Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!csn!kessner!david From: david@kessner.denver.co.us (David Kessner) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Re: Noisy Fan - Looking for a good trick Message-ID: <1991May17.185033.12531@kessner.denver.co.us> Date: 17 May 91 18:50:33 GMT References: <1991May16.185539.10519@m.cs.uiuc.edu> Organization: Kessner, Inc. Lines: 43 In article <1991May16.185539.10519@m.cs.uiuc.edu> kadie@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie) writes: >My PC often makes a high-pitched whine. The whine is more common when >room temperture is high. I think the noise is caused by the power >supply's fan (since the fan and the hard disk are the only moving >parts, and I've replaced the disk drive [for other reasons]). > >Does anyone know of any tricks to stop the power supply from vibrating >(like washers or something)? > >Carl Kadie -- kadie@cs.uiuc.edu -- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign I have never heard of a fan vibrating a power supply case-- although it could happen, I guess... Like someone else said, check the monitor. If that does not help, run several programs and see if the whine changes as you choose different options from the programs. I know this sounds strange, but here is my experience with about 20 different machines: Often there is a "crosstalk" problem with the keyboard controller circutry and a speaker in the computer (could also be a _MODEMS_ speaker). When a program is waiting for a key to be pressed, it 'polls' the keyboard-- which causes a 'click' on the speaker, and when done often enough sounds more like a whine. When the program is actually doing something (compiling, recalc, etc) it polls the keyboard less often, so the pitch of the whine changes (or goes away alltogether). There is not much you can do to get rid of the problem. In the instances that I found the problem, it was the modem's speaker that making the whine. The speaker was also shaped like a small plastic can with a hole in the top (rather than a 'paper cone' speaker). All we did was placed a little scotch tape over the hole-- we cannot hear that dial tone with that great fidelity anymore, but it masks the whine. :) This, of course, does not work for everyone. If this is the problem, please tell me what it took to get rid of it. I can always use that type of info... -- David Kessner - david@kessner.denver.co.us | 1135 Fairfax, Denver CO 80220 (303) 377-1801 (p.m.) | Reunite PANGEA! Why can't everyone have three or four line .sig's? |