Strange Noise & CPU Problem

[ragtop]

This is really a strange one......

When I cold boot my kid's computer it gives a high pitched squeal (kind of like fingernails on a blackboard). It also gives the voice message "the processor might be damaged or not installed properly" (this is a Leadtek SIS 735 based board with a voice chip instead of BIOS beeps)

After about 10 seconds the noise fades away and the system will POST and boot normally. The system seems to run fine although its not 100% stable in gaming applications (never has been completely stable from day 1)

I disconnected and verified that the noise is not coming from any of the fans or drives. It also does not seem to be coming from inside the power supply. The noise actually seems to be coming from the MB or processor area, although its hard to pinpoint it with the large HSF in the way.

Anyone seen this before, or have any ideas or suggestions??

[ragtop]

Anybody

[DallasDon]

MY best guees would be the bearings on the processor fan are going bad. However, it's catch 22 to test it. If the fan is not detected upon boot, it should not boot, and the processor can burn out quickly without that fan.

Might try jumpering the fan to a known power souce without booting up, or replacing the fan just for grins ain't a bad idea, anyway.

[Brangwen]

RagTop: I opine DallasDon has a good suggestion ...

If not the problem, however, perhaps the culprit is the "voice message" system itself. Interesting: I've never heard of that type of error message before. Is it an integrated component? I have to believe it is ... Any way to disable that feature to see if troublesome noise goes away as well?

Brangwen

[peterwilkes]

My Asus A7N8X mobo has voice messages which really helped me set up my computer correctly in a matter of mins. I have turned them off now in the BIOS.

If that does not do the trick, try removing the HS and FAN and remove the processor to ensure it's seated proporly.

If possible, have you checked the processor temps, if they are OK (below 45 deg C) try upping the core voltage. This may help keep the system stable.

[wju425]

Are you sure that the squeal's not coming from the pc speaker? I had a job from the pentium 1 era that squealed from the speaker and faded away in a few seconds. I never did found out why but the system functioned normally. Not knowing how much memory you have but increasing your graphic aperture size might solve your gaming problems.

\o/ Billy

[ragtop]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

The noise isn't coming from the system speaker.

It's also not coming from the cpu fan. (I bypassed the fan speed shutdown in BIOS and pulled the fan wire for just a few seconds - the noise was still there even with the fan not running)

This CPU (Tbird 1.33) has always run pretty hot. It ran high 50's under load with the retail HSF. After trying a few different aftermarket coolers and using AS3, the best I've been able to do is low 50's under load

I'll double check, but I don't think you can disable the voice feature in BIOS - you can only select what language it uses (you get to pick from english or chinese )

I guess I'll pull the HSF and inspect/reseat the CPU to see if that helps things.

[Kuasimodem]

The high pitched noise might be coming from the power supply. If it's borderline, it may have a bit of a fight to get up to voltage on startup, and the noise is probably coming from the switching section of the PSU.

This could also be why it's giving you the CPU fault warning on startup too.

[pinoy87]

If the noise fades away after 10 seconds everytime then i dont see why it would be something damaged. IMO its part of the vioce message.

[Brangwen]

Kuasimodem:

That is a very educated and well reasoned speculation. I like it.

And if the noise is a new phenom then the PSU is either defective or if not very old, or it is "going."

Good answer.

Brangwen

Note: The 1.33 Ghz was the most stable and coolest TBird I ever ran. I ran it consistently at 1.54 Ghz with no increase in vCore. I had two on IWill motherboards, but perhaps a better batch and I cooled with copper inserted triple-clasp HSF assemblies with excellent pink thermal pads.