Resolved - System power issue?

[Pandalsson 1st MRB]

Name: Pandalsson

Rank: Gunnery Sergeant

Type of issue: Hardware

Brief Description of Issue: Not sure what's happening. Today I just took a chance and decided to try and boot up my computer and lo it did.

Last night, my computer just refused to even start. I unplugged the computer, waited 30 secs before rebooting. Rinse / repeat multiple times. The only thing that happened was all the lights in my computer (the mobo power indicator, the fan light, HD light, etc) would just flicker on off and this horrible sound like a squirrel getting repeated run over would emanate from the rig. The only way I could stop it was to hold the power button down.

This time, the power came out without a hitch.

If the issue was the power pack, would it now just... not work? So now, I'm just wondering what else it could be instead of buying a power pack and still cursing at the machine.

Thanks

P

***Medical Supply Staff ONLY Below this line***

Current Status: Resolved

Main Technician: Randy Marchese

Supporting Technician: Bryant

[Lafy BAR]

Could we get more details about the noise it made? Was it a beeping noise coming from a speaker inside the computer, or was it some sort of fan or drive noise? A jammed fan could cause a severe heat issue resulting in the system halting to prevent damage. An extremely noisy hard drive could prevent boot up, but you'd see an error on the screen about it. The speaker inside the system beeping in some crazy way would indicate an issue with your video, ram or cpu... the specifics of how it beeped indicate which one.

Some motherboards have status lights on the board that indicate which parts have booted properly which can tell you what failed.

The fact that it came on and did stuff, and that holding the power button turned it off suggests to me that it isn't a problem with the power supply (unless that noise came from the fan in the power supply....)

[Marchese 1st MRB]

Be sure to check all the connections are secure. Now for the sound coming from the machine is it coming from the actual power supply cause if it is then the power supply fan may be going and the power supply may be overheating. The other possibility may be the connecting wires are faulty (e.g. the ATX Connector, CPU power connector). With faulty wires the system may be not be getting enough power which would explain the flickering. Now seeing that you could turn off the power supply with the power button tells me that the MOBO is definitely communicating with the psu. I would highly advise caution as power supply issues can damage your components. Also are you getting post error codes (the beeps when you turn on the system). One quick beep means all is well but anything else please explain the pattern.

[Pandalsson 1st MRB]

Hi guys,

The sound is more like a static-y sound at random-like intermittence (tic-tic...tic...tic-tic-tic...tic-tic...tic-tic-tic...tic...tic-tic-tic-tic). I couldn't isolate the source, it sounded like it came from the HDs area but my rig is medium sized so it really could have come from any part.

The fans are not functional (they don't seem stuck even if the sound almost seems like a fan getting stuck). Connections seems ok. My GFX has heating issues but that's been on-going for the past year (i keep reminding myself to change the cooling gel).

But otherwise, nothing works, no beeps at all from powering up - no mobo activity really, only the flashing lights and the sound.

Sorry I can't give you more precise information. If it happens again, i'll try to note more details (like sound source).

Thanks!

[Bryant 1st MRB]

Well if its a click noise it may easily be the hard drive, when those start to go it makes a click alot of the times, still the boot sounds like a power suply problem, iintresting problem you got here, if you give me your specs it would help a bazillion.

[Pandalsson 1st MRB]

P5Q Mobo

Intel2 dual-core E4600@2.4

2 Gigs of RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX

OCZGXS700 power supply

Creative SB Live soundcard (i have no clue which one, it's been probably a decade since i last upgraded my sound card...)

Let me know if you need any other info.

Thanks!

P

[Bryant 1st MRB]

P5Q Mobo

Intel2 dual-core E4600@2.4

2 Gigs of RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX

OCZGXS700 power supply

Creative SB Live soundcard (i have no clue which one, it's been probably a decade since i last upgraded my sound card...)

Let me know if you need any other info.

Thanks!

P

how long have you had the power supply, a lot of people are complaining that after about 4-5 years this supply just craps out on them

[Bryant 1st MRB]

Has this topic been resolved?

[Pandalsson 1st MRB]

Sorry, no it hasn't. I just haven't turned off my computer since my last message.

I've had my power source for ... maybe 4 years now?

Thanks!

[Ford 1st MRB]

The ticking is the sound of your hard drive not spooling up. I had the same issue with one of mine. I would recommend copying whatever you want to save off of it while you have it booted up, because it will fail soon.

Mine towards the end wouldn't boot if I turned my pc off and tried to turn it back on. I would have to let it sit for a few hours sometimes before it would reboot, of it rebooted at all that is.

Mine was a western digital 1tb caviar black. I'm not sure what brand you have, but it sounds like the exact same issue. A really hard clicking, almost like someone flicking a light switch on and off.

[Marchese 1st MRB]

Ok after all the info it sounds like it the power supply may be failing but it is also possible that the hard drives (specifically the hard drive motors) could also be failing. Also to touch on Fords comment it is a good idea to backup your data just in case. The only way to know for sure is to locate the source of the sound.

[Holland 1st MRB]

Is there any further information required on this ticket?

If so, please tell us what you would like to know, and we would be happy to assist you further.

[Pandalsson 1st MRB]

Hi guys,

So yeah, it was the power unit after all. It went kaput a couple of days ago.

Thanks for all the help and I guess you can close this ticket now.

Cheers,

P