Dull Beeping Sound

[Thermoelectric]

Hi, I am a first time PC builder. I have an Intel D975XBX Motherboard
with a D950 3.4 MHz. 2 GB DDR, 160 GB HD X 2, BFG Tech GeForce 7600 GS
OC, running Windows XP Professional.

The system POSTs just fine, but there is an annoying beep periodically
from case (not the speakers). It's a dull beep, kind of like when a
smoke alarm is low on batteries. From reading the other postings, it
looks like it could be the motherboard/CPU temp, the video card, or
some unknown setting. The CPU tempeature on my Intel Desktop Monitor
program is around 50 C, but when I check in the BIOS it says more like
80 C. The 80 C would trip the alarm. It looks like when leave the
BIOS and let the OS load up, the processing temperature drops (I see it
is at around 60 C and dropping still). All the fans are working fine
and from what I can tell, the case is pretty cool (much cooler than my
old PC) The Video Card was acting up (with a popup coming up for the
SLI connection), but I updated the drivers and that went away. I guess
I am unsure what to do to check whether the video card is causing a
problem or if the CPU is heating a lot more than the Desktop Monitor is
saying.

Thanks for any help/advice.

M

 

[apyankeefan]

If your CPU is running at 80 while in the BIOS, I would open up your
case, and take off your heatsink, wipe clean the thermal paste on the
CPU and the heatsink, and reapply some thermal paste. Make sure that
your heatsink and CPU are making proper contact for heat disapation! If
you're using a stock cooler, I found in my Pentium D, that it ran
extremely hot with the stock, so I upgraded to an arctic freezer pro,
and my temperature dropped about 12C to 15C, compared to the stock
cooler. If your interested here's the link.
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=79&disc=

That cooler works great, I love it
Hope this Helps
Best Reguards
Allen Stalker

 

[Thermoelectric]

Thanks Allen. I did as you said and the temperature did decrease, but
it still beeps. I will get the cooler as you suggest. Hopefully, that
will address the problem. Interestingly, listening more closely to the
beeps it sounds like it's coming from the hard drive area. I am not
sure. If I find out what it is, I'll post it.

M

 

[apyankeefan]

Well, that's good, and you will like that cooler a lot! Here's a link
to the place where I bought mine.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=2248807&sku=A250-1149
It's one of the only places that has them in stock now, and comes with
their top of the line thermal paste.

By the way, it's normal for some computers to beep faintly as they post
up. I'm not sure if thats it, but something to check.

Let me Know
Allen Stalker

 

[Thermoelectric]

Hi Allen,

So, I took a close look/listen at everything and did some more
searching. It looks like the remaining beeping is most definitely
coming from one of the hard drives(the faint beep from the motherboard
I think was related to the CPU overheating and that is pretty much
gone). I didn't go through every permutation, but if I disconnect one
of the hard drives or place the SATA connector in a different port, the
beeping goes away almost entirely. I wrote Seagate and they said that
that the beep would indicate a lack of power. I also read that some
people got the beeping to go away by changing the cables or placing
them better in the case (apparently shielding is a problem with some
cables). All the diagnostics on the hard drives come up clean, so
there is no way to know what the problem is. I am going to disconnect
my 3 1/2 drive, which I was going to do anyway, and see what happens.
I thought a 450 W power supply would be OK for a system like mine (2
hard drives, CPU, 1 video card, 1 DVD). Is there anyway to gauge what
would be enough?

It's interesting working through these issues that's for sure.

M

 

[apyankeefan]

Eh, well 450 watts is cutting it close for a CPU, a decent graphics
card, 2hard drives a DVD drive, and powering the mobo. Try 500 to 600,
I'm using a 500 for a Intel Pentium D, 2DVD Drives, the mobo, a hard
drive, and plenty of cooling fans. Try tigerdirect for the PSU, that
could be the cause. I hope i've helped you, and If you have any more
questions, E-mail me, or post here!

Allen Stalker

PS, are you using the SATA power connector to connect power to the hard
drives? Because that could also be the problem. Here is the PSU that I
use
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1632010&CatId=1079
Let me know what happens

 

[Mxsmanic]

The CPU tempeature on my Intel Desktop Monitor
program is around 50 C, but when I check in the BIOS it says more like
80 C. The 80 C would trip the alarm. It looks like when leave the
BIOS and let the OS load up, the processing temperature drops (I see it
is at around 60 C and dropping still).

Many BIOS seem to spin the processor instead of halting it while
waiting for input, so the processor heats up. It should not overheat,
however.

