Faulty PC

[Sandra]

Hi Davey,

my PC has gone really noisy lately and the system now hangs and when I reboot the system comes up with Disk boot failure as it cannot find the hard disk.


When it can't find the hard disk, I have to connect the hard disk cable (SATA lead) to a different SATA connector on the motherboard. It will then find the hard disk and all is well, except for the consistent noise whirling in and out, until it occurs again. This is happening on a daily basis.

I have tried to find out where the noise is coming from by isolating the various fans and devices.
I think it is the power supply as the noise is still there when the hard drive, cd drives, 2 case fans, cpu fan and chip fan are disconnected (I only turn on and off quickly to check fore noise). I thought it maybe the graphics card, but this proved not to be the case as the noise was still there when I took it out.

Have you come across this before? Is there anything else that could be making this whirling noise? The noise is as if it's a fan that is struggling to work. The noise level goes up and down.

Hope you can help without me having to send back the PC,

Regards
Sandra

[ukengineer]

sounds like a fan on the motherboard itself.

[mr mister]

sounds like a fan on the motherboard itself.

could well be, I remember alot of the chipset fans on the Asus A8n-SLi were prone to failure...

[Sandra]

I've disconnected all the fans on the motherboard though, that is the fan over the CPU and the fan for the chip set, and the noise is still there. Are there any other fans on the motherboad?

The fans on this motherboard have already been replaced about a year ago as they failed then.

Maybe I need new ones again.

[mr mister]

have you tried powering up the power supply not connected to the motherboard? That might isolate the noise.

[Sandra]

I thought about doing that but when I disconnected power to the motherboard the on/off switch wouldn't work to turn on the power supply, as it needs the motherboard.

[Davey W]

Hi Sandra,

If you have truly disconnected all of the items you list in your first post and the noise remains then the PSU is all that is left.

We can replace the PSU without having the system come back but whilst the parts are in transit you're without the use of the PC anyway, and you'd need to extract the PSU as well as package it for the return.

Having the PC itself does allow us to ensure that if it turns out to be something else we can resolve it in one go though.

Let me know whether you want to have us collect and replace the PSU or have the system back as a whole and if you could also confirm you are still at the same address I sent the fan to way back, it would be appreciated. If you've moved, if you could PM me the change it would also be appreciated.

Davey

[Sandra]

Hi Davey,
I will swap the PSU with another one first just to make sure it is the PSU. I willlet you later today,

Many Thanks
Sandra

[Sandra]

Hi Davey,

I have finally got to the bottom of the problem. I changed the PSU and the noise was still there, so I changed the graphics card and it's running quietly now.

I'm 100% sure it's the fan on the graphics card because when I turned the other PC on with the graphics card now in it, it also had the same noise.

I can post the graphics card back to you. How long will it take for you to send me a new one? I may have to go and buy a cheap one to get by with.

I have emailed you may address.

Many Thanks

Sandra Gadsby

[Davey W]

Hi Sandra,

Thanks for the details. The paperwork has been raised for the replacement. Usually we can get a replacement out the next day if not the same one.

Davey