Horrible pulsating sound coming from PC

Zbornak

Zbornak

Zbornak

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12 Jan 2010
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1,879
Rather than me trying to explain it, here's a clip.

I'm inclined to think it's a HDD. I have two and one SSD. I've opened the case and can't quite pin down the location.

I've just replaced my CPU cooler with a different one and that hasn't stopped the noise, so I can rule that out.
 
Sounds like a HDD sending vibrations through the case, which would make it harder to pinpoint as you've described. It should be pretty simple to find the problem, assuming the sound is pretty consistent while running your PC normally. Just remove power from one device at a time, and boot up as usual. If this doesn't bear fruit, you might find it's a combination of vibrating devices that's causing it, rather than a single one.
 
Zefan said:
Sounds like a HDD sending vibrations through the case, which would make it harder to pinpoint as you've described. It should be pretty simple to find the problem, assuming the sound is pretty consistent while running your PC normally. Just remove power from one device at a time, and boot up as usual. If this doesn't bear fruit, you might find it's a combination of vibrating devices that's causing it, rather than a single one.
Click to expand...

Would you be more inclined to say it was a device itself, rather the combination of that particular component with that particular case?
 
Pull the hdd power cables out and see what happens? Could be a fan. My top fan seems fudged it rattles until I bang it, then it stops for abit.
 
Sounds like a fan to me. Check they are rubber mounted, or unplug to see if the sound stops. Same with hard drives. It's also possible that it's not the fan/drive itself, but some vibration that is being transmitted to a lose bit of case that's buzzing against something. Even a loose molex connector pressed up against the inside of the case could be causing a noise like that.
 
I've started by removing a HDD and I haven't heard a peep for about an hour. If it is indeed the HDD, I take it it's a problem with the way it's mounted rather than the disk itself?
 
Zbornak said:
I've started by removing a HDD and I haven't heard a peep for about an hour. If it is indeed the HDD, I take it it's a problem with the way it's mounted rather than the disk itself?
Click to expand...

Yeah, most likely. Is it screwed directly to the case, or is there some kind of plastic locking lug or caddy? You can get little silicone washers from Maplin that are meant to go between the HDD and the case. I have these plastic caddy things that go either side of the drive with little lugs that go into the screwholes, and I had similar problems with vibrations. The washers don't just help insulate the drive from the case, but they also make the caddy a little tighter, so it takes any flex out of the mounting rails and kills any rattle between the drive and the rail.
 
I use bungee cord to isolate my drives, and have done for many years. I suspend the drive in free air near a fan inlet.

The noise you have however doesn't sound like the noise I used to have, that was more or a thrumming sound.

Could be a failing drive if it has only recently started making noise.

Try running just the hard drive out of the case and compare sound in that situation.
 
Does it go away when you hold your hand against the side panel? If so, it's the case vibrating with a hard disc. I had a cheapish case which used to do it. Drove me mad so I upgraded to a Silencio.
 
The HDDs are in caddies which are on rollers/rails that slide in and out of the case. It does generally stop if you hold your hand against the side panel. The case is a Xigmatek Midguard II - cheap.
 
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