sure theres not any wires shorting out or something... thats would be very bad!
but other than that im not sure what that sound could be...sry!

[Kursah]

Could be a choke creating noise, my first P5B Deluxe made some similar noises under heavy CPU load...and I know that some PSU's can make such a noise during power-on...I'd start looking up your PSU on google with high pitched noise and see what you can find.

[Namslas90]

At what point does it make the noise, open the case - hit the poswer button and try to determine when the sound happens (First-B4/after POST-When HDD starts - ETC)

Could be a loose HDD reader head arm, or HDD going bad.

Give the PSU a good cleaning with a vacuum on the exhaust and a can of air blowing throught the intake(no power of course and not plugged in), could just be dust or something in the PSU.

[Solaris17]

hmmmmsounds like a electric discharge...or an HDD click....mine ised to do that.......b4 it died and clicked all the time...everything would be fine until i loaded something....then click.....and it was gone made my rig stutter for just a sec....do you have S.M.A.R.T enabled blackpanther?....does it say your HDD is bad?

[xvi]

If it's like a finger-snap but metallic, it could very well be your hard drive head resetting. If it is, I would highly recommend downloading a program like SpeedFan and checking your hard drive S.M.A.R.T. status.

Try SpeedFan and perform an "online in-depth analysis". Post back any warnings you might have.

If you don't see your hard drive in the list, you might not have SMART enabled. Check your BIOS to see if you can enable it. Also, you might not be able to check the SMART status if you are using RAID.

Edit: If your drive is in fact bad, I would seriously start thinking about backing everything up and start looking for a new drive. I highly recommend the Seagate 7200.11 series.

[Namslas90]

Download this,. Run it, and check for anomalies under hardware.

Could it be your new LG Drive?...(lol)

Edit-changed link to download page(LOL).

2nd Edit - The above program might also help you with your DVD problem.

[Mixalesko]

I think that it´s a something with hard disk. I heard this sound if it is the same on 2 or 3 laptops. Sometimes my hard disk do this too, but my and other laptops are working properly. I think that my laptop do this sound when hard disk temp is too high ( when I have it on my knees ) but only after a 2 to 3 hours of using.

[jbunch07]

you know now that i think about it my sisters hd did this on her laptop, it would make like a cricket chirping sound, replacing the hard drive fixed that prob, guess one of the heads was just bad or something.

[Wile E]

Yep. Hard drive starting to die is my guess as well. The last HDD I had fail made noises very similar to what you described here.

[Oliver_FF]

I get a noise just like what your describing, about as often as your describing it

It's been there for 10 months now, it's nothing to worry about. I think it's got something to do with your HDD locking it's arm back in it's holder, ever noticed it doesn't happen when you're doing something hdd intensive?

[Black Panther]

I don't know, it's waaay too loud to be the hdd? I don't think it's the tlink of the hdd arm. I hear it even if my husband is watching tv in the same room. And even he asked me what the heck was that...

Namslas, I can't just open the case and wait for the sound. It does it sometimes an hour, sometimes 2 hours after having the pc switched on. I think it nearly always happens when the pc is under load (spyware/antivirus scan or disk defrag for example) and if it does it once it doesn't do it again during that session.

I'm sure it isn't coming from the speakers either because I hear it even when they're switched off.

My dvd drive wouldn't be spinning at that time, but I will download the program in your link.

[Namslas90]

Well last week I repaired a computer that had a similar issue, turned out to be a FAN going out. Swapped it out and problem solved. Loud Noises from a PC are usually FANS, DRIVES, or CHOKES in that order.

It would be great if you could record it, and post a soundbite file.

[Black Panther]

I ran TAT for 30 minutes on 100% load. Max temp was 60-61 degrees. During that time I didn't hear any loud chirp. But anyway it could have chirped earlier, I don't sit for hours straight in front of my pc...

Well tbh if I didn't service my own pc myself, I wouldn't be sending it to a tech just because of a loud chirp it occasionally makes. I mean if it was a fan making that sound it'd mean that the bearings got loose and the fan is rubbing in with the housing, and the sound is way too loud for an HDD considering that everything else is functioning great... so far...

Might I ask what you mean by choke? Sorry but english is not my first language, I know what choke means if it relates to persons or cars, but not if it relates to pc's.

[keakar]

Originally Posted by Black Panther

I don't know, it's waaay too loud to be the hdd? I don't think it's the tlink of the hdd arm. I hear it even if my husband is watching tv in the same room. And even he asked me what the heck was that...

Namslas, I can't just open the case and wait for the sound. It does it sometimes an hour, sometimes 2 hours after having the pc switched on. I think it nearly always happens when the pc is under load (spyware/antivirus scan or disk defrag for example) and if it does it once it doesn't do it again during that session.

I'm sure it isn't coming from the speakers either because I hear it even when they're switched off.

