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I have an AMD Athlon 2200XP (1800mhz) machine from Time computers. I have an MSI MS-6382 motherboard and 512MB ram. I recently upgraded to a Creative Ti4800 GFX card. Its seems to be running well with 3dmark scores about 10500. Ever since i have had the machine (about a year) a high pitched whistle can be heard from the case. I have looked inside and fiddled around making sure everything is screwed down correctly, and im sure the sound is coming from the PSU. Sometimes it gives me a headache! Today i had a temperature warning and it peaked at 70 degrees celsius and im sure this is too hot. It normally runs at around 55 degrees. Does this sound right? Could the PSU be knackered?

Thanks in advance

Dave

Sounds like one of your fans is about to pack in. You'll need to take a look inside your case with it running to see if you can find out which one is making the noise.

You can try giving whichever fan it is a few drops of sewing machine oil to make it run much smoother and quieter.

Thanks for the advice, i have some light Castor Oil so i will use a tiny mount of that. I removed my Firewire and Network Adapter cards since i dont use either, and it seems much happier now. It peaked at 92 degrees yesterday! That is when it is set to automatically shutdown in BIOS settings.

Dave

I installed a couple of fans in my computer a couple of days ago and it lowered my temps dramatically, around ten degrees C. I'm not a techie, but it's an easy job and fairly cheap for the benefits. While this might not be the root of your problem, it sure wouldn't hurt.

That's a bit worrying. I think you could have a faulty CPU fan. If your machine is still under warranty, then get someone to call out and have a look at it. But I think you might as well try to replace the fan yourself.

Switch the PC off, and unscrew the fan from the CPU heatsink. Take this fan with you into a computer shop, buy another fan and make sure that your old fan fits into the new heat sink (so you know that new fan will fit fine in old heatsink) Then (keeping the old heatsink on the CPU) simply fit the new fan in the old one's place, so that your CPU has the old heatsink but the new fan. This is the easiest way to fix your problem, I would imagine, and will only cost a small amount of money.

just fitted a new haetsink and very noisy fan! first time i ever done anything serious in my PC and i was crapping myself that i was going to break something. Had to take PSU out to fit heatsink over CPU. smeared the compound over CPU and on the copper shim i bought. thanks for the help. Only problem is that the high pitched noise still persists. Any ideas what it could be?

Dave

BTW i got a Thermaltake Volcano 9.

If the noise is not loud, it might be something else than a fan. Read What exactly is a 'quiet' PSU?, is the noise similar to that?

thanks for the link. It made interesting reading, but this noise is so high pitched that only a few people i know can hear it when my computer is on. I have noticed that for the first few minutes of the copmuter being on it is not present, but after a couple of minutes it kicks in. I currently have a headache from it. How much are brand new PSU's? What wattage will i need for an Athlon XP2200+ with an MSI motherboard? what other info is needed to determine PSU wattage?

Dave

A high pitched noise at low volume is likely to be the hard drive (or PSU, but hard drive is more likely). Try pressing a screwdriver up against the item, with your ear on the other end, to try and isolate the source.

Hi again. Tried that Nic and i have isolated the noise down to the PSU. Its not so bad with some Limp Bizkit turned up loud on my Bose speakers I am getting rid of the whole machine in the near future so im bearing with it until i sell it and/or it melts. Thanks again.

Dave

my temperatures started to creep up again yesterday, so i borrowed a small cooling fan for hot days, and temperature is now around 10 degrees lower in the case and on the chip! I placed the fan behind the case so its blowing cool air into the case fan. Seems to be working a treat! I think i was suffocating my PC.

Dave

Is your PSU fan spinning? Air at the rear of the case should be blowing out, so if your placing an external fan to blow towards the rear is helping, then it sounds like the case fans are not working properly. Very odd. Maybe the noise was caused by a failing PSU fan.

yes the PSU fan is spinning and blowing out hot air. I have the external fan pointing to the case fan, which is sucking in air. Is this right?

front mounted fans should be sucking, and rear mounted fans should be blowing. If you have a rear fan sucking, then that would explain the high system temps.

goddamn Time machines!! worst thing i ever did was buy from them! would swapping the fan round work?

yes, place the front fans so they suck in air, and the rear or top to blow the air out.

ok, i have flipped the fan over and its now blowing out warm air. Case temperature now 38-40degrees, and CPU between 50 and 55degrees. Thats under full load too. Much better Thanks everyone. I bought a Thermaltake case fan as well to mount on the front of the case, but it looks like it needs some kind of holder to mount it. Also, the small brown plug that goes into the motherboard hasnt got a home, since i cannot find another slot. There are two, one for the CPU fan, and one for the case fan. Do i just plug the new case fan straight into the PSU?

Dave

yes all case fans are powered through the power supply.