Random Buzzing Noise

[miika]

Hello!

My pc has been making weird buzzing noise. The sound is very similar to the beginning of this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjLiWy2nT7U and yes the sounds goes on an off and it buzz randomly.

Im sure that it is not the PSU or the Hard drive. I hear the buzzing around the cpu/heatsink area.

It sometimes buzzes when my pc is on idle (cpu temp 29-33 degrees Celsius).
Sometimes theres a short buzz when i turn my pc on.
It sometimes buzzes when i watch videos or play games.

my guess is that i may need to replace the cpu fan/heatsink.

I would just like to know any other possibilities why my pc would buzz.

if it helps heres my setup:

1 x AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX

1 x ASRock 970 EXTREME3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

1 x ASUS EAH6670/DIS/1GD5 Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

2 x G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9S-4GBRL

1 x SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B - OEM

1 x Refurbished: Seagate ST3160815AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

1 x hec XPOWER780 600W(780W Peak) ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI NVIDIA HYBRID-SLI Certified CrossFire Certified Power Supply

thanks!

[Sylvander]

I would just like to know any other possibilities why my pc would buzz.

1. Once upon a time...
When running "Puppy Universal dd" [Pudd][a program for making and restoring image backups, based on the "dd" program]...
At a certain point in the process...
RASPING, or WHITE NOISE would be produced.

2. Never did find the specific cause.
Guessed it was corruption of the program code.
It was eventually eliminated in the normal course of updating the Puppy and its Pudd program code.
Hence...

3. It CAN have a software cause.

[FTT]

Buzzing is 99% of the time a physical problem. Usually, but not necessarily in this order: PSU fan bearings, Hard drives, then CPU fan bearings. Sometimes just a cleaning or repositioning of stress points, to sometimes needing to replace the worn out component.

The reason it buzzes when you first turn on can be more than one. When you first boot, the components are colder and slightly smaller hence looser and more prone to wobbling microscopically which causes buzz. Also when first booting up, this is a period the computer is at the most need for power as all components draw power at once until the proper voltages, RPM's and softwares are satisfied and updated and running.

Also gaming and graphics intense work taxes your PSU as well as your CPU which demands your heat sink fan to speed up or run at full speed which also could be the reason of the noises.

The best thing to finding the exact component is a long dowel of plastic or wood. You touch an area nearby suspected (not fan blades!) and place the other end against your cheek just in front of your ear where the front ear flap is (tragus) and you do this at various points eventually pinpointing where the source of the noise is coming from.

It's rather difficult to remove all noises, afterall, there are many moving parts in a computer so there is going to be some, varying on size and quality of components. It all comes down to a level you can tolerate.

And thanks for the Cicada video.. I love nature, David Attenborough's vids are very entertaining!

[Sylvander]

1. I should have said...
The noise I was hearing was being produced by the internal speaker on the mobo methinks.

2. The only other abnormal noise I've heard from a PC...
Was coming from the CPU fan.
I think the bearing was beginning to wear...
And the rotating shaft was rattling around inside the bearing because there was too much play.
That made a RASPING noise.
It tended to happen only now and then at random times.
Tended...
To happen at startup from cold...
And...
Tended to stop when warmed up, but would happen again, now and then at random.
Replaced the old fan with a new fan, and the problem ceased.

[FrankSG]

I would be sure to make backups just in case the hard drive goes bad.