Computer makes a snap sound on startup.

[Frozenpenguin]

Hello everyone, my problem is that whenever I start up the computer I hear a sound like something snapping or a fast crack noise. This hasen't happened to me before. It started happening during the last 6 start ups. Is this normal in any way? Could It be the case stretching after I turn it on? I turned it on and off 6 times in 1 day(I only use my PC once or twice a week) and the problem was still there.Also,My PC is really new(2 months). Please Help!

 

[djosbun]

Unplug all your case fans (not your cpu fan) and boot the system. Noise gone? If so, hook up one fan at a time and find the faulty one.

Or boot up with the case side panel off and see if you can hear where it's coming from.

 

[scout_03]

it could also be coming out of your psu ?

 

[smorizio]

snapping sound is from a bad cap or dead short. check your build for lose screws also check with a flash light inside the power supply look for any burn marks or things that could have fallen in.

 

[Hashwagon]

When does the noise occur? Does it happen immediately after pushing the power button? It's either a fan or hard drive. To verify that it's not the hard drive you can disconnect it's power cable and fire it up again.

 

[Frozenpenguin]

When does the noise occur? Does it happen immediately after pushing the power button? It's either a fan or hard drive. To verify that it's not the hard drive you can disconnect it's power cable and fire it up again.

The sound happens about 6 to 9 seconds after the computer starts.

 

[Frozenpenguin]

Also, The crack didn't cause any software problems that I could find.

 

[scout_03]

open the side of the case and in a dark room start the system ,look if you see any blue spark somewhere on the board or inside the psu ?

 

[scout_03]

could be not causing software issue but could be harmfull to your hardware that why you have to find what cause this,you could also use a magnifier and look at the motherboard parts for something abnormal like a bubble capacitor and resistor or dark spot on coil and board pcb .

 

[Frozenpenguin]

What is a bubble capacitor?

 

[Frozenpenguin]

Just in case, What if it doesn't happen anymore next time I turn it on?

 

[scout_03]

see the 3 picture on this with a good one and a bubling http://www.gcgriffiths.com/?p=107 it could happens on he top of it .

 

[Frozenpenguin]

see the 3 picture on this with a good one and a bubling http://www.gcgriffiths.com/?p=107 it could happens on he top of it .

1 more thing, it was more like a pop. It sounded like a bridge creaking or something stretching for a quik "k" sound. It can also sounds like the wood "poping" in an old house. Kind of like if you sit in a room for awhile and you hear a pop. I wasn't very loud though.Maybe you guys thought that it lasted for awhile, it actually lasted for a quick millisecond like a not too loud POP. If it is a broken capacator, how could that have happened? I have a very high quality surge protecter and my temps are low. My motherboard is a gigabyte z77-Ds3h and PSU is antec 750w high current gamer.

 

[smorizio]

with million and million of parts uses daily to build computer parts one or two bad parts will slip in.

 

[Frozenpenguin]

So the pop sound isnt normal? I also should check me PC anyways even if it stops happening, right?

 

[Frozenpenguin]

Also, if it was defective, wouldn't that have happened earlier. Why did it happen now all of a sudden?

 

[hyrule571]

If it's not a bad capacitor then it is your dedicated sound card, that's if you have one. You may have never noticed it until now. I'd highly recommend flashing around for a bad capacitor on your motherboard, dedicated cards, or in your PSU. They can be easy to find, but lets hope you don't have any bad caps.

 

[Frozenpenguin]

How can I look for bad caps on my video card? Also, if it was a bad cap, it would happen every time I turn it on, right?

 

[Frozenpenguin]

If it doesn't happen again, it means that it is not a bad capacator, right?

 

[Frozenpenguin]

My room didn't smell like it was burning so thats a good sign right?

 

[scout_03]

it could be just a momentary spark when you power up the system if you could take everything out of the case look under the motherboard for a burn spot and try boot the system will all parts out of the case only with the minimal parts to boot to see if you get that spark ?

 

[doughnuts]

its probably just your hard drive. Next time just put your ear next to it when you turn it on.

 

[Frozenpenguin]

Everyone!!! I took out my sound card and the noise stopped! what do I do with my card now?

 

[smorizio]

try placing it in another slot. sometime slots share irq and could been an issue with the sound card in that slot. also check to see how close the sound card is to any power cables or the gpu. if there was a power cable going over the card could been cross talk.

 

[scout_03]

after what smorizio answer you if you still have spark sound i would test that card in another system and if she does the same check you warranty for rma of sound card .