Re: Weird clicking roulette wheel sound: what is it?

raylopez99 wrote:
Another piece of information: this weird sounds, which sounds like a
spinning roulette wheel, sounds like it's coming from the HD bays, but
at the same time it could be the CPU fan--because when I power down,
just as the electricity stops, and everthing is dead, I hear the last
few revolutions of this sound, like the CPU fan propellers are coming
to rest. a sort of "tac-tack-tak" dying sound. Could it be the CPU
fan?

And again, when I smack down hard on top of the tower, after the
system has warmed up a bit (fifteen minutes of use, but not before),
the sound usually stops. If it starts again (once or twice a day)
another smack will silience it.

Any ideas?

I might replace the HD anyway, since they're five years old, but I'd
hate to replace the CPU fan unless I have to (I'm afraid I might screw
up the solvent/heat sink paste application, and it will fall off)

RL


To debug weird sounds, first make a list of all the things that
are potential sound sources.

CPU fan, chassis fan, PSU fan, Vcore regulator, CDROM motor,
HDD motor/platter, video card fan...

For the fans, you can press on the hub of the fan, to slow
it down just a little bit. If the noise disappears, or if the
frequency of the noise shifts, then you'd found the source.

A modern hard drive motor should not make sound. The modern
ones are FDB or fluid dynamic bearing. If sound is coming from
them, failure would be imminent. If a sound comes out, it means
the bearing is dry, and the friction from a loss of lubricant,
will ruin it quickly.

Older drives use ball bearings. A drive with ball bearings
will gradually get louder as it gets older. I retired a number
of IBM SCSI drives, because I could no longer stand to listen to
the noise. The drives still work fine, but I would not take a
chance on them.

You cannot get access to the PSU fan, to press on the hub. If you
take a thin slip of paper, and jab it into the fan blades, the
noise you hear will give you some idea as to what rate the fan
is spinning at, and whether the characteristic frequency of that
fan, matches the noise you are hearing.

The video card fan is a good source of noise. I've had a couple
of them that went bad. You should be able to get at the hub
there, and press lightly on it.

There is no reason for the CD to spin, unless there is media present.

Vcore noises are different than fan noises, and you should be
able to tell the difference between a rotating object making a
noise, and other sources.

It is also possible for a computer case to resonate at a frequency
excited by a hard drive. Some drives vibrate from side to side, and
a cheap case can amplify the sound. At 7200RPM (120 RPS), you'd
expect the sound to be like an "AC hum". This is one reason I like
to purchase heavy steel computer cases, to help damp out that kind of
noise.

I would not "whack" the computer case, because if you do, sooner or
later you'll have a data recovery problem on your hands, when the
disk is damaged. The disk might be innocent.

Hard drives have evolved over the years, to their current tiny size.
Back when they were much larger devices, they used to have a piece
of spring steel which pressed against the end of the rotating shaft.
On those old drives, the noise from that spring could drive you
nuts. I'm not aware of any similar mechanism to drain static electricity
off the rotating platter, on modern drives. There is nothing similar in
the current design.

Good luck,
Paul
.

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