[help] High Pitched Noise?

there's a very, very faint, but audible, high-pitched noise coming from my computer. i've already checked my drives and they seem fine (passed all tests). it's so faint that i can't really hear it, but when it's dead quiet in my room, i notice it. it seems to grow louder, then softer, with a period of about 5 seconds.

i booted up this morning and it's extra loud. it sounds like a tuning fork next to one's ear! i disconnected all case fans and my secondary hard drive, but the sound was still there. i'm guessing it might be my primary drive. i'm backing up, preparing to rma it.

any ideas? thanks.

#121705

So you have unruled any motherboard diagnostic noises? maybe overheating of the processor? tried disabling (if it isnt) hte notification on high temperature from the bios?

Cant think of anything else (since youve already considered fans and dd's that could cause this problem, aside from the motherboard...

#121723

thanks for the response. it's definitely not a mobo diagnostic noise. it's not a beep or some computer noise. it sounds more like voltage or an led (high pitched tuning fork type sound).

processor is not overheating, though. it's sitting nicely at 44c.

i sent western digital an email, and i'm looking at some new seagate drives. i'll probably pick one of those up, copy my drive, rma the wd, then sell it.

#121725

Originally posted by dreamz@Feb 29 2004, 06:23 PM

thanks for the response.  it's definitely not a mobo diagnostic noise.  it's not a beep or some computer noise.  it sounds more like voltage or an led (high pitched tuning fork type sound).

processor is not overheating, though.  it's sitting nicely at 44c.

i sent western digital an email, and i'm looking at some new seagate drives.  i'll probably pick one of those up, copy my drive, rma the wd, then sell it.

W00t go seagate.!!! ive owned like 7 of them and never had any problem, only drives i buy.

Anyhow have you tried disconecting the hard drive to make shure that it realy is that. Your computer will still start up normaly, it just wont go into windows and it will ask you to like insert a boot disk or soemthing.

#121727

yeah, i'll try that when i get back from lunch. we'll see how it goes!

right now, i'm looking at the seagate barracuda: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetai...ductCode=101553

#121730

an update!

i finished the testing. disconnected all fans and hard drives, booted up, and no noise--dead quiet. it's definitely the primary drive. :cry:

#121754

I'm willing to bet it's the disk's engine.

#121767

On a related note anyone know the turn around speed for a given RMA'd drive (RMA'd through the manifacture of corse)?

#121769

bought the seagate. it should arrive in a couple days. can't wait to try it out!

as for the rma, i think it's about a week. i heard that western digital is good with rma and support. we shall soon see.

has anyone used the hard drive utilities to copy drives? i'm going to install the 120gb drive as a slave, use the western digital tools to copy the drive to the new one, then swap drives.

#121791

Odd. This happened to me, but it was the PSU.

Edit: ...I think. Can't remember if that was before or after I upgraded some other stuff. It wasn't the disk though.

#121796

yeah, i thought it was the psu as well, but then i disconnected the drive and the sound disappeared.

#121797

I suppose it could still be the PSU because adding the HD gives it more load and mabie its like streasing or soemthing.

#121801

it's possible, but disconnecting all case fans and the secondary drive should probably be enough to ease the load, but the noise was still apparent.

i'll let you guys know what happens when i install my drive. i've heard great things about seagate: fast, quiet, reliable.

#121813

Originally posted by dreamz@Feb 29 2004, 03:44 PM

it's possible, but disconnecting all case fans and the secondary drive should probably be enough to ease the load, but the noise was still apparent.

i'll let you guys know what happens when i install my drive.  i've heard great things about seagate: fast, quiet, reliable. 

I own 3 Seagates and never had a problem. You should find that they meet all your requiremnts and plus they come with software incase you want to zero out your drive if you intend to sell it later.

#121857

excellent. thanks, guys.

*eagerly awaits new drive* :woot:

i found some info: http://www.icronticforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=3637

apparently, the whine is common among western digital drives, especially the special edition ones (what i have).

and lostspyder, rma turnaround appears to be 3 days.

#121861

well i got my new drive and i did a drive copy that went very smoothly. i thought it'd only copy the c: partition, but it copied my whole drive, so it saved me the effort.

i'm going to check the drive and run some tests, but so far, it seems nice, fast, and quiet.

#123776