[SOLVED] Is it safe to unplug aio header when pc is on for troubleshooting?

[svat]

Hello guys, last days im having problem with probbably my aio in pc. When i turn on pc it will start making noise like drilling to the wall, after turning pc off and on its gone. So my question is how can i know if its aio or not, is the only way to unplug it while its making that loud noise?

thanks

 

[rgd1101]

don't touch the internal when the pc is on

 

[svat]

So how can i do troubleshooting if its really AiO?

 

[rgd1101]

replace it

 

[Karadjgne]

Pc's are not designed for 'hot plugging', that's removing items/adding items when power is on. You Can touch the pump head when the pc is started, pushing very light pressure on the pump head to determine vibrations is ok, you'll know in a matter of seconds if that's the source of noise. You can do the same to a fan hub, provide restriction to the hub itself (not the blades) to see if the noise is from a particular bearing.

But other than that, as rgd1101 stated, keep fingers off/out of the pc when it's on, you have ears so use them, use a cardboard tube to localize noises.

 

[kanewolf]

So how can i do troubleshooting if its really AiO?

Use the cardboard tube from paper towels as a "stethoscope". It will isolate your hearing to a small area. You can isolate the location of the sound that way without unplugging anything.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Honestly I don't see a problem with unplugging power from the AIO while the computer is on, as long as the power isn't coming from the motherboard itself and you don't risk unplugging anything else like a storage drive. Though when unplugging something, you should unplug it with purpose.

Or, before powering on, you can unplug everything that's potentially a source of noise that you can (e.g., all of the case fans)

 

[Karadjgne]

It's not the 'unplug' action, it's the 'plug back in' action. There's not a lot of time once you unplug the pump to get it plugged back in correctly, can't tell you the amount of times I've had issues getting that connector back on the header correctly, it's often obscured by the rad/fans or gpu etc depending upon which mobo and where they stuck the cpu_fan header or sys_fan header. Can also depend on which aio as many higher end aios use Sata power for the pump, the cpu_fan header doing nothing but reporting rpm.

Be much better to isolate the noise audibly first before snatching stuff off a live, running motherboard.

 

[hotaru.hino]

It's not the 'unplug' action, it's the 'plug back in' action. There's not a lot of time once you unplug the pump to get it plugged back in correctly, can't tell you the amount of times I've had issues getting that connector back on the header correctly, it's often obscured by the rad/fans or gpu etc depending upon which mobo and where they stuck the cpu_fan header or sys_fan header. Can also depend on which aio as many higher end aios use Sata power for the pump, the cpu_fan header doing nothing but reporting rpm.

Be much better to isolate the noise audibly first before snatching stuff off a live, running motherboard.

1. The concern about plugging something back in was implied in the wordering: "as long as the power isn't coming from the motherboard itself and you don't risk unplugging anything else like a storage drive"
2. Also "unplugging with purpose" implies needing to plug it back in with purpose as well
3. I also added the option to unplug all other sources of noise that makes sense.

Is there anything I need to do to make myself more clear? Or should I stop bothering?