Electric buzzing/humming coming from the motherboard area - Help needed

[necessary_chemical]

Haha right, it has EU plug

There is one weird thing that I just noticed. I powered off the PC and also flicked the PSU switch to OFF so that it doesn't (or shouldn't get any power). There IS STILL that buzz happening. What the hell is going on here?! Definitely a bit fainter than "normal" but ..... should there even be a buzz coming from the PC given that it has no power going to it? Is it like some residual electricity?

 

[nomdeplume]

Hahah yeah, I stumbled across his post while googling my issue. For sure don't wanna be in his shoes

Haha right, it has EU plug

There is one weird thing that I just noticed. I powered off the PC and also flicked the PSU switch to OFF so that it doesn't (or shouldn't get any power). There IS STILL that buzz happening. What the hell is going on here?! Definitely a bit fainter than "normal" but ..... should there even be a buzz coming from the PC given that it has no power going to it? Is it like some residual electricity?

Run if it starts playing the Ghostbusters opening theme.

 

[Bill_Bright]

"IF" there is no path to Earth ground, it could take a few extra seconds for the stored potentials in some larger capacitors to decay completely. But once discharged, any noise should end, and most importantly, not return until power is applied again.

 

[necessary_chemical]

Oh well at least in this case it's the capacitors that would cause this ... now the question is if it's the ones on the mobo, the GPU or the PSU. Oh boy ...

And yeah, I can confirm that there is no sound anymore. It took like 1hr for it to completely die down

 

[Bill_Bright]

now the question is if it's the ones on the mobo, the GPU or the PSU.

Which typically can easily be determined with a paper towel tube - assuming good hearing in a quiet room.

 

[necessary_chemical]

Bill, doing that on separate occasions and just to make sure I get it right, the noise seems to be coming from the PSU.

 

[nomdeplume]

When dealing with electric appliances displaying unwanted behaviors it can be helpful to recognize what happened beforehand is often more important than what is currently. Residuals from interference might persist.

Internet advice has many pitfalls. A fair amount of real world experience dealing with amateurs improving upon what might not have been very professional installations of home wiring certainly helps in eliminating variables through use of something like an outlet tester. Having a general sense of time period a segment of work was carried out in takes on greater importance if the structure is in Europe and a few hundred years old, for instance.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Bill, doing that on separate occasions and just to make sure I get it right, the noise seems to be coming from the PSU.

Well, I am still having a hard time accepting that when the PSU is unplugged. For a few seconds or even a few minutes, maybe - but not off and on for hours. I would have to have that PSU on my bench to see for myself.

I am NOT accusing you of intentionally misleading us. It just goes against everything I have experienced as an electronics technician for 50 years.

If me, at this point, I would take everything out of the case, assemble the computer on a large wooden surface (my bench) like a unfinished cutting/bread board, then boot it up and see what happens. The breadboard eliminates the case, and standoffs, and it allows you to spread the components out to make isolating noises much easier.

"Seems" to be coming from the PSU is not good enough. You need to be certain if you want to avoid spending good money (or dealing with the hassle of RMA returns) on something you don't need to replace.

 

[necessary_chemical]

It's of course none of my intent to mislead in any way, I'm the first one who wants to get to the bottom of this and get rid of this annoying sound once and for all. I think i will give that a try (taking it out of the case and booting it up outside just to see where it comes from more clearly).

Got the culprit, @Bill_Bright . What I did was instead of disassembling EVERYTHING I just took the PSU out of the case (at a distance at which I could tell if it's coming from it or the PC). So I powered it on and lo and behold, the sound was coming from the PSU. Why it was so hard to pinpoint when it was in the case it's because the sound comes from the part of the PSU that was facing the case (upwards), and to which I don't have easy access to while the PSU is in the case cause of the NZXT case.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Yeah, sounds tend to bounce around and reverberate in cavernous cases making the source of sounds sometimes hard to pinpoint. I don't like recommending folks just let the PSU hang out the case (which it sound like you did) simply because accidents can happen. But if careful, it works so glad it did with you without incident.

Good luck with your new PSU and keep us posted.

 

[necessary_chemical]

Will do, I have a HX1000i coming in tomorrow already and can't wait to hook it up and see how it goes. Fingers crossed this one's going to be silent Thanks for all the help and the guidance so far Bill (and the others who suggested a lot of stuff to check)! Really appreciate it

 

[xrobwx71]

At the very least, you will eliminate that from the equation - a good thing.

