Community Newsletter: Q&A: Humming coming from my PC, what should be my concerns?

First determine the source of the hum

In reply to: Humming coming from my PC, what should be my concerns? by Lee Koo (ADMIN) 

You must first do a little troubleshooting. If the computer is off and you hit the power button, does the hum start at the outset? Does it hum as the hard drive initializes? With a four year old computer that you didn't build yourself, I would suspect the power supply or one of the cooling fans.

Four years is not a long life expectancy for these items, but if it's a cheap power supply (PSU), or a cheap central processing unit (CPU) or case fan, you may be able to fix it relatively cheaply. The power supply would be the worst of these, of course, but it still shouldn't be a budget buster, or difficult to fix, if you can do it yourself.

If it does hum at the first push of the power button, you will have to try to locate the noise if possible, so starting the computer with the cover removed would be the next step. After that, you may need to unplug a case fan or two. You get the idea, I hope. Eliminate items and see if the problem stops. Once the problem stops, you have found your source... that is unless, your ear detects the problem device at the outset. But I've never been so lucky, so I don't expect that to happen.

If it's a CPU cooling fan, you can get installation instructions from this website... http://www.arcticsilver.com/instructions.htm
simply pick your product, then the processor and follow their instructions. They have good products.

Case fans are more straightforward... match the size and part number... or upgrade to a similar product with ball bearings. If a case fan went bad, you need a ball bearing model, unless you want to replace another one in a similar amount of time.

If it's a PSU, you will need to identify the ailing unit, and maybe even your motherboard... I would do a check to make sure that you have the right PSU for your setup. A quickly failing PSU could mean it's underpowered, and remaining in a state of thermal overload, which would keep the PSU fan running in desperation.

If you want to check your PSU needs, you can go to this website and go through their e-questionnaire. http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
Check your existing PSU rating and performance, just to be sure... I would, mainly because me and old Murphy are long term acquaintances. If it is a PSU, try to go with a quality replacement that will provide consistent and adequate power to your system. If the original failed this quickly, it may have been an inexpensive alternative to keep the price down, or a barely minimal unit for your system.

The other problem could be dust. If you don't regularly clean your system, a buildup of dust can cause one of the cooling fans to go bad if your system controls fan speed. You just need to determine where the problem is and fix it appropriately, while keeping costs down. On all of my builds, I use as high quality components as I can afford, which puts me right in the middle on cost outputs, but I am confident I have good equipment for my intended purposes.

If you didn't assemble your computer, yourself, you should at least have some input as to which level and brand name of parts being used to assemble it... or have a list of every part used in its assembly, so you can know what's being used to fix it in the future. Hopefully, if the right parts are chosen and you aren't a radical overclocker, you will have a computer that will have a good long duty cycle. Of course... Murphy can show up and ruin even the best computer builds.