Solve : Humming Sound Coming From Computer Tower?

1.	Solve : Humming Sound Coming From Computer Tower?
Answer» Ok This is weird yet give me time to explain. I really need someones help! I bought a refurbished computer last June 2008. It's a HP Pavilion m8200n Media Computer. It's awesome and I dearly love it. Over the last month. I've noticed a low humming sound coming from the Tower. At times during the day it will get louder. I took the computer to my computer repair guy, here in my township. We left it on for about an hour. There was no humming or any should coming from the tower. It was very quiet. Like when I purchased it. So he advised me to take the computer back home, and trouble shoot again. I have a surge protector which is by Belkin. It's the Surge Master Model Number: F5C140. It's like a tray and I have my 19" Flat Panel LCD Monitor on it. I have the computer plugged into it, the monitor, the 80gig external hardrive & lastly the printer plugged into it. This morning as I write this, there is no sound coming from it. Yet more than likely it will come back as the day progresses. Can anyone shed some light on this. Could it be that the Surge Protector is old and I need a new one, an it is the cause of the sound? Or Could it be that it's not enough Power for the computer? Is there a certain amount of Joules that should be used for my computer set up? Any help with this would be greatly APPRECIATED. Oh The surge protector is 840 Joules & it's described as a surge suppressor. What is the difference between that and a protector? [attachment deleted by admin]If the case is metal, it could be that it is resonating because of vibration from the HARD drive(s) and/or fan(s). You could test this by placing some pressure on the case to acoustically damp it say by pressing down on the top of it with your hand or placing a heavy object such as a book or a full cakebox of disks there, to see if the note of the hum changes or if it disappears. Alternatively it may be that screws have loosened, so you could check the disk & fan mountings, and the screws holding the case together. If the computer is working OK I would not be worrying too much. It could be that the cpu heatsink is clogged up with dust or FLUFF and therefore the fan has more work to do to keep it cool, so sounds louder as the day goes on. Unfortunately you do not describe the sound very well. is it more like a fan or a motor? Quote Is there a certain amount of Joules that should be used for my computer set up? Joules are units of energy and the higher the number, the bigger a surge can be and you'll still be protected. Advice I have seen, is to go for the biggest joule RATING you can afford, and definitely you want above 600 joules. Since surge protectors (or suppressors, they are two names for the same thing) can have ratings into the thousands of joules, I guess the answer is that it depends how dirty the power is where you live. A local electrician may the best person to ask about that. Where I live (in a town in England) all the power cables are underground and most people don't BOTHER with surge protection, but if you live in a rural area where your power comes along wires on poles and thunderstorms are common, that would be another story! There could be some validity to the case itself. I will trouble shoot that today, and report back. I live in America so all of the electrical lines are above ground. From this conversation it's probably not the surge protector. It's more than likely the case. I will see what I can do to clean the inside and find out if anything is loose because of screws. The computer is working fine. It's extremely fast. Plus there were some computer tweaks to speed up the computer as well, given to me by my computer guy. I can't complain about it. It's the best computer I've ever had. You could check the video card fan also for dustThere are two fans. One in the back of the computer and one on the side. Which one is the video card one?Quote from: tboy34 on January 25, 2009, 07:07:50 AM There are two fans. One in the back of the computer and one on the side. Which one is the video card one? There may not actually be a video card fan, but I would check them both in any event. Be careful if you use a can of air or a vacuum cleaner, not to damage the fans by overspeeding. There should be a fan on the CPU heatsink.

Answer»

Ok This is weird yet give me time to explain. I really need someones help!

I bought a refurbished computer last June 2008. It's a HP Pavilion m8200n Media Computer. It's awesome and I dearly love it. Over the last month. I've noticed a low humming sound coming from the Tower. At times during the day it will get louder. I took the computer to my computer repair guy, here in my township. We left it on for about an hour. There was no humming or any should coming from the tower. It was very quiet. Like when I purchased it. So he advised me to take the computer back home, and trouble shoot again. I have a surge protector which is by Belkin. It's the Surge Master Model Number: F5C140. It's like a tray and I have my 19" Flat Panel LCD Monitor on it. I have the computer plugged into it, the monitor, the 80gig external hardrive & lastly the printer plugged into it. This morning as I write this, there is no sound coming from it. Yet more than likely it will come back as the day progresses. Can anyone shed some light on this. Could it be that the Surge Protector is old and I need a new one, an it is the cause of the sound? Or Could it be that it's not enough Power for the computer?

Is there a certain amount of Joules that should be used for my computer set up? Any help with this would be greatly APPRECIATED. Oh The surge protector is 840 Joules & it's described as a surge suppressor. What is the difference between that and a protector?

[attachment deleted by admin]If the case is metal, it could be that it is resonating because of vibration from the HARD drive(s) and/or fan(s). You could test this by placing some pressure on the case to acoustically damp it say by pressing down on the top of it with your hand or placing a heavy object such as a book or a full cakebox of disks there, to see if the note of the hum changes or if it disappears. Alternatively it may be that screws have loosened, so you could check the disk & fan mountings, and the screws holding the case together.

If the computer is working OK I would not be worrying too much. It could be that the cpu heatsink is clogged up with dust or FLUFF and therefore the fan has more work to do to keep it cool, so sounds louder as the day goes on.

Unfortunately you do not describe the sound very well. is it more like a fan or a motor?

Quote

Is there a certain amount of Joules that should be used for my computer set up?

Joules are units of energy and the higher the number, the bigger a surge can be and you'll still be protected. Advice I have seen, is to go for the biggest joule RATING you can afford, and definitely you want above 600 joules. Since surge protectors (or suppressors, they are two names for the same thing) can have ratings into the thousands of joules, I guess the answer is that it depends how dirty the power is where you live. A local electrician may the best person to ask about that. Where I live (in a town in England) all the power cables are underground and most people don't BOTHER with surge protection, but if you live in a rural area where your power comes along wires on poles and thunderstorms are common, that would be another story!

There could be some validity to the case itself. I will trouble shoot that today, and report back. I live in America so all of the electrical lines are above ground. From this conversation it's probably not the surge protector. It's more than likely the case. I will see what I can do to clean the inside and find out if anything is loose because of screws. The computer is working fine. It's extremely fast. Plus there were some computer tweaks to speed up the computer as well, given to me by my computer guy. I can't complain about it. It's the best computer I've ever had. You could check the video card fan also for dustThere are two fans. One in the back of the computer and one on the side. Which one is the video card one?Quote from: tboy34 on January 25, 2009, 07:07:50 AM

There are two fans. One in the back of the computer and one on the side. Which one is the video card one?

There may not actually be a video card fan, but I would check them both in any event. Be careful if you use a can of air or a vacuum cleaner, not to damage the fans by overspeeding. There should be a fan on the CPU heatsink.

Solve : Humming Sound Coming From Computer Tower?

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