Troubleshooting: Strange sound every 24 seconds

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sketch
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Troubleshooting: Strange sound every 24 seconds

Post by sketch » Wed Sep 10, 2003 1:07 am

My system:
Asus A7V v1.01
Duron 600
AMD heatsink+fan that comes with a Duron 1300
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 HD
SilentDrive Enclosure from QuietPC for HD
Seasonic 400 Super (SPCR recommend PSU)

About 3 weeks ago I upgraded to the Seasonic and put on that new AMD heatsink+fan (replacing an older one). Everything is fine, system is stable etc..

Just a few days ago, I start hearing this recurring vibration noise exactly every 24 seconds. That's right, every 24 seconds I hear a strange vibration noise (sort of a pulsing vibration) that lasts for 2 seconds and repeats every 24 seconds. When the vibration occurs, my HD does not appear to have any activity (looking at led and also software activity monitor) so I am inclined to rule out the Maxtor.

1. Is it a safe assumption that the HD is NOT the cause of this strange vibration?

2. What WOULD be the cause of this recurring vibration noise?

3. How do I verify and solve?

Thanks. Note: if I posted this to the wrong forum please move it and beat me senseless later.

ruprag
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Post by ruprag » Wed Sep 10, 2003 1:40 am

This is most proably your hard disk doing some internal stuff,

some of them have this annoying(sp?) feature of doing some housekeeping when they are idle.


I'd check the manufacturers website.

sketch
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Post by sketch » Wed Sep 10, 2003 1:41 am

I've had the HD for years, but I never heard this noise before a few days ago. Could it really be the HD?

Semm
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Post by Semm » Wed Sep 10, 2003 2:00 am

Easy way to check if it's the housekeeping function is to keep the drive busy for longer than 24 seconds and see if it does the funny thing then.

One way to do that is: find a huge file or group of files and copy, NOT move (you can hold down the ctrl key while click-dragging to make sure it copies), it from one directory to another. If it doesn't make the funny noise during that time, and the time was longer than 24 seconds, it's probably the drive.

In any case, good advice is...***Back everything up*** BEFORE you find out "Oh damn, I should have backed that up!" :) Then you could give Maxtor a call and see if you should worry. If it turns out to be the drive, you'll probably have to replace it on your own nickel, as you said you've had it for "years."

I'm not particularly thrilled with any of the drives I've used, so I'll leave recommendations for replacements to others, if it comes down to that.

Let us know what you find out.

Mark

sketch
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Post by sketch » Wed Sep 10, 2003 2:20 am

Mark--great idea. Just tried copying 2.4GB worth of files... noise still remains in 24 seconds gaps so we can rule out the HD. What else would cause this?

Semm
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Post by Semm » Wed Sep 10, 2003 2:28 am

Let's see...Hopefully you still have that old HSF and PSU (and they still work). Replace the PSU with the old one, boot up, fiddle around and see if you get the noise. If not, it's the PSU. Have it replaced. If the noise is still there, go back to the other PSU and replace the HSF. Same deal.

Alternatively, before you go fiddling with the innards you could just pop open the case and use the ol' ear and/or fingers (sometimes I think my fingers are more sensitive than my ears to certain sounds) to figure out about where the sound is coming from. That'll at least provide you with a place to start from.

Oh, and if you happen to live in Leipzig and that stuff doesn't work, let me know and I'll go over and fiddle with it :)

Mark

sketch
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Post by sketch » Wed Sep 10, 2003 4:01 am

HAHAHAHA. You guys will NEVER believe what the cause was. I feel SOOOOO embarassed. Oh my gosh. Ya see, my little cousin was over the other day and was playing with some "classic" toys of mine... and apparently, a battery weakened SUPER SIMON from 1970something was making the timeout noise (every 24 seconds!!) located just under my desk. It SOUNDED like it was coming from the PC... talk about psychoacoustics.

Forgot what Super Simon looked like?



http://www.imarshall.karoo.net/super_simon.htm


Please don't ever hold this against me.
Image
Last edited by sketch on Wed Sep 10, 2003 4:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

Semm
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Post by Semm » Wed Sep 10, 2003 4:08 am

:D I love it! But so typical...Blame the PC first :) Glad you got it figured out, Sketch.

Ralf Hutter
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Wed Sep 10, 2003 6:18 am

That's got to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen in all my days at computer BBS's and help forums.

MikeC - This thread should go in the "Hall of Fame" or be stickied or put in the main site. It needs to exist for posterity.


sketch wrote:HAHAHAHA. You guys will NEVER believe what the cause was. I feel SOOOOO embarassed.

Please don't ever hold this against me.


sketch - I won't hold it against you, but I won't forget it either. :D

Rusty075
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Post by Rusty075 » Wed Sep 10, 2003 8:24 am

Sketch, I think you should officially change your name to Super Simon. And if you don't I think MikeC should just change it for you.


It is interesting that anytime we hear an odd noise that we blame it on our computers. Perhaps its a sign that we're spending too much time in front of them.

My sign that I spend too much in front of mine came a couple of weeks ago, when I was driving and accidentally got off at the wrong exit. Upon realising my mistake my first thought was, " Oops, oh well, I'll just hit Ctrl-Z and do it over." :lol:

Don't worry somehow this is still all Bill Gates' fault.
Last edited by Rusty075 on Wed Sep 10, 2003 9:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

Semm
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Post by Semm » Wed Sep 10, 2003 8:37 am

Well, I certainly spend too much time in front of the computer. But another factor is that, at least in my apartment, the computer is effectively the only thing making noise. The fridge does sometimes, but it's barely audible if the door is closed, and the ticking of the clock in the kitchen drives me NUTS at night. That thing is first up against the wall when the revolution comes--err, when I move. A cookie to whoever knows where that came from, by the way :) But for the most part, my fingers hitting the keyboard and the computer are the two big noise producers. Maybe if I just stop typing...Hey! I can cut the noise by half!

Mark

Zhentar
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Post by Zhentar » Wed Sep 10, 2003 9:50 am

Rusty075 wrote:
My sign that I spend too much in front of mine came a couple of weeks ago, when I was driving and accidentally got off at the wrong exit. Upon realising my mistake my first thought was, " Oops, oh well, I'll just hit Ctrl-Z and do it over." :lol:
Last year I had about a month and a half where the great majority of my time was spent playing Baldur's Gate 2. Throughout a battle, I'd use the spacebar to pause the game to give orders to my characters, so it quickly became instinctive to pause whenever something important happened to make sure my characters didn't get slaughtered while I was figuring out what to do.

This had a side effect though. Even for several weeks after, whenever something important happened in Real Life (I won't even get into other games that I played....) my thumb would twitch. Teacher telling us the homework? my thumb would twitch. Girl says hi? thumb twitches. It was... interesting.

Cosine
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Post by Cosine » Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:23 am

That thing is first up against the wall when the revolution comes--err, when I move. A cookie to whoever knows where that came from, by the way
Douglas Adams now where's my cookie, dammit

Semm
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Post by Semm » Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:58 am

Good man (woman? No way of telling, really). Let's see...Do you live somewhere on the way from Leipzig to Hamburg, Montreal to Dallas, or Dallas to San Diego? If so, I'll bring the cookie in November when I head that way. If not, I could always try and fax it. Lemme know.

:D

Mark

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