# Whistling Sound



## aran_fusion (Sep 29, 2008)

Okay, recently I've been having a weird whistling sound coming from my power supply. I know for a fact it is coming from the power supply. I've taken the side off and listened, its definitely the power supply.

Now the thing that boggles me is, if I leave my PC off for a while, and come on, it stops. After a few hours it starts. The whistling sound only happens when my computer is loading something. If I leave it completely idle, nothing happens. I would assume its the fan in the power supply as I've read on multiple websites. I've already ordered a new power supply as I THINK that would fix it, but if it doesnt I would like to know other options I have.

By it only happening when I'm loading something I mean only when I open mozilla, or ventrilo, or a game, anything that requires access of the hard drive. I'm almost positive it isn't the hard drive, but my computer literate friend says the same thing can be caused by dust or the hard drive trying to pull more power than it needs.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

First step as your friend mentioned is to get a can of compressed air and blow that power supply and power supply fan out. In the meantime, blow out all of your computer, specifically all fans and the heatsink(s) that might be in the case. Dust is a killer of fans and this might be the start of that process. 

DO NOT take the power supply apart if that does not fix it, there is dangerous electrical charge in there even after you turn it off. Best to replace it than to open it up and try to fix it. That is my opinion.


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## aran_fusion (Sep 29, 2008)

How do you blow out the PSU without opening it?


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

the cans of air have a little plastic tube that you connect to the air orfice on the can. Stick that in there and blow away. It will work and I do recommend a dust mask before you try to do that.


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## aran_fusion (Sep 29, 2008)

Ok, I blew it out and it seemed fine for one night, but now I'm hearing it again but this time its slight. Although when I blew it out no dust came out


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Is there any way to pinpoint that noise more so we know exactly what is making the noise? If it is a case fan, easy to change out.


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## aran_fusion (Sep 29, 2008)

Tumbleweed36 said:


> Is there any way to pinpoint that noise more so we know exactly what is making the noise? If it is a case fan, easy to change out.


Its the powersupply for sure.


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## aran_fusion (Sep 29, 2008)

Just dusted again to be sure, got a lot more dust out. Sadly the sound it was making is the same. I can outrule overheating since the dust air stuff is cold as heck.

Edit - maybe it is the fans in the power supply? They both still work (Checked) but I don't understand what else it could be.

Should I just replace it?

Another Edit : After dusting the first time it was on for 12 hours with no sound.

I turn it on today, 5 or 6 hours, the sound started again.


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

could either be a fan bearing or a capacitor.


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## aran_fusion (Sep 29, 2008)

magnethead said:


> could either be a fan bearing or a capacitor.


This is the thing I'm hearing... So I guess replacing the powersupply like I'm planning is a good idea. Thank you everyone. I'll be updating you all after I get my powersupply replaced and see if it works.

I hope I ordered the right powersupply. The watts is higher than the one I have, but I'm told that wont hurt it. It looks the same in the picture as the one I have now. It fits inside the case too. Its not the best brand, but if its the same I have it should last me a few years. This one lasted me for... 3 or 4.

This is the one I ordered...
http://www.pctekonline.com/statxposu50w.html

Yeah its probably a crappy one, I'm aware. >.<


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## aran_fusion (Sep 29, 2008)

Ok,got the supply and apparently it is missing a fan connector.

If anyone can find the exact model PSU I have, mind giving me a link?

Model number is HPC-420-302 DF
It is a 480 watt power supply (Peak Load)


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Please explain what you mean by its missing a fan conector, what fan?

Please post your full system specs or name brand and model


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## aran_fusion (Sep 29, 2008)

the fan connector is 3 prong thing that connects to the mother board to report the RPM of the fans in the PSU

And the brand of my PC is Alienware, model number of the PSU is listed in my previous post


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## aran_fusion (Sep 29, 2008)

im not on the pc cause i took the power supply out

I have 2gb ram, 160gb hard drive, floppy drive and cd drive
Ati x800 PCI Express 256mb and uhh I dont know what else.

Oh and is it possible they labled my powersupply wrong?

All my searches for the model number come up with 420 watts


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## aran_fusion (Sep 29, 2008)

http://www.highpowersupply.com/hpc420302df.html

This is the exact same as mine, except it says MAX LOAD 420 instead of 480... and the fan connector I'm talking about is listed there too.


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## aran_fusion (Sep 29, 2008)

Ok, I installed the new power supply anyways, heres to seeing what happens without the fan RPM cord.

Is it really needed?


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