[SOLVED] Intermittent croaking sound coming from front of computer

[drosehill]

Hi folks,

I recently upgraded my GPU (about a month ago). I don't believe the sound began exactly then, but it has certainly started in the interim period.

Basically, every few minutes there's a sound that sounds (vaguely) like a frog croaking — which must be a common issue because it is exactly how this poster described it.

I was actually convinced for a while that there was a bug of some sorts in my room until I was reading with the PC off and noticed that it wasn't happening any more.

Another intriguing detail:

The sound happens whenever I power the computer on. As in, the moment I press the 'on' button.

It only lasts for a few seconds and it's kind of annoying. But I'm obviously more concerned with what it might mean.

Can give full specs but it's a low end Antec 450 PSU that's a few years old. Also, the PC doesn't have any HDDs - all four drives are SSD.

Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[ohio_buckeye]

What card did you put in? Could be your power supply isn't quite up to the task of powering your new card.

 

[drosehill]

What card did you put in? Could be your power supply isn't quite up to the task of powering your new card.

This guy: https://www.gigabyte.com/il/Graphics-Card/GV-N105TWF2OC-4GD#kf

However:

I did check the spec sheet carefully before I bought. It's GPU requirement is listed as 300W and mine is 450W ..... but maybe it's under "strain" regardless.

 

[drosehill]

I actually got a local PC shop to install it as I haven't done a GPU install before and I have a lot of work on my plate a the moment ..... so didn't want to risk "downtime" by breaking something. I think I might ask them to take a look at it as presumably they know whatever they did.

 

[Paperdoc]

This may have nothing to do with the new card. I wonder if the "croaking" sound you describe is a FAN with bearings wearing out?

As a fan ages and its bearings wear, eventually the wear is enough that they get loose or "sloppy", and the fan shaft rattlles around in the bearing sleeve, causing a noise. When this first happens, it is observed only when you start up the macnine after it has cooled down completely, amd it lasts only a short time, like 5-20 sec. Then the fan parts warm up and the loose clearance shrinks so the "rattling" stops and the fan goes quiet and stays that way as long as it keeps running. However, as the fan ages further and the bearing continues to wear further, the length of the start-up noise gets longer, until it never stops. If left too long, the fan will seize up and not work at all. This is a machine you've had a while, so that may be your cause.

One way to check for this is to narrow it down to exactly which fan it is. Shut your system down, open the case so you can access the fans, and leave it off so it gets totally cool. Get a pencil that you can use to reach in and deliberately stop a fan that is spinning with the eraser end. Start up the machine and try to identify quickly where the noise is, and then stop that fan. If the noise stops immediately, and then starts up as you release the fan, you've found the noisy unit. Then if the noise goes away after a short time and stays quiet all the time, you have a scenario as I described above. If that's what you find, plan to replace the fan.

 

[drosehill]

This may have nothing to do with the new card. I wonder if the "croaking" sound you describe is a FAN with bearings wearing out?

As a fan ages and its bearings wear, eventually the wear is enough that they get loose or "sloppy", and the fan shaft rattlles around in the bearing sleeve, causing a noise. When this first happens, it is observed only when you start up the macnine after it has cooled down completely, amd it lasts only a short time, like 5-20 sec. Then the fan parts warm up and the loose clearance shrinks so the "rattling" stops and the fan goes quiet and stays that way as long as it keeps running. However, as the fan ages further and the bearing continues to wear further, the length of the start-up noise gets longer, until it never stops. If left too long, the fan will seize up and not work at all. This is a machine you've had a while, so that may be your cause.

One way to check for this is to narrow it down to exactly which fan it is. Shut your system down, open the case so you can access the fans, and leave it off so it gets totally cool. Get a pencil that you can use to reach in and deliberately stop a fan that is spinning with the eraser end. Start up the machine and try to identify quickly where the noise is, and then stop that fan. If the noise stops immediately, and then starts up as you release the fan, you've found the noisy unit. Then if the noise goes away after a short time and stays quiet all the time, you have a scenario as I described above. If that's what you find, plan to replace the fan.

Thanks for the input. I was thinking that too. It could be a coincidence or it could be a red herring. I think best to take into the shop. To learn all this stuff I need a cheap build that I can afford to screw around with .... right now this thing is my main business asset!

 

[Paperdoc]

I can understand that, if the machine is vital to your business, you would not want to fiddle around to see what you can learn.

 

[StephanM]

Hi folks,

I recently upgraded my GPU (about a month ago). I don't believe the sound began exactly then, but it has certainly started in the interim period.

Basically, every few minutes there's a sound that sounds (vaguely) like a frog croaking — which must be a common issue because it is exactly how this poster described it.

I was actually convinced for a while that there was a bug of some sorts in my room until I was reading with the PC off and noticed that it wasn't happening any more.

Another intriguing detail:

The sound happens whenever I power the computer on. As in, the moment I press the 'on' button.

It only lasts for a few seconds and it's kind of annoying. But I'm obviously more concerned with what it might mean.

Can give full specs but it's a low end Antec 450 PSU that's a few years old. Also, the PC doesn't have any HDDs - all four drives are SSD.

Thanks in advance for any input!

Okay, so I know this post is a few years old, but since there was no resolution, I'd like to share my same experience and solution. I have an Insignia NS-5004BT 2.1 Bluetooth lighted speaker system that also suddenly started randomly "ribbiting" EXACTLY like a li'l frog every few seconds (from the subwoofer). I have these tiny little frogs that migrate up from the ponds below, and I thought one might have gotten into the house.

I isolated and resolved the issue by doing the following:
1. Shut off the speakers: ribbiting stopped
2. Turned speakers back on: ribbiting started up again
3. Shut down all programs on my laptop; ribbiting persisted
4. Thought about any recent changes I'd made to my setup, and remembered that I'd moved my router/modem to the other side of my laptop to provide a better signal for another device. It was now located next to my Insignia subwoofer.
5. I moved my router/modem back to its original spot, made sure the speakers were on, volume was up, and restored open programs on my laptop - the ribbiting remained silent never returned.

Issue resolved - the router/modem was causing interference with the speaker. Hope this helps anyone who might have the same issue and comes across this forum.