All the fans are working fine
and from what I can tell, the case is pretty cool (much cooler than my
old PC) The Video Card was acting up (with a popup coming up for the
SLI connection), but I updated the drivers and that went away. I guess
I am unsure what to do to check whether the video card is causing a
problem or if the CPU is heating a lot more than the Desktop Monitor is
saying.

Is the connection between the heat sink and the CPU nice and tight,
with proper application of thermal grease? Your system unit may not
be cooling the CPU adequately when it is under load, and if the CPU
fan is running and the case is not overheated and you are using stock
heat sink and fan or better, that would imply improper mounting of the
heat sink on the CPU (no thermal grease, or some other mistake that
reduces thermal conductivity).

 

[Mxsmanic]

So, I took a close look/listen at everything and did some more
searching. It looks like the remaining beeping is most definitely
coming from one of the hard drives(the faint beep from the motherboard
I think was related to the CPU overheating and that is pretty much
gone). I didn't go through every permutation, but if I disconnect one
of the hard drives or place the SATA connector in a different port, the
beeping goes away almost entirely. I wrote Seagate and they said that
that the beep would indicate a lack of power. I also read that some
people got the beeping to go away by changing the cables or placing
them better in the case (apparently shielding is a problem with some
cables). All the diagnostics on the hard drives come up clean, so
there is no way to know what the problem is. I am going to disconnect
my 3 1/2 drive, which I was going to do anyway, and see what happens.
I thought a 450 W power supply would be OK for a system like mine (2
hard drives, CPU, 1 video card, 1 DVD). Is there anyway to gauge what
would be enough?

450 W is modest for the configuration you seem to have, and if Seagate
says that the disk has a power alarm, you definitely need to look at
the PSU. If the PSU is inadequate, it may overheat and fail, or the
inadequate power may damage other components (disk drives, in
particular, don't like power fluctuations).

It's interesting working through these issues that's for sure.

You must not be using your PC for anything important. On a
production, mission-critical desktop or server, stuff like this is a
pain in the rear.

 

[Thermoelectric]

Thanks at the moment, I am just getting this new system in place, so
nothing too important going on yet. I will do something soon enough
though, so I'd like to get these issues out of the way. Thanks for
your help. It looks like it's worth upgrading the power supply to
ensure there is no problem.

 

[Mxsmanic]

Thanks at the moment, I am just getting this new system in place, so
nothing too important going on yet. I will do something soon enough
though, so I'd like to get these issues out of the way. Thanks for
your help. It looks like it's worth upgrading the power supply to
ensure there is no problem.

Good power supplies are not expensive.

Indeed, frankly, there aren't too many PC components that are really
expensive these days. Perhaps processors and video cards, or maybe
the occasional SCSI disk drive, but most stuff is very affordable--so
why not go with high quality where possible?

I found that the difference between a small PSU and a large one was
pretty tiny, so I just got a big one. Same for fans: ball-bearing
fans are like 2 dollars more than sleeve-bearing fans, so why not get
ball-bearing fans?

 

[Thermoelectric]

I thought I would provide an update on this problem. So, I was able
to isolate that the sound was most definitely coming from one of my
Seagate hard drives. Although the original information I got from
Seagate said it was most likely a power problem (I guess they assumed
the sound was coming from the motherboard), one of the techs finally
told me that the drive does not have the capability to provide beep
alarms. When I listened closely to the drive, it was more like a
high-pitched chirp that imitates a beep, not a traditional beep from
the motherboard or case. Anyway, I saw from other postings that people
would say that the hard drive was beeping, but others would say that is
not possible. Well, I think the issue is that the drive makes a noise
that sounds a lot like a beep (a dull one that is cut a little short),
but it really should not be making any sounds. I am sending back that
drive for replacement. Hopefully, that will solve the problem.

Hopefully, this will help someone else who has a similar issue at some
point.

 

[Sjouke Burry]

I thought I would provide an update on this problem. So, I was able
to isolate that the sound was most definitely coming from one of my
Seagate hard drives. Although the original information I got from
Seagate said it was most likely a power problem (I guess they assumed
the sound was coming from the motherboard), one of the techs finally
told me that the drive does not have the capability to provide beep
alarms. When I listened closely to the drive, it was more like a
high-pitched chirp that imitates a beep, not a traditional beep from
the motherboard or case

I have had a number of drives in the past making
a very iritating screech.
On those it was caused by a pickoff spring to remove
static buildup on the axis of the rotating disk.
that spring started to vibrate.
Distorting and/or changing the spring pressure
made it go away for a time.