System Whining

One of my systems has started whining.. I've disabled and ruled out fans. What else could it be. Its a constant, high pitched, rhythmic oscillating whine. Not real loud, but its noticible and very annoying. It seems like its coming from the motherboard, but its one of those things you can't exactly tell where its coming from..

P4 1.7, Intel D850MV mobo, 512mb RDRAM...

TIA
-Newton

 

Electronic circuits, like in computers use ocillator clocks for many purposes. Sometimes these can start emitting audible sounds. Even very high Freq ones can have audible Harmonics due to interaction with other components.

Open the case and use a rubber or vinyl tube as a stethoscope to locate the component. Once you locate it....what you do about it is anyone's guess!! But at least you know what, or where the cause is.

 

There is a fan installed in your power supply. Maybe that one could be the culprit. Then again the age of the power supply should tell you if that fan could be a possible cause.

Do you have a quality power supply or one of these $10-$20 el'cheapo power supply? The reason im asking is these cheap psu's use cheap sleeve bearing fans and they tend to make noise and fail down the road.

 

It's likely a fan, but often it can be the Hard drive spinning or in some cases just taking the CD out of the drive can solve your problem.

 

Not a fan.. I stopped them all, even the one on the power supply.. Not a HD or CD spinning up. I think winbob has the best explanation. I believe its time to retire this system or at least the mobo... I'm going to give it a really good listen though and see if I can isolate anything..
Thanx for all the help..

-Newton

 

How did you run system after stopping psu fan?

 

I stopped the fan with a q-tip for a few seconds. Not recomended I admit, but it worked out OK..

-Newton