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Geek Culture / My PC is making this funny sound, can anyone tell me what it means?

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enthusiast
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Posted: 23rd Dec 2006 21:51
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Hello, for a couple of months now, my PC would emit this high-pitched sound. Sometimes it would be accompanied by the PC being unresponsive,then screen flickering, then going black, then returning to normal again. From my observation turning off the monitor stops the sound temporarily but it would usually come back in a couple of minutes. Does anyone know what is wrong with my system?

System: AMD Athlon XP 2200+, nForce 2 ultra 400, 256 MB PC-2700 RAM, 40 GB 7200 Hard Drive, Geforce FX 5200 128 MB (64-bit), 56K modem
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Steve J
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Posted: 23rd Dec 2006 21:52
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heat. Usually processor overheating.

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CattleRustler
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Posted: 23rd Dec 2006 23:12
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determine where its coming from (monitor vs actual pc case) I had a crt monitor do this for a while, every so often before its power supply died and I had to get it replaced under warranty. If your monitor is an LCD monitor, then you can pretty much ignore this post, but if its a CRT (cathode-ray tube) then it might be worth investigating



Its 9/11 - but its FAKE 9/11 Ts=SQRT(Df/16)
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enthusiast
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Posted: 24th Dec 2006 22:39
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Thank you for your replies Steve J & CattleRustler. My monitor is a CRT and the sound is coming from the PC case, I think it's from either the graphics card or the processor, I'll check it out.

System: AMD Athlon XP 2200+, nForce 2 ultra 400, 256 MB PC-2700 RAM, 40 GB 7200 Hard Drive, Geforce FX 5200 128 MB (64-bit), 56K modem
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CattleRustler
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Posted: 24th Dec 2006 22:48 Edited at: 25th Dec 2006 01:18
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Also, make sure the monitor refresh rate (Hz) is set properly for the monitor spec. Theres a tick mark somewhere in the video settings that allows you to only display in the drop down list those refresh rates that the monitor supports, so you can't accidentally select some obscene value for it



Its 9/11 - but its FAKE 9/11 Ts=SQRT(Df/16)
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Pricey
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Posted: 25th Dec 2006 00:00
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my CRT used to do that and it used to make my cat's fur stand up on end and he'd grip whatever he was on very tightly.

hehe.

:: 3Ghz Pentium 4 / Hyper Threading, 1024mb RAM, 250GB HDD, 256mb Radeon 9600XT Graphics ::


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QuothTheRaven
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Posted: 25th Dec 2006 00:21
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Are you sure it's coming from your tower? Those are pretty much 100% the symptoms of a dying CRT. Your graphics card, processor, and power supply wouldn't make any of these sounds. A fan might be dying causing overheating and making the sound if you're really sure it's not coming from the monitor. But if turning off the monitor stops the sound...that would seem to be the direct cause of the problem.

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Code Dragon
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Posted: 25th Dec 2006 03:54
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It's probobly that the processor is getting overworked, maybe it's time to uninstall some old stuff to give the processor less programs to sift through. I had a problem like this before, when I was using DBP's image memblock commands to intensively.

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enthusiast
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Posted: 26th Dec 2006 19:58
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Thank you everyone for your responses. My monitor is at 60 Hz, however the tick mark CattleRustler mentioned is grayed out.

I've also noticed multiple times, that my computer would sometimes stop responding, then flicker when I scroll really quickly, regardless if there is that sound or not. Also sometimes, upon returning back to normal, part of the screen, (usually the part being scrolled ie web page) would look garbaged, though the garbaged part would always return to normal by moving windows ,dialog boxes etc over it, and by refreshing.

