Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!POLAR.BOWDOIN.EDU!poulin
From: poulin@POLAR.BOWDOIN.EDU (Jeff Poulin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.misc
Subject: Any more squeak ideas?
Message-ID: <9012040056.AA14472@polar.bowdoin.edu>
Date: 4 Dec 90 00:56:02 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 35

Many thanks to Johnathan Chandross, Jeff French, and Earl Sharp who
responded directly to my squeaks inquiry.  I, too, thought it was the
drives, but it isn't.  I unplugged the power supply to to my C drive
(seagate 138R) and the squeaks persisted.  Then I unplugged the power to
my D drive (seagate 277R-1) and all I heard was the quiet hum of the fan
-- and the squeaks!

Ok, must be the fan, I thought.  However, some of the squeaks last about a
second in duration and occur every 2-3 seconds.  The pitch is (a guess)
10,000 - 15,000 Hz (very high, but audible).  The sound is a pretty clean
tone (it wouldn't show a lot of junk on an oscilliscope).  It doesn't seem
reasonable to me this could be caused by a fan that rotates at maybe
600-900 rpm (another guess).  Besides, the sound doesn't seem to come from
the cooling fan end of the computer.

There must be movement for sound, it's simple physics.  If it's not the
drives or the fan, the only thing else I can think of is the PC speaker.
Unfortunately by the time I thought of this, the sound drifted away (as it
sometimes does).  I unplugged the speaker and haven't heard the squeaks
for about an hour now (uncommonly long).

So, suppose it is the speaker.  I would assume its making the sounds
because of unwanted voltage in the speaker wire.  This, I would gather, is
caused by something not being grounded properly.  If this is the case,
does anyone know where I could go from here.  I really don't want a mute
computer.

Suggestions are still quite welcome!

-- Jeff Poulin
poulin@polar.bowdoin.edu
jpoulin@bowdoin.bitnet

P.S.  For those of you who think the sound is all in my head, I checked
that too.  When I leave the room, the sound goes away :-)