Greg,
Thank you for your swift reply -- and welcome to the XyWrite list! Literally minutes after posting my question, I discovered that the sound was not coming from the computer at all, but from a nearby appliance! So I'm glad there's no need for me to be tinkering inside the box (though I have changed power supplies and hard drives in the past).
This episode reminded me of how utterly silent PCs have become (mine is an HP tower). I remember having boxes in the '80s and '90s that sounded like wind turbines.
Thanks again.
Carl
On 9/22/2020 4:02 PM, Gregory Lara
wrote:
Generally the only mechanical devices in a modern PC are the fans and the hard drive, if not solid state. Depending on your specific components, this could be a) the power supply fan, b) the case fan, or c) the hard drive. Sometimes the only way to narrow it down is to open the case while the system is running, or start it up with the case open, then put your ear close and you'll probably be able to figure out which area it's coming from. Case fans aren't difficult to replace, but power supply fans are integrated into the unit so you'd need to replace the entire power supply.
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Greg LaraIT DirectorColumbia University Press61 W 62nd St, 3d Fl
New York, NY 10023(212) 459-0600 x7132
On Tue, Sep 22, 2020 at 3:58 PM Carl Distefano <cld@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
My PC, usually quite silent, has started making a whining noise. I've
recorded a few seconds of it here:
http://xywwweb.ammaze.net/dls/whine.wav
(Pay attention to the high-pitched sound, not the ambient shushing from
the fan.)
Does any hardware maven among us have an idea of what may be causing
it, and what the fix might be?
Thanks in advance for any tips.
--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxxxx