[sathancat]

In early March I received my new computer from CyberPower PC (the root of all my problems).

At first my PC seemed to run fine, until I tried to play video games on it. Some of the games I like to play are resource hogs with good graphics. I started noticing some strange visuals (almost like a visual echo, whatever you may call that- 'trails' perhaps?) so I adjusted my graphics settings which helped to a degree. Only a few days after receiving my computer and playing video games on it a bit, did it begin to make a strange squealing noise, almost like a dial-up modem might make while connecting to the internet. When my PC makes these noises it usually does some combination of locking up/crashing.

I considered my graphics card and the types of games I liked to play so I bought a better graphics card. While this helped the quality of the games I played, the noises/locking up/crashing continued. Since sending my computer back for repairs to the manufacturer would have cost me around $170 in shipping fees, I opted to go to a local computer merchant who ran a diagnosis on my machine and cleaned it up for about $80. When I received my computer back from the local folks, it seemed to run much better but I still have problems with the odd noises, freezing up and crashes. Generally this sort of thing happens when I am running a resource intensive program including games like Battlefield 2, however it seems to randomly crash on its own on occasion as well (when I'm no where near the machine and its not running anything).

Sorry if my posting is lacking, I'm not really sure what to say despite reading the posting rules. I'd think if there were a problem with the hardware like the RAM not being firmly in place or an overheating issue, the local store would have picked up on it. I'm almost ashamed to ask for help, but the company I bought this machine from is a bunch of jerks and it looks like I may be stuck with a two thousand dollar heap of burning plastic. I don't have a display screen for measuring the temperature but it doesn't feel especially warm and I did have the manufacturer install a liquid cooling system for the CPU. I'm not sure what else to say other than, will you help me please? Thank you for your time!

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Exactly the same problem this end. I tried looking inside and i found nothing loose..

[Dannb]

Exactly the same problem this end. I tried looking inside and i found nothing loose..

[anzenketh]

Hello sathancat,

Are you still experancing this issue?

[sathancat]

Unfortunately, yes I am still having some trouble.

[anzenketh]

Go ahead and download Speedfan. Give it a run and report tempeture and fan speeds. Try starting something resource intensive then report a second set of tempeture and speeds.

[ClickRight]

Definitely grab some speedfan measurements for us. It this squealing sound really high pitched, more so than dial-up? If so, I would be willing to suspect your power supply as the source of the noise. Note however that this does not necessarily mean that it's bad, but some do make this noise when they're overloaded.

Any chance you know the brand and model of the power supply? And any chance we can get your full system specs?

[sathancat]

Something I should note about the strange noises- when I hear them the sound comes out of my speakers. If I turn the power to my speakers off, no more weird noises. I'd have to say these odd noises are as loud or louder than an old dial up modem (you know how some of them were just screamers and some weren't), although they are not really consistent enough to call them high pitched or just a little whiney. If I could record the sound, I would, I'm sorry that I can't say they always reliably sound the same (they just don't).

When you ask for SpeedFan readings, is this what you are looking for? This was copy/pasted from the program just after I finished playing Dungeons and Dragons online- a game that is sort of resource intensive which my computer will crash while using occasionally. If this is what you'd like to see, I can make another post after stressing my system out a bit?

Win9x:NO 64Bit:NO GiveIO:YES SpeedFan:YES
I/O properly initialized
Linked ISA BUS at $0290
Scanning ISA BUS at $0290...
check 1
check 2
check 3
check 4
IT8712F(2) check : 90 FF 12 FF
IT8712F(2) found on ISA at $290
SMART Enabled for drive 0
Found Hitachi HDT725032VLA360 (320.1GB)
Found ACPI temperature (40.0C)
End of detection

Here are the 'specs' as I know it, if I'm leaving something important out I apologize for my noobness and will try to update this post to the best of my abilities to tell you what you'd like to know.


