Mysterious Ticking Noise?

MrElve

MrElve

MrElve

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28 Jul 2010
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662
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Grimsby, Lincolnshire.
For nearly 2 weeks now my PC has made some very strange ticking noises. When i first boot up my PC its not there but after it has been on for around an hour ish or if i go onto any games there is a very strange ticking noise which emerges and i cannot for the life of me figure out what it is. If i put my ear next to the fan hole on my side panel you can hear very clearly the ticking noise. I took my panel off and had a listen and i think its the power supply but the noise is originating from the PSU/GPU/Soundcard/NB area, pretty much the bottom of the mobo / case.

What's even stranger is sometimes the noise isnt there at all, and sometimes the clicking pattern changes and its quieter than some other times! Im starting to think that its something electrical within the PSU but i cant exactly tell what it is (psu, gpu etc.) but im pretty sure the noise is emitting from the PSU... Any ideas?
 
HDD. What it sounds like anyway.

Clicking as its working overtime or just struggling - might be faulty.
 
Does sound like a HDD issue, as to my knowledge that is the only thing that would make a 'ticking' noise. Unless it is a fan? I find sometimes a small cable, like the fan cable itself, can brush against the fan blades as it is spinning and can give a slight 'ticking' noise I suppose. Make sure all cables are clear of fans.
 
Alternate theory just for the fun of it:

Expanding and contracting metal?

If a particular part of your case is being heated a lot then it might tick and click as it expands.
 
Its not the hard drive, If I put my ear right next to the hard drive while its under load on a game or rendering, recording with fraps etc. it makes no ticking sound at all, its definetly originating from somewhere else.

Plus it wont be something catching on a fan because im at my desktop at the moment just working and its absolutely fine and the fans are spinning etc. its just when i go onto a game it starts doing it.
 
If you're sure it's not an/the HDD and it only happens whilst playing games, that points to the GPU or PSU. Any way you can swap one of them out to test?
 
It could be any type of fan, like CPU, GPU, PSU and case fans ...... I know it sounds silly but I test fans out by slowly sticking my finger to the middle of the fan to slow it down, if the sound stops then you've found the fan that is causing the noise.
 
PSU Tends to get hot under load, resulting in the possibility of the PSU fan creating a ticking noise while under high speeds.

Possibility of CPU or GPU fan doing the same, when playing games, hardware gets hot, fans spin faster, maybe catching on some solid dust or catching the heatsinks or something like that...

I can only imagine it's some mechanical component making noise, maybe even your CD ROM if you use it during games. Electronics don't make ticking noises unless theres some kind of serious problem in which case your PC probably wouldn't work...
 
Weazle said:
It could be any type of fan, like CPU, GPU, PSU and case fans ...... I know it sounds silly but I test fans out by slowly sticking my finger to the middle of the fan to slow it down, if the sound stops then you've found the fan that is causing the noise.
Click to expand...

Okay ill give that a try but i have no clue how im going to put my finger onto the psu fan because there is a mesh blocking it..
 
Emphacy said:
PSU Tends to get hot under load, resulting in the possibility of the PSU fan creating a ticking noise while under high speeds.

Possibility of CPU or GPU fan doing the same, when playing games, hardware gets hot, fans spin faster, maybe catching on some solid dust or catching the heatsinks or something like that...

I can only imagine it's some mechanical component making noise, maybe even your CD ROM if you use it during games. Electronics don't make ticking noises unless theres some kind of serious problem in which case your PC probably wouldn't work...
Click to expand...

+1
I'll have to test out my fans. So it wouldnt be any sort electricity clicking noise inside the psu? because its fine atm and im multitasking while working over about 6 programs..
 
MrElve said:
Okay ill give that a try but i have no clue how im going to put my finger onto the psu fan because there is a mesh blocking it..
Click to expand...

Unplug case fans etc, do a process of elimination. It always works best... Listen closely by getting near to certain components and determine which one it's coming from...

I've had this problem once before, was one of my case fans had cracked down the center and was slightly off it's axel. When under high RPM it would catch the sides and create a rather annoying clicking sound.
 
Emphacy said:
Unplug case fans etc, do a process of elimination. It always works best... Listen closely by getting near to certain components and determine which one it's coming from...

I've had this problem once before, was one of my case fans had cracked down the center and was slightly off it's axel. When under high RPM it would catch the sides and create a rather annoying clicking sound.
Click to expand...

Only problem with fans is im running the antec 1200 and the coolermaster V8, every single fan is manually controlled and i leave them on lowest all the time. The only thing that could generate this clicking is the PSU, GPU or HDD. my PSU and GPU fans are automatic (obviously :P) but my CPU Fan and every single case fan is controlled by me and i leave them on lowest all the time unless im doing long-shift gaming where i put them up to about medium. And its not the case fans because ive tested them all just now and they're fine. So is my V8.

EDIT: I think it will be something electrical related inside the PSU or the GPU. Ive maxed the gpu's fan and its fine so i think it might be something electrical on the PSU which is what im thinking but im not sure. I have a friend coming round today who is more experianced in these things than me and he is going to look too..
 
My PSU is currently mounted upright so the fan is on the top, should i turn my PC off and invert it so the fan is on the bottom sucking air up? it sits on grips which i would estimate about just over a centimeter high (antec 1200) so it would get airflow fine. plus would this solve the ticking problem?:S?
 
If there is a vent underneath the PSU so the fan can still take in air then yes you should do so, it may stop the noises.
 
I had the same issue about a month ago. Turned out that it was the 120mm fan from my scythe kama bay. Had the fan apart and checked it but still made the noise after reassembly so I gave up and ebayed it :P
 
DragonQ said:
IT'S A BOMB!
Click to expand...

Tick tick tick :eek::p

00:07:28 [Cat meows]
00:07:30 ROGER: Seven days till retirement, I'm busted down to patrolman.
00:07:33 I should've cut the red wire.
00:07:35 - You did. - No, I cut the blue wire.
00:07:37 That's what I meant.
00:07:46 - My feet are killing me. - They're killing me, too.
00:07:49 - How? - I have to listen to you bitch about them!
00:07:51 - Because you should've cut the red wire! - I did cut the red wire!


Seriously check all fans and the hard drives and anything that moves in that pc like floppy drives/ cd/dvd/bluray drives, water cooling pumps and such things, one of them will be the cause. If you find it is a hard drive ticking in a loud fashion I would back it up to be safe if there is anything important on it, it could be going bad and bad drives will tick in time, it's the search head reading errors and bouncing about. You could download the manufacturers disk test program just go to their web page and search under support, they all have some sort of fitness test as some call them.


P.S if you need to cut any wires cut the blue one ;)
 
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