Strange motherboard noise

matt_fsr · 10 Apr 2008 at 15:07

I have an old NForce 4 S939 chipset Winfast NF4SK8AA motherboard, which seems to have over the past few months developed an annoying whine from somewhere. :mad:

I initially tried changing the chipset fan as I thought this was at fault, but now i've found that it isnt the case - ive tried a different PSU, and stopping all of the fans and the noise is still there. Also tried runing the machine with both hard drives not powered up, whiney noise is still there.

Any idea what could be causing it, if it could be a particular thing enabled/disabled in the BIOS?

Long shot i know, but thanks for reading. Going to try going back to stock speeds tonight, see if that makes any difference.

Jumping · 10 Apr 2008 at 15:45

It could be a sign that your motherboard is on *** way out. Do you hear any noise when the system is on standby?

I have seen motherboards where the capacitors on the way to fail where you started to hear a high pitched whining noise from them.

It's usually not a good sign hearing strange noises from your mobo so make sure you have important data backed up just incase....

BUFF · 10 Apr 2008 at 17:20

probably a cap or inductor but it could also be on the gfx card.

matt_fsr · 11 Apr 2008 at 08:41

Doubt its the gfx card, its a pretty new 8800GT with accelero S1 on it, though I might try it tonight without the card in place and see if its the same.

Was really wondering if anyone else had had this happen - so from what jumping reckons, could be C2D shortly

Hate being an AMD traitor, but they really need some decent CPU's out soon!

foxbat · 11 Apr 2008 at 11:23

Yep, I've had this and I'm pretty sure it was coming from a capacitor somewhere near the CPU and NOTHING stops it and the motherboard continued to work just fine. You may look a bit daft doing this but try rolling up a sheet of paper to make an ear trumpet and use it to isolate where on the board it's coming from!

matt_fsr · 11 Apr 2008 at 12:02

foxbat said:
Yep, I've had this and I'm pretty sure it was coming from a capacitor somewhere near the CPU and NOTHING stops it and the motherboard continued to work just fine. You may look a bit daft doing this but try rolling up a sheet of paper to make an ear trumpet and use it to isolate where on the board it's coming from!

What, you think i'd test that when someone could SEE me!

I'll give that a shot though, ta - tried some custom case modding the other night, I wedged some egg-box shaped foam up near the top of the case and taped some motherboard protective thin foam onto my case side, to see if it would dampen the noise - worked a small amount, looks funny tho

uv · 11 Apr 2008 at 12:42

More than likely a capacitor on its way out.

Not much you can do about it I'm afraid, other than use it as an excuse to upgrade before it dies

sir-les-mp · 11 Apr 2008 at 14:37

no ones asked so far but do you use a creative X-fi sound card i had a similar problem recently which i solved by removing the sound card i have the same mobo as you

matt_fsr · 11 Apr 2008 at 16:04

Sir - how correct, I do indeed have an X-Fi soundcard, upgraded from a previous Soundblaster card as it kept BSODing in Oblivion. :rolleyes:

Trouble is, i've tried the machine without the X-Fi in for a short while and it didnt seem to solve the problem.

Did you manage to fix/negate it?? EDIT: Obviously removing the X-Fi worked, do you think the noise was from the X-Fi or from the board though? Ta