[Coop88]

I've been in my apartment about 6 months. When I moved in I noticed that my speakers would pop when I turn on or off lightswitches, or when the furnace/AC kicks on. Sometimes it happens for no reason--possibly my neighbors A/C kicking on? I decided to purchase a UPS. Supposedly it has the ability to "condition" the electricity coming from the outlet. Now the pops I hear are quieter, but they are still there. It makes no difference if I'm watching a movie, playing a game, or surfing the web. The speakers still pop.

I've just recently noticed a new noise coming from the tower, kind of a chatter/chirping. It's continuous. It's not a hard drive noise (the usual noise heard when defragging--it's suspended by rubber bands), and I ruled out the possibility of fans by unplugging them. The odd thing is, the sound is almost continuous as long as the PC is running, but pauses breifly when I click on a folder or open a folder, but not when I close it.

Is the popping I hear harmful, and if so, is there anything else I can do about it?

Are these 2 problems related? If not, what can I do about the weird noise?

Other thoughts?



System:
Power supply= Antec Neopower 480
UPS= APC 450W
KV7-V mobo
Processor=AMD Athlon XP 2900
Vid Card= Radeon 9800pro (no tv tuner)
Soundcard= Creative Audio Sound Blaster PCI 128
Speakers= Logitech Z2300

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i have had a similar problem with my logitech speakers (x530)

you say that when the AC or light switch turns on the speakers pop i have kinda worked out that its because when those things turn on more and more current is being drawn from your house's system.

logitech website has said to try the speakers plugged into a different plug but this hasent helped (me anyway)

i was thinking of getting a replacement but im kinda thinking that it will happen with the new ones anyway.

but i just thought i would fill you in on something that i have found also.

i am still yet to rectify the problem but maybe somewhere on this forum there is and electrician so we can both find out what we can do to fix this!!!

goodluck troppo

[troppo]

i have had a similar problem with my logitech speakers (x530)

you say that when the AC or light switch turns on the speakers pop i have kinda worked out that its because when those things turn on more and more current is being drawn from your house's system.

logitech website has said to try the speakers plugged into a different plug but this hasent helped (me anyway)

i was thinking of getting a replacement but im kinda thinking that it will happen with the new ones anyway.

but i just thought i would fill you in on something that i have found also.

i am still yet to rectify the problem but maybe somewhere on this forum there is and electrician so we can both find out what we can do to fix this!!!

goodluck troppo

[Coop88]

I thought having my power supply go through my UPS would eliminate the popping, but I was wrong. Strange thing is, on my UPS I have 4 outlets that are for the battery backup, and another 4 that just get regular surge protection. If I plug my speakers into one of the 'regular' outlets, the popping actually gets much louder.

As for the unidentified noise coming from the tower, I ran Memtest 86 overnight last night (a little over 8 hrs) and I realized that before windows loads, the noise is gone. The tower was silent during the test--at least the parts I was awake to hear. Then when the blue windows welcome screen came up, the noise started. Memtest 86 score was 9 test passed, 24 errors. I ran this test a year ago without any errors. Not sure if the errors can be corrected or do most people just purchase new memory? Though if the memory sticks are causing the noise, I think it's strange they were silent during the testing.

Thanks for reading.

[Kemasa]

Most UPSs filter the power, but not completely. There are some which always run off the batteries, which would isolate the power completely. If the noise happens all the time, you could try running the machine on the UPS' batteries (assuming you have enough capacity). It is also possible to pick up inteference through other means, such as RF, wires being close to each other, grounding issues, etc.