CASE ( power supply ---> ): CyberPower X-Titan Tower 420Watt Case with 8 Open Bays & Side Window (BLACK COLOR)
CPU: (Socket AM2) AMD Athlon™64 FX 62 Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
CD: 18X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
CABLE: Round Cable Upgrade for Hard Drive, Optical Drive & Floppy Drive
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
FAN: CoolerMaster Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit + 2 EXTRA CASE FANS
HDD: Single Hard Drive (320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
MONITOR: FujiPlus FP-988D 19" TFT LCD MONITOR (2TONE - BLK/SIL)
MOTHERBOARD: (Socket AM2)Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe nForce 590 SLI MCP Chipset DDR2/800 MBoard w/ Dual 16x PCI-Express
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)1GB (2x512MB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Memory w/ Heat Spreader)
NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
OS: Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition w/ Free Upgrade to Windows Vista™ Home Premium
PRO_WIRING: Professional Wiring for All WIRINGs Inside The System Chasis with High Performance Thermal Compound on CPU (can you tell the manufacturer wrote this?)
SOUND: Creative Labs SB AUDIGY 2 ZS
USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports

Thank you for taking a look at this fellahs, I really appreciate your time!

[ClickRight]

sathancat, what we're looking for from Speedfan is your temperature and fan speed readings readings from the main page. Please take a look and jot down the readings before you start something intensive, and again afterwards.

About the speakers, I'm assuming they're plugged in all the way (sorry, gotta ask!) Usually noise over the speakers, and I've only seen this once before, is something to do with electrical noise; in this case, most certainly coming from the power supply.

Any chance you can pop open the case and see if you can see the exact brand and model of the power supply? Most name brand supplies will have a giant label staring right out at you so you don't have to go unscrewing a thing (unless the case has screws holding the side panel on.) I'm not a huge fan of cheap power supplies (I've seen what happens when they go bad, it's not pretty) so I recommend people replace their cheap power supplies with good ones, even if they're not having problems.

[anzenketh]

Do you have a cell phone?
Do you keep your cell phone near your computer?
Is the sound present all the time or just some of the time?

[sathancat]

Okay, so I opened up my PC and inside is my power supply which reads: ATX12V Power made by RaidMax... wow after looking this thing up online, it looks like a total piece of '$%@&' (sorry, trying to abide by the forum rules here)! I mean, 250W of power, what the... ? Thats not what I paid for when I ordered my computer. I will definitely look into replacing my power supply right away!

The speakers are indeed plugged in (just checked all the leads)

I do not use a cell phone nor is one ever really near my computer.

The odd sounds only ever scream at me just as my computer locks up, right before it decides to crash (although I usually have to press the reset button or it just sits there and whines).

As for the SpeedFan information, I'm not sure what to post besides what I was able to copy/paste from the initial screen. The core temperature stays around 39* C, which I have been told isn't too hot. I'll check out this program a little more and try to figure out what exactly I can post, but I'd like to post this update while I can.

Thank you very much on pointing me towards the power supply ClickRight! I'm really frustrated at the company who built me this machine, this will be good, solid proof that they were untruthful about yet another thing... I can't tell you how much this small find means to me, especially if it solves my issue entirely- that would be so wonderful!

Thanks guys, I'll post again when I figure out more about using SpeedFan properly and see about changing out my power supply for a more reliable piece.

[anzenketh]

You gave me enough information to say.

Backup your data Now.

After your data is backed up.

Go ahead and download HDtune in my signature and give it a run.

Report back if it locks up or gets any error and temperatures.

As I always say don't blame the computer manufacture they did not make the parts.

[sathancat]

Hi Tuxmaster, I downloaded and ran HDtune- from what I can tell it seems to think my hard drive is doing ok. I saved some screenshots of my results, I'll upload them here.

I don't blame the manufacturer of my PC's components for my troubles, I blame the company who assembled them into a fiery wreck, lied to the BBB about their records, charged me for components and sources I never got and continue to hide behind a policy they breached before my PC was ever in my hands. Personally, I love what I've seen from ASUS and AMD.

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[ClickRight]

Well, sathancat, you're looking good with the hard drive anyways. I would suggest replacing the power supply with a name brand one.

I suggest FSP (AKA Fortron / Sparkle) Power supplies. They're cheaper, high quality, and work wonders. I haven't had a customer with a broken one yet. Seasonic, Corsair, Mushkin, and Enermax are all great brands, but are more expensive.