wierd computer whistle?

[slinky2004]

i've had this computer for a few years and i recently noticed that it makes this very faint whistling/squeaking kind of noise. it only makes the noise when something is going on: a mouse click, keyboard input, games cause it to squeak pretty much continously(even when im not clicking or typing). anybody know what this is, if it's a problem, and maybe how i can stop it?

[MrLinus]

When was the last time you cleaned out the dust bunnies?

[nihil]

Assuming your CD drive is not being used, the only stuff that should be moving are your fans and the hard drive.

Fans in older machines won't do anything different with activity, which leaves the hard drive?

Try getting the HDD manufacturer's diagnostics toolkit and running it, or use some third party software.

As MsM says, a good clean might be in order, also make sure that it is level and stable.

And start making those backups you were always meaning to do

Good luck

[foxyloxley]

And start making those backups you were always meaning to do

ROFL :
[scenario]
Right then, Ill just burn these files, and all is well with the wor..................WTF was THAT

[ZT3000]

If the harddrive is not at fault (aging harddrives are known to start producing bothersome harmonics, Western Digital lately and older Seagates made noisy stuff),
anyways... as I was saying, if the harddrive is not at fault I would open the case and use your ears to try to locate it.
There are a couple places that were not mentioned:
Power supply and Motherboard.

The very faint whistling/squeaking may be coming from aging or compromised capacitors. Capacitors (you know what a capacitor looks like?) can cause whistling/squeaking and sometimes create a resonant harmonic sound just because of the combination of frequency and proximity to other capacitors.

A short but informative link is: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=195

[Und3ertak3r]

Is the noise comming from the System Case (the tower, HDD.. CPU.. what ever you humans call that BOX that you stick ya floppies and Cd's into) or is ithe noise comming from the Monitor (the screen..the bit you look at)..

You say a squeeking noise.. is that like a eeek eek eek eek or is it a continious hi pitched tone.. more like an annoying whistle? one that may change in tone or pitch depending on what is happening..

ZT3000 has covered the areas in his post.. the type of tone can be very important in seeing where the problem may lay..

Refering to Nihils comments is the noise in sync with the HDD light..?

[ZT3000]

Und3ertak3r is right. The type of noise, its' characteristics, are important from a troubleshooting standpoint.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm amiss here it seems.
Although my post was correct about power supply or motherboard, I had forgot to mention a real noise maker, the Monitor!

Whether CRT (huge picture tube type) or get this ....LCD.

Possible places I've experienced/troubleshot:

CRT:
Flyback transformer
Picture tube
Board capacitors (Horizontal/Vertical/Main boards)

LCD:
Internal power regulator (more capacitors)
External power adapter

OR:

Quite possibly it's simply the noises in your own head.

[Und3ertak3r]

Quite possibly it's simply the noises in your own head.

bugger the hearing aid is on the fritz again.. ..oh you mean Slinky... now that not nice..

[foxyloxley]

[off topic]

You say a squeeking noise.. is that like a eeek eek eek eek or is it a continious hi pitched tone..

When working 2nd line support, I had an ENGINEER on the line.
He said the PC was making a noise when he SHOOK it

Me had a brain fart, and asked if it was a 'tinny' rattle [loose RAM]
Or a 'clunky' rattle [loose Heatsink]

He shook it AGAIN ...............
said he wasn't sure, and that it SEEMED to be worse now

[slinky2004]

well, like i said, it makes the noise when i do something whenever there is any action and it sounds like a little squeak/whilstle/tone, but it doesnt make the noise unless the computer is doing something. i think it might be the video card because it seems to only squeak with things have to be drawn on the screen, for example: it wont make the noise when i have a game minimized but if i'm playing it the noise is there. only thing is it does the noise for really small things like moving the mouse or highlighting text as well as big things like games.