I bought one per @Bill_Bright 's suggestion and have used it a few times at home and work. It is a great tool to have. Takes away the guesswork.

 

[necessary_chemical]

Ok so I got the HX1000i today, loaded it up, and it does the same thing. I recorded another video: https://youtube.com/shorts/xXllIUfZWTk (this one also does it when powered off, much like the first one - and it does it more frequently when computer is off, flick on PSU set to ON). Honestly I don't know what else to do or try now. It's really disheartening, I was really hoping that a new PSU would solve it but to have the sound play exactly in the same way, exactly from the same part of the PSU? I wouldn't have believed it. I don't know if this is a brand thing or not but both of the PSUs that I tried are Corsair. Btw, the outlet checker arrives Saturday

 

[Bill_Bright]

Takes away the guesswork.

And potential for possible serious/deadly scenarios. I had an elderly neighbor who hired a [supposedly] licensed electrician to run power out to their detached garage. I loaned him my checker and it turned out the outlets were wired with reverse polarity and open ground!

I told him to call the city "Code Enforcement" inspector and ask how this passed inspection? The city said, "What inspection?" "We have no permit application or knowledge of that work!"

Turns out the name of the company and the electrician on the work order receipt were fake. The person was not licensed. Or even qualified. The insistence he be paid in cash should have been a clue.

Had the garage floor got wet (as garage floors often do) and my neighbor grabbed hold of a faulty power tool, for example, he could be dead.

Ok so I got the HX1000i today, loaded it up, and it does the same thing.

I don't hear it in your new video.

You are back to my previous suggestion. Take EVERYTHING out of the case and assemble it on a bread board. This will let you easily eliminate the case (and case fans) and should allow you to pinpoint the source of any offending noise.

 

[necessary_chemical]

Not sure what YouTube did to the video, can you try this link? I can clearly hear the noise: https://streamable.com/7td8es

 

[Bill_Bright]

There is too much ambient noise in the video and my room for me to discern any abnormal noises coming from the PSU (or anywhere else in the computer).

Regardless since it is virtually impossible for two different power supplies to make the exact same noise, my advice remains the same. Take everything out of the box.

 

[necessary_chemical]

Alright so I took it out of the case, connected first the RMx 850W PSU -> Does the sound. I've then switched it to the HX1000i -> Does the sound. I've done two separate videos so you can see they are both exactly the same sounds: 850W: https://streamable.com/55c0xf 1000W: https://streamable.com/ux19rs

 

[LabRat 891]

Alright so I took it out of the case, connected first the RMx 850W PSU -> Does the sound. I've then switched it to the HX1000i -> Does the sound. I've done two separate videos so you can see they are both exactly the same sounds: 850W: https://streamable.com/55c0xf 1000W: https://streamable.com/ux19rs

Ow. IIRC (by the pain) that's like 14 or 17khz? (my dad and I both are highly sensitive to a particular high frequency. It's been awhile since I purposely found it)

I feel dumb, but how do I DL your videos on streamable?
I want to yank the audio out and load it into Audacity to try and figure out what freq. it is.

 

[necessary_chemical]

I don't know honestly, I uploaded them there cause I had uploaded a different one to YouTube couple of hours ago and it kind of muted the sound (or dampened it heavily). I can upload them to a download link of sorts and post it here? At this point I'd appreciate any help I can get to solve this issue. Here you go @LabRat 891 :https://wetransfer.com/downloads/2cd8e9dd76052ee805ef7d12d796e6ca20230406180955/e3a18d657985f042489e3c53017fae9520230406181007/339af5

 

[LabRat 891]

I don't know honestly, I uploaded them there cause I had uploaded a different one to YouTube couple of hours ago and it kind of muted the sound (or dampened it heavily). I can upload them to a download link of sorts and post it here? At this point I'd appreciate any help I can get to solve this issue. Here you go @LabRat 891 :https://wetransfer.com/downloads/2cd8e9dd76052ee805ef7d12d796e6ca20230406180955/e3a18d657985f042489e3c53017fae9520230406181007/339af5

DL'd.
Thank you. I'll take a look (errr... hear?).

