PSU squealing while pc is in idle mode.

[Sylthrim]

As soon as my pc goes to sleep, the PSU would start to squeal. As soon as I turn it on, the squealing stops. I only notice the squeal in idle. Under heavy load i.e. gaming- no squeal.
Is it normal?
Do I have to replace my PSU? How do I know which is the right one for me?

 

[Luminary]

The PSU might not have support for some of the low-power states. Not unheard of...though squealing isn't ever a good sign...

What are the specific specs for your PSU, CPU, and motherboard?

 

[sancho_mic]

Probably the squealing is from one or more capacitors which are about to fail.

some very good info here, what is causing and how to detect:

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/capacitor-squeal-coil-whine-explained-a-63.html

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the possibility of coil whine yet. It's a problem that produces a high pitched whine or sound that can come and go. It happens because certain electrical components, typically the chokes in power delivery circuits, tend to resonate at just the right frequency that you end up hearing it, but only under certain power draw conditions. That's why it comes and goes. Since power draw for various items in a computer is not constant, coil whine can tend to be intermittent.

I'm not saying that you are experiencing coil whine, but if you are, the solution is to replace the part with one that doesn't suffer from coil whine. There really aren't any fool proof remedies that can cure this, other than getting a circuit design or components in your circuit that doesn't produce the noise.