PC Making Purring Noise!

[whitfa]

Hi,

I wasn't sure where to post this one, so apologies if its in the wrong place.

The status of my pc is that when I switch it on, nothing happens apart from what I can only describe as a kind 'purring' noise coming from the analogue (extenally powered) speakers! No boot-up, no lights etc. Power cord is fine. 8O

Prior to this I had been having BSOD STOP error messages, which had been forcing me to reboot. Thinking I had a problem with one of the two hard drives in my box, I ran the Maxtor diagnostic utility (PowerMax) on them, but no probs found.

I removed the drive I keep my 'docs' on and put it in an external HD enclosure, leaving my 'system' drive in the box. The system boots up fine a few times, and now no BSOD after the startup process as it had done previously. Now I try and plug in (USB) my HD enclosure, get loads of "Hardware / USB Device not working properly" messages from the system tray, and then the pc just dies and won't switch on again! All it makes it this 'purring noise' when the power cord is in.

I think I've brought this on myself, since I realised that I didn't set my 'docs' drive to master before I fit it into the enclosure, but didn't think for a minute that it would completely nuke my sytem.

So, do you think I've fried my Mobo, PSU, or both?

Any help appreciated.


XP Home,
Gigabyte K8NS Pro (Sempron 3000+)
Maxtor 120gb & 78gb

 

[whitfa]

Hi,

I ran Memtest86 recently and didn't report any problems.

Off the top of my head the specs are:

XP Home,
Gigabyte K8NS Pro Motherboard (Sempron 3000+)
300W PSU (Suntek I think)
Maxtor 120gb & 78gb
Nvidia FX5200

I've just tried the PSU calculator on your first link mpilchfamily and it suggested a 260W supply.

 

[tamalero]

Hi,

I ran Memtest86 recently and didn't report any problems.

Off the top of my head the specs are:

XP Home,
Gigabyte K8NS Pro Motherboard (Sempron 3000+)
300W PSU (Suntek I think)
Maxtor 120gb & 78gb
Nvidia FX5200

I've just tried the PSU calculator on your first link mpilchfamily and it suggested a 260W supply.

yeah but you need to understand that no powersupply as 100% efficiency, cheap ones dont even go to 60%
so let's say you have a 300Watt supply with 50% efficiency, its only giving around 150 watts!! and you need 260!!

 

[tamalero]

Sorry double post ( btw, when I read purring noise made me wonder if you had a cat stuck in there )

 

[whitfa]

Sorry double post ( btw, when I read purring noise made me wonder if you had a cat stuck in there )

Yeah, I did wonder that myself - freaked me out a little.


So is the consensus that it's likely that my PSU has blown then? Prior to the problem mentioned above, my CPU fan kept slowing down and stopping (with or without smart fan BIOS option), crashing my system (I've been having a right old time of it!). I have had to bodge this by connecting the CPU fan to the sysfan header, which seems to have worked ok.

Could it be that my system has been underpowered and that caused the CPU fan/ speed sensor to go nuts?

I was looking at the 400W version of the followin PSU, what do you reckon?
http://www.compucase-hec.co.uk/mainpages/product_detail.asp?pid=63

 

[tamalero]

Sorry double post ( btw, when I read purring noise made me wonder if you had a cat stuck in there )

Yeah, I did wonder that myself - freaked me out a little.


So is the consensus that it's likely that my PSU has blown then? Prior to the problem mentioned above, my CPU fan kept slowing down and stopping (with or without smart fan BIOS option), crashing my system (I've been having a right old time of it!). I have had to bodge this by connecting the CPU fan to the sysfan header, which seems to have worked ok.

Could it be that my system has been underpowered and that caused the CPU fan/ speed sensor to go nuts?

I was looking at the 400W version of the followin PSU, what do you reckon?
http://www.compucase-hec.co.uk/mainpages/product_detail.asp?pid=63

try to check the mphilfamily's signature url, it gives you the best information regarding powre supplies :>
always remember, good brand powersupply with low wattage >>>>(as in way better) >>> than genericpsubrand with huge wattage.