System: AMD Athlon XP 2200+, nForce 2 ultra 400, 256 MB PC-2700 RAM, 40 GB 7200 Hard Drive, Geforce FX 5200 128 MB (64-bit), 56K modem
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Code Dragon
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Posted: 26th Dec 2006 20:41 Edited at: 26th Dec 2006 20:44
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Does the garbaged part look something like this? (message boxes leaving a white box and windows leaving an image behind them)



I think it's called the white screen of impatience, it happens when a program gets stuck in a tight loop, the deadly embrace, or some other way to freeze a program, and stops responding to windows. It also starts to eat up processor time because it can't call a DoEvents, which would explain that the computer's very unresponsive. If it's happening with web pages, try a different browser, that might solve it.

"Did I ever tell you how I got the nickname the Dragon of the West?"
"I'm not interested in a lengthy anecdote, Uncle."
"It's more of a demonstration really."

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QuothTheRaven
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Posted: 26th Dec 2006 21:38
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Quote: "It's probobly that the processor is getting overworked, maybe it's time to uninstall some old stuff to give the processor less programs to sift through."

Hahaha, what exactly in the processor would make a high pitched whine? That would be scary

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Pricey
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Posted: 2nd Jan 2007 21:52
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its the monitor most likely
buy a TFT they're beautiful
and then have fun smashing the CRT to bits.

:: 3Ghz Pentium 4 / Hyper Threading, 1024mb RAM, 250GB HDD, 256mb Radeon 9600XT Graphics ::


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Benjamin
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Posted: 2nd Jan 2007 22:24
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Quote: "buy a TFT they're beautiful"

Amen to that.

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Virtual X
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Posted: 2nd Jan 2007 23:50 Edited at: 2nd Jan 2007 23:51
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if your sure it's coming from the PC case, it may be the CPU fan giving you problems, my PC is quite old now and the fan makes a loud noise, sometimes high pitch - I usually put a bit of vaseline on the rotator and it helps to make it all nice and quiet lol not sure if your suppose to use vaseline on it, but it helps.

hmm... maybe I should just get a new fan lol or a NEW system - definately new years resolution lol
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Lost in Thought
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Posted: 3rd Jan 2007 20:32
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Quote: "Hahaha, what exactly in the processor would make a high pitched whine? That would be scary"


If it overheats the sound of the transistor switching gets louder. I have heard this in Athlon chips before as they get too hot. I had an Athlon XP 1800 that did it. It sounds kind of like when someone leaves the TV on with no cable signal going to it, but a bit louder. New TV's ... not the old ones that made white noise. As stated check the fan/heatsink to the cpu and make sure air flow is not restricted in that area.

There are also capacitors on the motherboard that can make the same noise though as they go out.

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enthusiast
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Posted: 3rd Jan 2007 20:52
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I see, my processor is an Athlon XP 2200 (see sig). There's nothing in front of its fan so I don't know if its that it. One of my fans does make a sound, but it's just a normal fan sound not a high pitched one.

Also but the garbaged part, it either looks like a mass of pixels or bunch of windows, icons etc depending on what was on the screen when the flickering starts. For example, when I try to minimize a window, then it flickers, the window would be minimized but it would leave parts of it on the screen. This usually happens, as I mentioned before, when I scroll really quickly.

Quote: "buy a TFT they're beautiful"


I don't have money right now, perhaps next time. TFT's are very cool, and in more ways than one.

Quote: "hmm... maybe I should just get a new fan lol or a NEW system - definately new years resolution lol"


That's a brilliant idea, especially with all the transitions that will occur this 2007.

System: AMD Athlon XP 2200+, nForce 2 ultra 400, 256 MB PC-2700 RAM, 40 GB 7200 Hard Drive, Geforce FX 5200 128 MB (64-bit), 384Kbps wireless broadband
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Pricey
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Posted: 3rd Jan 2007 21:01
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i think the whining and the garbledness are unrelated

my pc is screwed atm and i'm using a slow duron and it does that out of just pure not-being-able-to-keep-upness

:: 3Ghz Pentium 4 / Hyper Threading, 1024mb RAM, 250GB HDD, 256mb Radeon 9600XT Graphics ::


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