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weird noises

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by smiththewrestler

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my cisnet computer with 512mb ram and sata hdd with win xp pro keeps making this weird noise. ae ae ae ae duda i can sometimes stop it by changing the backround ro selecting lodoff screen then hitting cancle and sometimes i have to exit every program like limewire ie expolorer aol ect. i think its the hard hdd when it over loads or something. please help me

15 replies

by absolutely

And, you're probably right. By exiting every program, you're reducing the number of different sectors of your hard drive that are being accessed. Probably only one read head is scratching one platter, and when that platter isn't being accessed, no noise.

by thechas

Would you say the sound is similar to the siren on a European ambulance or police car, like you would see in a movie or on TV?

If so, it is the motherboard system health monitor warning.

If the sound is coming from the computer case itself and not your speakers, I would still suspect it is the warning siren and not a hard drive problem.

The most common cause for this warning is a CPU fan that has either failed or is spinning too slow.

After that is the CPU temperature being too hot, or a power supply voltage that is out of specification.

If you are lucky, the problem is just too much dust inside the PC blocking the flow of cooling air.

NOTE: If you decide to open the case and check things out, be cautious and careful. It is very easy to cause a static discharge that will damage your computer.

WARNING: If your computer case is full of dust, do not use a standard vacuum cleaner to remove the dust. The plastic on the nozzle and hose of most vacuum cleaners will build up a static charge that can damage your PC.
It is better to take the open case outside and use "canned air" to blow the dust away.

Chas

by smiththewrestler

i just fixed this pc i have no money to buy a new hdd and its a sata hdd can i use another hdd and install the sata drivers? and i am haveing power problems in my room. the power went out alot recently. what if i plug the pc into the wall?? and thit hdd was formated not to long ago. i am 15 i learned the static mobo frier the hard way on a good pc:(:(:( fried the mobo

by thechas

Before we get to carried away with speculation, you need to open the case and verify where the noise is coming from. After all, it could just be a fan with a bad bearing.

Yes, problems with the AC power can cause all kinds of problems. If you are having a lot of voltage sags (low voltage) and spikes (high voltage), they can damage the power supply which can in turn damage the rest of your computer.

It sounds like even a good surge suppressor and a UPS will not be enough for your situation. You need what is referred to as a line conditioner. Problem is that even a small one is not cheap.

Based on your power problem, I suspect that your CPU temperature and fans are fine. The alarm is likely being triggered by out of tolerance voltage from the power supply. Either from the low line voltage or because the power supply has been damaged.

Chas

by mjd420nova

The sympathetic noise you hear is a combination of things. Every coil in the system that uses even minor amounts of power create a vibration. In drives it's usually a head drive coil and main platter motor. This may sound like a chirping sound and change slightly like a warble. Do your normal cleanup of the drive (diskcleanup, adware and spybot checks, virus scan) and then a disk defrag if the system advises.. But before you do, go back to an idle screen/background. See if the noise is present, if not then you've now found a new drive motor and head coil combination that doesn't create any harmonic or beat notes that you can hear. If the noise is still present, then do a defrag and check the noise again. Anyway, you still need to get a replacement drive ready and keep things backed up to avoid loss and apease the computer gods. This had been a problem back in the old days with WIN3.1 loaded on a Seagate 40MB drive. Additions of different startup programs loaded on bootup changed the note slightly until it became too high to hear anymore. Kind of like the dust vibration on a TV high voltage transformer, produced thathiogh pitched noise that would go awway when smacked with an open hand, only to return the next time you turned it on and requiring another assault. This is a bad habit to acquire as it does not apply in this case, nor any other computer component.

by smiththewrestler

it is a seagate hdd i have 2 backups and i know it is coming from the hdd. but my 2 backups are not sata hdd's. and when my computer turns on it looks for sata hdd's but doesnt find any. and my 2 backups will load to win logo but then a hardware conflict hapens. so i was wondering if i take my second backup i dont use, format it and do a cleen install of windows will it work on a sata hdd pc? the hdd is a seagate 75gb.it had win xp home but screwed up so i tried fixing it but failed so did a clean install of xp pro and it worked... my hdd's are [seagate for {xp home}], [deskstar for {ME}], and [quantum fireball for {ME}]

by absolutely

And then, do what you said, install Windows on another backup drive. Good luck.

by boxfiddler

all of them related to your post and to each other. It seems to me that 'any help' is going to be just as unappreciated as the already present and more than likely helpful help you have received.

Have you tried to follow any of their suggestions?

by maniacman

And to make matters worst, they get all this useful feedback and still piss and moan about it. So much for gratitude.

I guess today's teens have no concept of appreciation or actually helping themselves.

by smiththewrestler

sorry but i just finished fixing this computer like 2 months ago and i do appreciate the help and have tried what they sigjested and none worked i havent bought a new hdd or run a disk scan yet but i will run the disk scan when i get home because i am in school right now. and i thank you all who posted and all i wanted was a lil more onfo to be sure that my hdd is going because my computer takes a sata hdd and my 2 spare hdd's are not sata hdd's. i wanted to know if my 2 backups that are non sata hdd's would run if i formated it and reinstalled it using that tower so it installs the right drivers needed for the tower. and again.. i that all who posted or posts on this because i want to make sure to backup my hdd and get another 1 ready if needed. thank you all...

by absolutely

Specific information is needed to troubleshoot, and if you try a test suggested by one of us, it's easier for us if you reply to that specific post with the results.

Never mind ManiacMan, he's just in a bad mood today. And every other day that he posts, AFAIK.

by thechas

Let's go back to the beginning and make sure we have the facts straight.

Your PC is making a strange noise.

The noise does come from your SATA hard drive.

Your motherboard only supports SATA drive connections. There are no 40 pin PATA (standard IDE) connectors.

You have backups. But, they are on standard IDE drives.

Okay.

Now, if you do not have a standard 40 pin IDE connector, you cannot use your old drives with this motherboard. If you desire to use your old drives, you will need to install a standard IDE interface card.

If you do have a 40 pin IDE connector, but your system will not boot off of the IDE drive, what you need to do is change the boot order in BIOS setup to include the standard IDE hard drives as an option.

One "BIG" caveat. If you back up drive has Windows XP and it was installed while the drive was connected to a different motherboard, it may not boot up into Windows. You may need to install XP clean onto one of your hard drives.

Does that cover the situation?

Chas

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