View Full Version : Random Noise?!?!?!
Ambush Master
12-31-2006, 10:08
I have recently noticed that my computer has a Random Bass Beat that occurs in spasms!! It's almost like something is rolling around the circuit boards. It also seems to be slowing the machine down when it is occurring.
I have run virus scans and spy-ware stuff, but this thing keeps on thumping.
I'd appreciate any ideas!!
Many Thanks.
Martin
Could be your hard drive and it could be one bad sector.
Suggest doing backups first.
I am not a Windows expert (other OS's), but I know there has to be a disk check tool somewhere in the utilities to check I/O. It should perform a read-only test across all sectors. I'm sure others will come along with the disk-utlity tools available for windows.
.02
jasonglh
12-31-2006, 10:19
The only real moving parts are the drives spinning and the fan inside. Unless you have a wayward critter trapped in there? :eek:
Usually when my hard drives have started going on I would describe the noise as a click click click with some sort of rhythm to it.
My local shop has a $35 flat rate to check one out.
Hope that helps some.
Ambush Master
12-31-2006, 10:36
The sound is Audio comming from the Speakers, not from within the Case.
Only other thing I can suggest is to try starting task monitor before the next spasm occurs. Keep it on the processes tab and check the CPU/memory utilization. Might suggest where to look next.
HD's make all kinds of noises when failing and they can generate quite a bit of vibration on the motherboard.
.02
jasonglh
12-31-2006, 11:33
The sound is Audio coming from the Speakers, not from within the Case.
Misunderstood sorry about that. If you have another set of speakers you could try that. In all my computers I have yet to have an audio card fail but it is possible. If other people mess with your computer... when you open the advanced volume there are lots of setting in there they could have adjusted the wrong one. My home stereo does that when the input to the amp is set too high.
Sorry I guess I am not a very good tech support but at least you don't have to press 1 for English. :D
spectre919
12-31-2006, 11:40
About 8 months ago my laptop started acting wierd; spurting out odd noises (through the speakers) at random times and the sound quality for all of my audio/video files went to crap. Then something started deleting files on my internal and external hard drives.
I can't say they were related...but I eventually had to re-format my HD the sounds stopped and the audio/video sound quality returned to normal.
That sucks......start backing up now...it may save you some ass pain later.
Team Sergeant
12-31-2006, 12:11
The sound is Audio comming from the Speakers, not from within the Case.
Have you (kids or wife) recently set up or moved any new "electronics" anywhere near your computer? New wireless phone? New radio? You get the point.;)
Ambush Master
12-31-2006, 12:14
Have you (kids or wife) recently set up or moved any new "electronics" anywhere near your computer? New wireless phone? New radio? You get the point.;)
Negative. It is weird, the bit light even flickers with varying intensity depending on the volume of the noise!!
Negative. It is weird, the bit light even flickers with varying intensity depending on the volume of the noise!!
It's the Government....They're watching/listening in on you. :eek: :eek:
Try this, just pull the speaker wire in and out from the back of your CPU/computer. Could be just a loose connection back there.
If that's not it.....I'd look at investing in Reynolds Wrap. ;)
Ambush Master
12-31-2006, 12:59
Try this, just pull the speaker wire in and out from the back of your CPU/computer. Could be just a loose connection back there.
No Joy!!
jasonglh
12-31-2006, 13:46
Negative. It is weird, the bit light even flickers with varying intensity depending on the volume of the noise!!
Thats sounds ominously like a mother board about to crap out. :(
The Reaper
12-31-2006, 13:54
Given a choice, I would take any failure but the hard drive.
Power supply, possibly?
TR
Thats sounds ominously like a mother board about to crap out. :(
Yeah, if it wasn't the speaker wire issue I mentioned above, this was the other thing I was thinking of.
Martin.....how OLD is your CPU/tower? Do you keep it on all the time, or do you turn it off when you're done/going to bed? It does indeed sound like, that your CPU is about to go Tango Uniform.
Peregrino
12-31-2006, 14:40
AM - Start backing up files NOW. I just lost a bunch of irreplaceable files to a HD crash. My first warning was a problem with audio files that manifested in my USB headset and associated drivers. Painful lesson. I'm still trying to recover. Most of it's gone forever. Good Luck - Peregrino
jfhiller
12-31-2006, 16:50
AM - Start backing up files NOW
+1
This goes for all who have computer files that are important to them. Every hard drive WILL fail at some point. I've been the victim of numerous HD failures from respected brands after relatively short periods of use. Back your data up!
Do your speakers use a power device to amplify them or do you run your speaker wires next to any power cords? If the speaker wires are running next to your speaker wires are the speaker wires shielded?
Negative. It is weird, the bit light even flickers with varying intensity depending on the volume of the noise!!
