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Grinding Power Supply?
When I first start my computer, there is a grinding/vibrating noise that sounds
like it's coming from the power supply. It's not a constant noise but rather it comes about every 10 to 15 seconds. Once the computer is warmed up, the grinding noise goes away. I was hoping it was the case fan so I replaced that, but no luck. I have an AMD Athlon T-Bird with a Biostar M7VKB motherboard. My current power supply is a 250. Can anyone tell me if they think I should just replace the power supply? When it's making the grinding noise, I can feel the power supply vibrating. If I do get a new power supply, what would you recommend and what wattage? Thanks in advance. |
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#3
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How comfortable are you with removing the power supply and removing its
case screws to open it up? Feel like you are capable of replacing the fan? It probably is an 80mm fan. You can remove the screws on the backside that hold the fan, remove the fan, and replace it. If the old fan has a 2-pin connector, you can usually just slide on the 3-pin connector and leave the RPM lead disconnected. If the old fan's are soldered onto a circuit board, clip the wires close to the fan to leave you the longest length, screw in the replacement fan, and strip the ends of the fan and circuit board wires to join them (using wire nuts and then silicone the cup, or solder them and use wire nuts or heatshrink tubing, and make sure to position the wire so it doesn't get caught in the fan). Make sure you orient the new fan so it blows out the backside of the power supply through the grill. There usually are arrows on the fan case to indicate the direction of blade rotation and also for the direction of airflow. You could put in a thermally-controlled fan, like from Vantec, so that you might end up with it running much slower if it doesn't have a lot of heat to expel. This would make the fan quiet but still leave it capable of speeding up if your computer puts out more heat than it can expel at the slow speed. I just put in a Vantec stealth fan and it runs all the time, but it is very quiet. However, stealth fans may not have a high an airflow rate (i.e., they have a lower CFM rating) so you'll need to monitor your temperatures to make sure you system is getting sufficiently cooled. -- __________________________________________________ __________ ** Share with others. Post replies in the newsgroup. ** If present, remove all "-NIX" from my email address. __________________________________________________ __________ "PawsForThought" wrote in message ... When I first start my computer, there is a grinding/vibrating noise that sounds like it's coming from the power supply. It's not a constant noise but rather it comes about every 10 to 15 seconds. Once the computer is warmed up, the grinding noise goes away. I was hoping it was the case fan so I replaced that, but no luck. I have an AMD Athlon T-Bird with a Biostar M7VKB motherboard. My current power supply is a 250. Can anyone tell me if they think I should just replace the power supply? When it's making the grinding noise, I can feel the power supply vibrating. If I do get a new power supply, what would you recommend and what wattage? Thanks in advance. |
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On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 03:01:24 GMT, "Vanguard"
wrote: You could put in a thermally-controlled fan, snip Installing a thermally-controlled fan in a power supply introduces another issue to beware of... many power supplies having the typical off-fan, thermal fan-throttling circuit can't effectively use a fan with it's own integrated thermal control. Such combinations may not spin at all, or only spin after the power supply gets VERY hot. It's possible to do so and can be a very effective way to reduce noise, but very easy/common to end up with a non-spinning fan. Trial and error is needed to find the optimal combo. Dave |
#5
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Change for a new PSU immediately.
My buddy was lazy and let it grind for 3 months and the heat actually melted (I don't know how but it did) the PSU plug that plugs into the mobo (white thing). Dang. Now he's screwed cuz he can't unplug the PSU plug without breaking his mobo. -bron "PawsForThought" ¦b¶l¥ó ¤¤¼¶¼g... When I first start my computer, there is a grinding/vibrating noise that sounds like it's coming from the power supply. It's not a constant noise but rather it comes about every 10 to 15 seconds. Once the computer is warmed up, the grinding noise goes away. I was hoping it was the case fan so I replaced that, but no luck. I have an AMD Athlon T-Bird with a Biostar M7VKB motherboard. My current power supply is a 250. Can anyone tell me if they think I should just replace the power supply? When it's making the grinding noise, I can feel the power supply vibrating. If I do get a new power supply, what would you recommend and what wattage? Thanks in advance. |
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#8
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On 29 Sep 2003 13:07:02 GMT, olitter (PawsForThought)
wrote: Thank you very much for your responses everyone and thank you, Dave, for a very informative reply. I greatly appreciate it! I was afraid you'd say something about it overheating and that's why I've been shutting down the computer whenever I leave the house. But after reading your post, I see it's time for a new PSU. I have replaced drives and installed PCI/AGP cards and memory. But I've never replaced a PSU before. It looks like there are 4 screws and a ribbon cable to attach to the MB. Is this correct? Do you think it would be fairly easy for someone with my experience? Yes it's pretty straightforward, just unplug the old, unscrew it, then reverse the process for the new. There are power cables from the power supply to all drives too, not just the motherboard. Two things to watch out for are to check the voltage switch on the back (if it has one) next to the power cord. It should be set appropriate to the AC in your region (110V vs 220). The other thing is to make sure the wires are kept secure enough, out of the way so there's no chance of them contacting the fan blades. As to lubricating the fan bearing, I am assuming this means taking apart the PSU. I think I'd rather just replace the PSU since I don't have experience taking apart PSU's. It would have to be taken apart if the whole fan label isn't accesible in the rear. Some power supplies have a chrome grill in back that can be removed to access the label (which would be peeled back or completely off to expose the bearingway). Others have a stamped-in-metal grill, necessitating disassembly of the power supply and removal of the fan. It's not THAT hard to do, but of course the pwer supply should sit unplugged from AC for the better part of an hour to be sure it's drained. My video card is just a 32 meg GeForce MX2 agp card. I mostly use this computer for surfing the net or scanning in photographs. The processor is a 1 gigahertz T-Bird and I have 768 megs of ram. The computer is about 3 or 4 years old and I think instead of upgrading anything else, I would opt for a whole new system somewhere in the future in a few years. So, with that being said, and with your advice on brands, I found these: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....requestid=3636 I was thinking of the Antec SmartPower 350-Watt, Model: SL350. Or, the TruePower 330. I read a review he http://mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/truepower330/ What do you think of the smart power idea, and also having dual fans? 300W in a name-brand such as those should be fine, with 350W offering even more reserve capacity. Either of the models you mentioned should be adequate for your system, but the prices look a bit higher than I'm used to seeing. You might consider buying online, someplace like Newegg.com (which also offers a good deal on a 300W Sparkle): http://www.newegg.com/app/manufactor...alog=58&DEPA=0 Dual fans shouldn't be necessary for your system but nonetheless could help slightly reducet the noise and help remove heat more directly, especially if your case doesn't have a rear fan under the power supply. Since your system doesn't need much power (relatively speaking) you might find a Fortron - P300XFPN to be a good choice for noise-reduction and similar benefits to dual-fans: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...ion=17-104-979 Dave |
#9
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#10
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Here is the one I got. It also says this on the box:
http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...584&pfp=BROWSE Supports Pentium 4 and AMD Athlon CPUs Complies With ATX Version 2.03 And ATX12V Version 1.2 Supports Fan Speed Monitoring Super Cooling! Two Visible Ball Bearing Fans Protection Circuits For In-Rush Current, Over-Current And Over-Temperature FCC Class B Approved UL Approved Motherboards Supported: ATX Input Current Type: AC (Alternating Current) Input Voltage Supported: 115 V 230 V Power Rating: 400 W |
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