[SOLVED] LiteOn PS-5022-3M humming noise normal?

[himynameis21223]

I have a very old Thinkcentre A30 and it powers on and appears to work fine, but the powersupply makes a pretty audible humming noise like a fluorescent light when it is turned on, this noise gets louder when I'm doing more intensive tasks and I'm worried about this, is this normal or is the power supply on its way out?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

When you state old, how old is it? Can you parse a link tot eh audio you're hearing? I'd lean on the PSU having issues when it's taxed hence the whine you're hearing, assuming the source of the sound is indeed the PSU's innards. You might want to look into a replacement PSU.

Out of curiosity, did you add any hardware beyond it's factory specs?

 

[himynameis21223]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

When you state old, how old is it? Can you parse a link tot eh audio you're hearing? I'd lean on the PSU having issues when it's taxed hence the whine you're hearing, assuming the source of the sound is indeed the PSU's innards. You might want to look into a replacement PSU.

Out of curiosity, did you add any hardware beyond it's factory specs?

It is a system from 2003-2004 so pretty old, so almost 20 years at this point

I have upgraded the cpu from a celeron 2.4ghz to a pentium 4 2.66ghz, and an extra gigabyte of ram was added before my ownership too

I'll see if I can pick up the audio of the noise it makes on my phone camera, I'll reply with the video shortly, just need to set the system up 😁

 

[himynameis21223]

I have recorded the sound it makes, might have to turn the volume up as it's a bit quiet but it's the best I could really capture
Imgur video link

 

[Satan-IR]

I can't really make out the sound and I think some of the audio heard in that video is the fan maybe?

Are you sure all that sound just comes from the PSU? What is that ta-da-da-da rattling kind of sound around 6-7 seconds in the video? Is that from the PSU?!

With a PSU that old I too would say replace it with a good quality one as it may fail and as it might be lacking proper protections (didn't look it up) if it does it might take other components with it, the motherboard, HDDs etc.

 

[himynameis21223]

I can't really make out the sound and I think some of the audio heard in that video is the fan maybe?

Are you sure all that sound just comes from the PSU? What is that ta-da-da-da rattling kind of sound around 6-7 seconds in the video? Is that from the PSU?!

With a PSU that old I too would say replace it with a good quality one as it may fail and as it might be lacking proper protections (didn't look it up) if it does it might take other components with it, the motherboard, HDDs etc.

The sound I think your referring to is the floppy drive, it doesn't make any violent rattling sounds and only makes a sometimes quiet sometimes loud noise similar to the buzzing on a fluorescent light, I've decided I'll replace it anyway over these couple of days but it's hard to find a suitable replacement, I would have used an antec thing I have but the mount is upside-down in the chassis and so any 120mm fan model psu would be choked, I'd need a unit that has a rear fan which exhausts hair right out of the unit like the original model it has, and I can't find a new one like that anymore

 

[DSzymborski]

The sound I think your referring to is the floppy drive, it doesn't make any violent rattling sounds and only makes a sometimes quiet sometimes loud noise similar to the buzzing on a fluorescent light, I've decided I'll replace it anyway over these couple of days but it's hard to find a suitable replacement, I would have used an antec thing I have but the mount is upside-down in the chassis and so any 120mm fan model psu would be choked, I'd need a unit that has a rear fan which exhausts hair right out of the unit like the original model it has, and I can't find a new one like that anymore

Pretty much every single PSU exhausts out the rear. When you see a fan on a PSU, that's the intake not the exhaust.

Also, nothing being upside down is a problem either. You simply flip the PSU over.

In any case, I'm not sure it's a good idea to buy a new PSU for this PC even if you need one. The PSU is worth more than the PC itself; you can get a refurbished Ivy Lake-era business PC that's a decade newer for like $120.

 

[DSzymborski]

Hmm, it looks like that old PC uses a rather oddly shaped PSU, so there's a problem, just not the one you described. It also looks like it might be proprietary; does it use a 20+4 motherboard connector and a four or eight-pin connector for the CPU?

It being proprietary for a 20-year-old PC creates an additional problem. If it is, then I'm even more sure that there's little point in replacing the PSU at this point.

 

[Satan-IR]

The sound I think your referring to is the floppy drive, it doesn't make any violent rattling sounds and only makes a sometimes quiet sometimes loud noise similar to the buzzing on a fluorescent light, I've decided I'll replace it anyway over these couple of days but it's hard to find a suitable replacement, I would have used an antec thing I have but the mount is upside-down in the chassis and so any 120mm fan model psu would be choked, I'd need a unit that has a rear fan which exhausts hair right out of the unit like the original model it has, and I can't find a new one like that anymore

The sound I think your referring to is the floppy drive

I was quite oblivious to the fact that a 20-years old PC would have a floppy drive!

As DSzymborski said above. It might be a proprietary PSU with it's own connectors/headers. I tried to spot how the PSU conencts to the motherboard in your diveo but I didn't see anything.

I also told you to buy a PSU because I felt you want to keep the PC going. Again as said I too agree that it is not really worth the hassle and the expenditure.

 

[DSzymborski]

Yeah, it's easy to forget about those floppy drives now!

My sister was just too young to remember the actually FLOPPY disks and it was a pain explaining to her why the 3.5" floppy disks were not the least bit floppy.

I still technically have a floppy drive still in service. The Pentium 4 rig stores the files for the whole house stereo system.