The bit light you are referring to. Is this one of the system/diagnostic lights (yellow or green) or are you referring to the disk access light (red)?
Ambush Master
12-31-2006, 23:22
The bit light you are referring to. Is this one of the system/diagnostic lights (yellow or green) or are you referring to the disk access light (red)?
Green, next to the Power Indicator.
It seems to be fairly consistant, the second light is PCI Bus.
There is some hardware problem, but that doesn't mean that it is the motherboard and the entire PC has to be replaced. It could be the hard drive, power, video card etc.
If it was my chassis I would install a POST analyser card and check codes. Chances are whatever is going bad will throw a code during power up.
Here is one of the cards (I have this one and it is very useful):
http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?sku=195001&SourceID=k40132
You can usually pick them up for about $25/$35 and they will save you a bundle in self-troubleshooting.
I would still advise doing backups ;)
HTH
Kyobanim
01-01-2007, 00:29
Try unplugging the speakers and cleaning the jack and if the wire dissconencts from the speaker, clean that end too. I have a similar recurring problem in that when I scroll my mouse while music or movie is on, I get static and sound cutouts that correspond to the scrolling of the mouse. I clean it and it goes away. I have no idea why it happens and I'm too cheap to get new speakers. This is on a systme that is less than 6 moths old.
AM,
This may seem like the most bizarre question, but does it correlate with you turning on or off lights (ie: desk laps etc) near your computer/speakers? For some reason, that can have a similar effect.
Either way, as everyone has said back up your files-- although I'm sure you're doing that already.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years (hopefully minus computer trouble),
Solid
Made any progress?
Do you have wireless cards in your chassis? I can correlate some of the symptoms you have mentioned in a few ways if you have some sort of wireless board in the chassis.
Ambush Master
01-02-2007, 20:48
This may seem like the most bizarre question, but does it correlate with you turning on or off lights (ie: desk laps etc) near your computer/speakers? For some reason, that can have a similar effect.
Zero correlation to anything.
Made any progress?
Do you wireless cards in your chassis? I can correlate some of the symptoms you have mentioned in a few ways if you have some sort of wireless board in the chassis.
I do have a wireless card.
See if there are any diagnostic tools provided by the vendor for your card.
Here is my theory (one of them, other than HD).
1) external interference causing excessive retransmits. Poor quality/high interference is typically corrected by progressively increasing power. Once errors subsist or some other acceptable condition, power is reduced.
2) High error rate on the wireless card may result in a sluggish system. Taking up CPU/Memory to handle the retrans.
3) Wireless card and proximity to the speaker cable. Due to increased power for transmits the speaker cable may be picking up the interference.
4) Why you may be getting interference? Something external, which is hard to test for, or the oscialltor may be failing on the card and not holding clock sync. Progressive slips increase causing errors until the max threshold is reached, at which time the sync window resets and the process restarts.
Try monitoring the network statistics for errors. In the cmd window try netstat -e or netstat -s (can't recall off hand which is the stats for windows)). Look at errors. See if there is any noticeable change during the "spasms".
If you can connect directly using RJ-11 and disable the wireless card that is also something you might want to consider; at least eliminate things.
Ambush Master
01-02-2007, 21:55
Many Thanks.
I'll mess with it this weekend. I think that I'll just disconnect the card first to see what happens. I'm also going to give the internals a good vacuuming, after the other troubleshooting, or maybe before, but not all at the same time!!
I'll keep y'all posted as this progresses.
Again, Thanks.
Martin
Ambush Master
01-14-2007, 13:54
Many Thanks.
I'll mess with it this weekend. I think that I'll just disconnect the card first to see what happens. I'm also going to give the internals a good vacuuming, after the other troubleshooting, or maybe before, but not all at the same time!!
I'll keep y'all posted as this progresses.
Again, Thanks.
Martin
OK!!!!! IT'S FIXED!!!!!:D :lifter :munchin
OK!!!!! IT'S FIXED!!!!!:D :lifter :munchin
How'd ya fix it....HAMMER or .45 ??? :munchin
Ambush Master
01-14-2007, 14:32
How'd ya fix it....HAMMER or .45 ??? :munchin
Would've been neither, I'm a 9mm type!!:D
A couple of months ago, an internal CD Drive acted up and was running at high speed anytime the computer was turned on. I simply pulled it's power cord and didn't think any more about it. Apparently this "Heartbeat" pulse has been hiding in the shadows since then. This drive had a cord that plugged into the Sound Card, so this afternoon, I unplugged it while cleaning the internals. No more Heartbeat, so I plugged it back in and noise returned, unplugged again, ALL GONE!!!
Apparently the amp in the drive, while unbiased due to no power, was creating a ground loop effect with the Sound Card and generated the random noise. It did affect the speed of the system and really slowed things down. All is GREAT NOW!!!