need help with Lian-Li V1100 humming

dma4 · Post by **dma4** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 4:32 pm

There is an annoying low humming noise coming from my Lian-Li V1100. I first thought it was one of the fans but it turns out to be the case. If I laid it out flat (it's a mid-tower) or press against the sides, the humming noise stops. After reading the threads, I now know that this appears to be common for alumnium case. I never had an alum case before (finally decided to splurge on the beautiful V1100) and my previous case of 9 years was a very heavy steel full tower case so I never had to deal with this problem. I guess I underestimated case resonance.

I do like the HD rail and the noise level is great as long as the humming stops. As I say before, it is very quiet if I laid it flat or press against the sides. Neither is acceptable (I need a tower and bookending the case with brick walls is just silly). Is there a EASY fix for this, I would rather not go through any fancy modding to solve this. HD suspension is definitely out of my league. AcoustiPack does not look like it would help as the panels arleady have dampenning material and the issue appears to be vibration.

Any help is appreciated.

daba · Post by **daba** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 8:52 pm

dma4,
WELCOME TO SPCR!

It's nice to see some other V-series owners around here! I had this exact same problem. I'd have to put a dictionary or some other heavy object atop my V-1000, turns out, it was due completely to my hard drives. No worries, suspension isn't that hard at all. Here's how: http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... highlight=

You can also click the link in my profile (Silent V1000) to see my slightly modified version of the suspension using thick shoelaces I bought from Target for $2.

Edit: Come to think of it, if you are really uneasy about suspending your drives, you can also do what I did before and take some blocks of foam, any spare chunks of foam or styrofoam or packaging foam material you have laying around, and cut them into fair 2cmx5cm chunks. Take these chunks and wedge them in between your hard drives. This reduces some vibration. Experiement with different foams/sizes to find which ones suits you best.

Good luck!

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 12:49 am

Did the mod described in the thread daba mentioned; I used sewing elastic and just knotted it together. Easiest mod I ever did (10 minutes max), although I have to admit I simply broke off the drive rails. Not a problem for me, since I still have the intention of drilling out the drive cages to rig up a real drive suspension... it's just a matter of getting around to doing that.

In my case, the humming got reduced but not entirely eliminated... but then, I have loud Maxtors in there; this mod was definitely an improvement though. What type of harddisks are you running, dma4?

dma4 · Post by **dma4** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 8:13 am

The HDs are Seagate Barracudas. The reason I would prefer not to go through the suspension method is that I constantly move the rig around as well as moving the HDs from time to time. The HD rail makes things much easier and safer.

The humming does not happen all the time. It goes on internvals of several minutes and does not appear to match the HD activities. I first suspected the humming came from the one of the fans but like I said if I laid the case flat or press against the side panels the humming stops.

Wouldn't putting foams around the HD raise the temperature? I already have a couple of drives died on me this year and the age of others range from 2-4 years of use.

How about the roofer's tape I read about in the forum? Does that help in this case? If I were to apply it, where should I put it given that the side panales already have foams in them?

thanks for the help[/quote]

Tiamat · Post by **Tiamat** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 9:10 am

You can try to isolate the fans from the case with fan isolators:

McMaster-Carr
5801K6 and 5801K8

K6 works perfect for the 80mm L1A.

K8 works OK on the (thicker flanged) 120mm L1A but you can't take them off w/o ruining them. They fit real tight.

I got this info from Lenny who got it from Ralfhutter

Also, you could try getting Zalman Heatpipe HDD coolers and install your HDDs in 5.25" bays. These have rubber isolators. The Heatpipe doesnt work too well, but if you have the tiniest of airflor (a fan on 5V) blowing onto the Harddrive ( or sucking off of the harddrive) it will cool the Harddrive very nicely.

Simonbun · Post by **Simonbun** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 9:38 am

I own a v2100 myself and i'm pretty sure its your harddrives that cause the humming.

Suspending them doesnt mean u cant move the case around, you just cant put it on its side.

HD temperatures went up a little bit in my case, but nothing spectacular. The 120mm fan in front of the HD bay should keep your HD's below 40°, wich is adequate.

Bitter Jitter · Post by **Bitter Jitter** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 9:41 am

I just suspended my Samsung P80 using £1.55 worth of elastic. The difference is amazing!! I was getting really fed up with my case vibrating and rattling, I was pretty sure it was the hard drive so I brought the elastic.
Took about 10 minutes to fit, I used up the entire 3 metres so its not going anywhere!
The seek noise has basically GONE! I just can't believe my ears! The vibration has also completely disappeared.

I have to say this is the best and cheapest silent mod i have ever done!

dma4 · Post by **dma4** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 8:13 pm

Thanks for everyone's help. I suspended a couple of HDs using shoelaces and the results are indeed dramatic. I did a simple suspension using the 5.25 bays so the HD are not secured on the sides but unless there is earthquake the drives should be ok. This is much easier than disassemble the 3.25 bays. I will try the other mod when I switch to SATA drives because there is no space for elastics and the thick PATA cables in those bays.

The humming still exist but it is drastically reduced due to less resonance. I can live with this. I think the humming is caused by the vibration between the powersupply fan and cpu fan. Because the upside down placement of the PSU, there is a nice flat surface space of casing between the two fans. Would something like Dynamat help reduce the humming? I check out the roofer's tape and not really feeling like applying tar inside my case. So if the impact of Dynamat is not obvious, I think I will just keep the $20.

daba · Post by **daba** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 9:11 pm

I'm glad you decided to suspend them. It's marvellous isn't it?

I think that mounting the drives in the 5.25'' bay is not a very good idea for the hard drive health. If I recall correctly, there was and still is a lot of dead (warm) air in the 5.25'' bay area.