Strange vibrating sound coming from PSU

Bunnyla · 10-08-2009, 10:24 PM

I have been experiencing a strange vibrating sound coming from my power supply. The power supply is several years old, but new to my computer for the past 3 days. The sounds just started today.

The power supply will make intermittent vibration sounds (loud buzzing sound, like vibrating metal) from every few seconds to every few minutes after the computer has been on for at least a couple of minutes. I have just recently dusted my entire computer (including this new to me power supply) so dust shouldn't be an issue.

Another strange thing I have just noticed about the sound today is that while I was playing a game, I minimized it so that I could look something up and the buzzing sound came on and stayed on until I went back into the game. I tested it several times, all with the same result.

Checked all of the voltages listed in the BIOS and all of them seem well within their parameters.

Any ideas as to what could be causing this sound?

P.S. I also have a digital indicator on my motherboard which identifies its current processes or problems using a letter/number code. I don't have any idea when this number changed, but it is now displaying the number which corresponds to "Turn on L2 cache" according to the key in my motherboard manual. I know what an L2 cache is, but I have no idea what this message is trying to tell me and if it might be related to my other problem.

Thanks!

Phædrus2401 · 10-09-2009, 12:48 AM

My first guess would be the PSU fan is loose/wobbling/hitting something... Though it may also be an electrical problem. But check the fan first, make sure it isn't hitting anything and that it's spinning at a decent RPM, and if you can verify whether or not the sound is coming from that.

The motherboard message is cryptic. What are your full specs?
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
Graphics Card
Power supply (brand, model, wattage)

Bunnyla · 10-10-2009, 02:36 PM

The sound is certainly coming from the PSU, but it's hard to tell if it's coming from the fan or not. I can't dig in there enough to check the model at the moment (I think the sticker is on top, requiring me to unscrew it and disconnect everything to check) but I know it's 500W and has a single bottom mounted 120mm fan (drawing air from inside components as opposed to firing up and out of the case). One of my suspicions is that it's related to the thin plastic sheet that's placed between a part of the fan and some of the PSU components, as the sound seems to stop if I put my hand over the back vent of the PSU.

Motherboard: Abit AG8 915p Intel
CPU: Intel P4 3200 HT
Ram: 2x 1gb Gskill 184p DDR400 PC3200
Graphics: eVGA nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512mb
Power Supply: 500w (Will update as soon as I can take my PC apart)

10-08-2009, 10:24 PM	#1 (permalink)
Bunnyla Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 2 OS: WinXP Home 32bit	Strange vibrating sound coming from PSU I have been experiencing a strange vibrating sound coming from my power supply. The power supply is several years old, but new to my computer for the past 3 days. The sounds just started today. The power supply will make intermittent vibration sounds (loud buzzing sound, like vibrating metal) from every few seconds to every few minutes after the computer has been on for at least a couple of minutes. I have just recently dusted my entire computer (including this new to me power supply) so dust shouldn't be an issue. Another strange thing I have just noticed about the sound today is that while I was playing a game, I minimized it so that I could look something up and the buzzing sound came on and stayed on until I went back into the game. I tested it several times, all with the same result. Checked all of the voltages listed in the BIOS and all of them seem well within their parameters. Any ideas as to what could be causing this sound? P.S. I also have a digital indicator on my motherboard which identifies its current processes or problems using a letter/number code. I don't have any idea when this number changed, but it is now displaying the number which corresponds to "Turn on L2 cache" according to the key in my motherboard manual. I know what an L2 cache is, but I have no idea what this message is trying to tell me and if it might be related to my other problem. Thanks! Last edited by Bunnyla; 10-08-2009 at 10:35 PM.

10-09-2009, 12:48 AM	#2 (permalink)
Phædrus2401 Hardware Tech Team Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: New Orleans Posts: 3,773 OS: Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 + Ubuntu 9.04 My System	Re: Strange vibrating sound coming from PSU My first guess would be the PSU fan is loose/wobbling/hitting something... Though it may also be an electrical problem. But check the fan first, make sure it isn't hitting anything and that it's spinning at a decent RPM, and if you can verify whether or not the sound is coming from that. The motherboard message is cryptic. What are your full specs? Motherboard CPU RAM Graphics Card Power supply (brand, model, wattage) __________________ Good PSU brands: Corsair, SeaSonic, CWT, PC Power and Cooling, Thermaltake Toughpower, CoolerMaster Real Power Pro On 80+ Certification - PSU Information and Selection - Power Supply Myths You don't get what you don't pay for.

10-10-2009, 02:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
Bunnyla Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 2 OS: WinXP Home 32bit	Re: Strange vibrating sound coming from PSU The sound is certainly coming from the PSU, but it's hard to tell if it's coming from the fan or not. I can't dig in there enough to check the model at the moment (I think the sticker is on top, requiring me to unscrew it and disconnect everything to check) but I know it's 500W and has a single bottom mounted 120mm fan (drawing air from inside components as opposed to firing up and out of the case). One of my suspicions is that it's related to the thin plastic sheet that's placed between a part of the fan and some of the PSU components, as the sound seems to stop if I put my hand over the back vent of the PSU. Motherboard: Abit AG8 915p Intel CPU: Intel P4 3200 HT Ram: 2x 1gb Gskill 184p DDR400 PC3200 Graphics: eVGA nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512mb Power Supply: 500w (Will update as soon as I can take my PC apart) Last edited by Bunnyla; 10-10-2009 at 02:43 PM.