[superstar]

I turned on my pc today and to my surprise my power supply made a loud buzzing sound for about 20 seconds than went silent like it's supposed to. I assumed my pc probably had some dust inside so I went to my local department store and purchased a can of compressed air. I cleaned out my entire pc (took me a couple of hours), and than plugged my pc back in.

This time it did the same thing... I turned it on and my power supply made a loud buzzing hum for about 20 seconds and than went back to normal. For some reason it starts buzzing as soon as I turn on my pc, and than goes silent (like normal) when the boot shows the windows xp password login screen.

I turned off my pc again... waited for a bit, and than pressed the power button. It did it once again and went away when the windows xp password login screen shows up!

Hmm this time I decided to restart the pc, not turn it off and power it up. So I restarted and it didn't do it. Hmm so this time I turned my pc off and waited a bit...

I pressed the power button quite firmly and the pc booted with no problem or buzzing sound. Now I've come to let you all know about this and want feedback as to what may be happening.


The airflow comming out of the psu is perfectly fine. The back of my pc is set half a foot from the wall. This psu is new and I bought it about 6 months ago. & I use a compressed can of air on my pc every month and a half or two.

Maybe it's because I always kind of tap the power button instead of pressing it firmly as I did the last time???



Anyways I'm off to bed. Hope to hear from you all.

Edited by superstar, 13 November 2006 - 03:46 AM.

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I'm not so big on the electronics engineering side of hardware, but that would scare me quite a bit, and I would replace, preferably through warranty, the power supply.

One question though: Electricity type buzz, or plasticy, fan crackling on something maybe type buzz?

Edited by Kurenai, 13 November 2006 - 04:58 AM.

[Kurenai]

I'm not so big on the electronics engineering side of hardware, but that would scare me quite a bit, and I would replace, preferably through warranty, the power supply.

One question though: Electricity type buzz, or plasticy, fan crackling on something maybe type buzz?

Edited by Kurenai, 13 November 2006 - 04:58 AM.

[vally]

The noise from the psu as u figured it comes fromthe fan.
If there is some dust in side where is spins it can get nocked off track.
The fan spins by an elecromagnetic field powerd by electricity. so if hte track is clear then it will run smoothly.
The psu is ok. As soon as it got rid of what was bothering it it can run in peace n quiet till the next time.

[dsenette]

if it's (as kurenai asked) more of a clicking sound...it could be something in the fan....or a bearing going out (when you blow compressed air on a device with a fan...the air will move the fan at a much higher speed than it was designed to rotate at...thereby destroying the bearings in the fan....always best to hold the fan still while you clean the device...either with a finger or a pen or something)

if it's an actual electronic buzz (like the buzz you get from a floresent light) it could be some of the electronics going

another possibility could be that the fan is sticking after sitting for a while..and the buzz you hear is the fan trying to break free...

or the buzz might not be comming from the psu...could be the system speaker?

[superstar]

I'm pretty sure it was the psu. As for it being an electronic buzz or plastic sounding crackling noise... Hmm I'd have to pay close attention if it does it again. So far I've used my computer 3 times and it hasn't done it again. Seems fine now.

Maybe it was what valley said:

The noise from the psu as u figured it comes fromthe fan.
If there is some dust in side where is spins it can get nocked off track.
The fan spins by an elecromagnetic field powerd by electricity. so if hte track is clear then it will run smoothly.
The psu is ok. As soon as it got rid of what was bothering it it can run in peace n quiet till the next time.

I sure hope this never happens again. The airflow comming out of every fan seems perfect. (I have 4 fans in my pc including the psu fan)


Should I be checking for anything now? Or maybe taking the psu apart to clean it inside?

[Kurenai]

Personally, I'd still swap it out, but I'm paranoid. It should be ok, was probably just the fan clearing a piece of grit or dust.

On a safety note, power supplies are in the same category as CRT monitors when it comes to repair. Unless you are a professional technician, with years of experience, you don't. You throw them away and get a new one.
Personally, I'm a professional tech with years of experience, and I throw them away. There are capacitors in each that are powerful enough to make it a matter of taking your life into your hands if you take them apart.

Edited by Kurenai, 14 November 2006 - 01:51 AM.

[superstar]

By the way I'd like to clear up that it was nothing anyone mentioned. I actually cleaned the inside of my pc the a few months ago and seen a piece of plastic bag inside my psu. A tiny little piece was trapped in there about one inch in size. I assume it was remnants of the bag the psu came in. I had to take it out of the psu grill with tweezers. It took me quite a while to snatch that little bugger. I took it out and have never experienced the "Buzz" for months!

You never know what can get in there so always check!

Edited by superstar, 07 August 2007 - 08:38 PM.