 

[necessary_chemical]

For what it's worth, I've reseated the RAM, I've also reseated all the connections I had (Front Panel, HD Audio, USB, CPU fan and case fans - not to mention the CPU/MOBO ones which at this point I reseated multiple times). There is no rhyme and reason to the buzzing. It's random, I cannot trigger it in any way.

 

[LabRat 891]

I don't know honestly, I uploaded them there cause I had uploaded a different one to YouTube couple of hours ago and it kind of muted the sound (or dampened it heavily). I can upload them to a download link of sorts and post it here? At this point I'd appreciate any help I can get to solve this issue. Here you go @LabRat 891 :https://wetransfer.com/downloads/2cd8e9dd76052ee805ef7d12d796e6ca20230406180955/e3a18d657985f042489e3c53017fae9520230406181007/339af5

Okay, I have only 1 lead (At the moment), but lemme list out the (anomalous screeching) peaks:
IMG_4616 - 7475hz
IMG_4621 - 7465hz (Also, several lesser peaks, that appear to be at harmonics)
IMG_4623 - 7466hz (Again, seeing harmonics too)
IMG_4624 - 7465hz (Looks like there's harmonics here too, but they're 'rounded' or softer

My one lead so far, is that it COULD be from a local amateur radio astronomer.

SM 5 BSZ - The AFC for a quickly drifting signal.

Online Tone Generator - generate pure tones of any frequency

www.szynalski.com

Warning: That site makes HF tones WAYYYYYY louder than anything else I had going on my PC.
-I felt like the Martians from Mars Attacks! for a split second when I first tried out the 7475hz sine. (your recordings sound like 'sawtooth' to me, BTW)

In case anyone else wants to take a crack at this: I used VLC to convert your .MOVs to FLAC audio files, then used Audacity's Analyze - Plot Spectrum.

 

[necessary_chemical]

Wow, thanks for the analysis on the sounds. At least now it's confirmed I'm not just hearing things when I say that to my ears all of the sounds of all of the "Scenarios" sound the same.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Ow. IIRC (by the pain) that's like 14 or 17khz?

You may be able to hear 14KHz, but I highly doubt it. 14KHz is well beyond most people's hearing, not to mention, well beyond the capability of most speakers.

Yes, the normally stated frequency range for human hearing is 20Hz to 20KHz but that is under ideal conditions. It is also for young adults.

And so I am 99.9% sure not 17KHz - not unless you are about 18 years old, with perfect hearing, and it was recorded with audiophile quality microphone, went through zero compression, and you have [high end] audiophile quality sound reproduction equipment too.

So even if you have above average hearing, it is unlikely the recording or the reproduction of such high frequencies is happening without significant, if not total loss.

Listen to this and see (hear) how high a frequency you can detect and compare it to your noise:

When I listen to your latest recording I still don't know what I am hearing, if I hear anything at all.

I hear a few ticks and a less than 500Hz beep near the end. True, my hearing is nothing near what it used to be. But I have been involved in audio reproduction electronics longer than I've been into computers professionally. And I got into computers in 1975.

The video itself provides zero help at all because 99% of it seems to be focusing on the cooler. And besides, the video does not point to the source of the sound.

Let's not forget the original complaint said the noise continues to happen after the power is removed.

At any rate, we know it is not the old PSU. Best guess now is coil whine from the motherboard.

 

[necessary_chemical]

Yep, it's not 17kHz but in post #47, it seems that there is almost the same frequency coming through in all of the videos which is in the range of 7465 - 7475hz. I'm sorry if you can't see it in the video (the microphone was directed towards the PSU that's why it seemed like it was looking at the cooler). However when I moved the phone towards the cooler, the buzz grew fainter (because i was moving the mic away from the sound). In all cases, the sound is coming from the PSU, there is no doubt about it after all the tests I've done these days.

What I am really sad I can't do is follow one of your pieces of advice and take the PC to a friend's house and try it there. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to do that otherwise I would have done it immediately (and like that I could see if it's indeed caused by some external activity happening in my block of flats). But after the findings above about the frequency and how it can be caused by some external factors, I think I am beginning to believe it's the culprit and it kind of explains why it's happening regardless of any PC config, regardless of the box and why in a different room the sound is fainter. Not sure if it makes total sense or it's just me trying to find a solution to this before getting crazy )