strange noise comming from psu

[jamesbrown]

Yep,

 

So pretty much i'm just sitting in my office on my laptop, and my desktop pc next to me starts making this strange bizzing sound. The sound is comming from the grill of the psu, the sound also started comming out the speakers on my desk (no pluged into desktop).

 

Sometimes the noise goes away when i restart the pc, other times it just comes and goes. So far, pc performance it not changed. The pc still works fine but i'm worried about this noise.

 

Any advice anybody?

 

Many thanks,

jb :)

[jamesbrown]

just a quick update, the noise has just gained in volume (in the psu and in the speakers on my desk). This means that whatever is causing this issue is INSIDE my electrical system? Is it the national grid not my psu.

 

The noise has now stopped of it's own accord. My desktop is on, and i have not touched it once during this period.......any thoughts anybody?

[Guest Wolfeymole]

I think with the national grid running at up to 400KV we can rule that out.

 

It sounds like your psu could be on it's way out, keep an ear on it.

[wellies]

Difficult to be certain without hearing the noise or examination but being an ex-repairer of electronic goods (and still one at heart :)), I'd say it sounds like a faulty electrolytic capacitor. Maybe dried out or gone low capacity. I say this because the sound is coming out of those speakers as well as out of the PSU. Spikes on a voltage rail radiating possibly. It could be best to get a new PSU now rather than wait for it to deteriorate further.

[jamesbrown]

oh dear. It's not a very old PCU, does this mean that i have put it under unessesary strain? what can cause a psu to die earily? It is only a few months old....

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Have you looked inside the case to see if there has been a build up of dust especially around the PSU vents, fan, CPU heatsink and fan etc.

 

It may be a faulty bearing but without actually hearing it it's hard to pin down James.

 

Like all hardware it can last 5 minutes or 5 years, there's never any telling.

[KenB]

Hi,

 

If it is your PSU causing the problem it should still be under warranty.

 

The simplest test would be to swap it for a known good one.

[jamesbrown]

ok

 

thanks everybody. It hasn't done anything recently so i will wait. I have a few (less good) but working spare ones which i will put in the moment i suspect it is going to die. thanks to everyone who posted here!

 

JB :)

[wellies]

Good luck with it. If the fault does occur again and changing the PSU cures it, then perhaps it would be worth taking note of KenB's post regarding the guarantee.