My dvd drive wouldn't be spinning at that time, but I will download the program in your link.

well from what you describe im going to lean towards the same issue namslas found, i would look at the cpu fan or the psu fan as both of these would vary depending on the computers activity. i would think that in most cases anything running at steady speed would stay noisy if it had a problem or get worse as it goes.

since you say the noise is loud i would look closely at the psu fan as the culprit because it would be the easiest to hear noise coming from it since everything else that might be making the noise is enclosed inside the case so i would think not be as noticible.

if you leave the side panel open then when you hear the noise again if it is about the same volume then i would say it confirms its the psu or its fan because if it were something else it would be much louder with the case open.

another thing to try is leave the computer on and dont turn it off at all for a few days to see if the noise gets more regular were you can locate it.

the best way to find where noise is coming from is to use the cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels (or any hollow tube) to your ear as a listening device to pinpoint exactly where the noise is coming from.

EDIT: chirping sounds are the sound of bad bearings getting ready to go out and in most cases its heard from fans more because they are not enclosed inside a housing or device so the sound is usually louder and more noticable from fan motors.

[Black Panther]

S.M.A.R.T. report:

Attribute Current Raw Overall
Raw Read Error Rate 114 77357705 Normal
Spin Up Time 96 0 Very good
Start/Stop Count 100 657 Very good
Reallocated Sector Count 100 0 Very good
Seek Error Rate 75 32494131 Good
Power On Hours Count 98 1801 Very good
Spin Retry Count 100 0 Very good
Power Cycle Count 100 656 Very good
Unknown attribute 187 100 0 Very good
Unknown attribute 189 100 0 Very good
Unknown attribute 190 71 487850013 Normal
Hardware ECC Recovered 77 1844138 Very good
Current Pending Sector 100 0 Very good
Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count 100 0 Very good
Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate 200 0 Very good
Write Error Rate 100 0 Very good
TA Increase Count 100 0 Very good

The overall fitness for this drive is 92%.
The overall performance for this drive is 92%.

Guess that means I can exclude the HDD being on its way to give up?

I think I know what a bad bearing would sound like... One of the work pc's used to make this long whiney noise from the PSU fan, which continued like for a minute or two after powering up. My short, sharp, loud, single chirp is very different from that.

The problem is getting myself to be looking at the inside of the tower during the chirp. I can't stay crouched staring at it for an hour or two

I think I'm going to postpone worrying about this 'problem' until it really starts causing a problem...

[DanishDevil]

A solution (well, not solution, but it might help us solve the problem) would be using a tape recorder next to the PC recording, and after it makes the sound, play it back through your PC's mic while recording, and upload it here. Then, we can all listen and see if we recognize the sound!

Originally Posted by Black Panther

And there aren't any chirping birds inside either...

And I'm sure there aren't. That Black Panther would have eaten them by now

[Black Panther]

Nice idea DanishDevil.

Or you might direct me to an mp3 site with various nature sounds, like a hungry baby bird chirping, or a rat sneezing... (seriously I'm laughing myself as I am typing this because it seems ridiculous, but I'm not kidding - they're the only type of noises which resemble my noise.)

Then I could link to the one which resembles the noise most.

Apart from this, you see I tried Speedfan's SMART diagnostics in my previous post.
As a sidenote, I tested Speedfan's SMART for the first time also on my other 7 year old pc (which has been giving me various other troubles!) and it gave me 99% performance of the HDD, but only 18% fitness :eek What'd be your opinion on that?

[regan1985]

sorry where abouts did you find this on the program?

The overall fitness for this drive is 92%.

[jbunch07]

a rat sneezing
im sorry but that makes me laugh!

[Black Panther]

Lol jbunch I laughed too.

Originally Posted by regan1985

sorry where abouts did you find this on the program?

The overall fitness for this drive is 92%.

Regan, sorry if I confused you. I tested another pc, another hdd.

I know that for the pc and hdd in my system specs the overall test was 92%. But then I tested another 7 year old computer which I had been posting about its numerous problems in this thread, and the S.M.A.R.T. test gave me 99% performance and only an 18% fitness for the HDD.

It's the first time I used the SMART test of Speedfan, so I was thinking that maybe I'd get a hint.

[keakar]

bad bearings make these noises:

chirp (quiet or loud)
sqeek
squeal
scrunnnnnnnnnnch (chair dragged accross floor noise)
squeeeeeeeeeeeeee
whirrr
washing machine pulse type (whoom whoom whoom) or (wee wee wee)
rolling fast on a flat tire (not the flop flop but the whur sound)
electric forklift driving sound (hard to describe if you havent heard one)

if its a bearing going out its no biggy, just wait till it gets worse and more constant, then you'll be able to find it.

as for that only an 18% fitness for the HDD it is probably just showing the motor is weak from old age and that doesnt mean it will fail but it just means it has a lot of wear on it.

[Namslas90]

Originally Posted by Black Panther

Might I ask what you mean by choke? Sorry but english is not my first language, I know what choke means if it relates to persons or cars, but not if it relates to pc's.

A choke is basacally a "COIL", they are those "doughnut" looking things with a thick copper wire wrapped around them. Also in a square packge "laying down" inside a "box" some are totaly covered in plastic and come in a varity of collors. When the system is OC'd improperly or too far or mobo is "going out", they can emit a squeel, buzz, squawk, etc, niose. Normally caused by the component vibrating. Sometimes can be solved with a drop of glue(lol), or dropping the OC.

My work involves a lot of beeps and squawks, maybe you got a smoke detector with a low battery somewhere in the house? (this is also a common occurance in my line of work).