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Question

Resonating noise in my case

Sep 11, 2018 10:30AM PDT

There is something resonating in my case which sounds like a fan for one day now. I installed a new case fan 2 days ago so I figured it was that fan, but it wasn't. I concluded that the following pieces are not the culprit:
Front or back case fan
Fan on GPU
Fan on CPU
The motherboard is also not loose or anything, so it can't be that.

The video below is recorded on a phone so the sound itself is way softer than it is in real life. Despite that, it still shows off this noise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODpMn0052Bw

The only fan I can think of is the fan in the power supply, but as far as I know, it is not smart or even possible to turn that fan off. Testing it without the power supply is also a bit difficult, of course.

If anyone has any idea's on what this could be (besides the power supply) please let me know. It is driving me absolutely crazy!

Post was last edited on September 11, 2018 10:30 AM PDT

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
Go old school to find it.
Sep 11, 2018 10:49AM PDT

The old method is to stop a fan for a short period to find which one it is. This old school method seems to be forgotten yet I still use it.

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Already tried
Sep 11, 2018 10:58AM PDT

I unplugged all the fans one by one and I wasn't able to find the bad fan. Only one I can't reach is the fan of the power supply.

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Old school popsicle stick.
Sep 11, 2018 11:00AM PDT

We use a wood stick (non-conductive) to temporarily stop a suspect fan.

There are some techs that can't replace that fan. I've replaced dozens over the years. Seems a shame to toss a good PSU over a few dollar fan.

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No results
Sep 21, 2018 12:38PM PDT

I have not found out what the issue is...

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Clarification Request
Are there any hard disk drives?
Sep 11, 2018 11:08AM PDT

You may have to unplug those as well.

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It is not the HDD
Sep 21, 2018 12:38PM PDT

As the title said, it is not the HDD. This remains a mistery.

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I've had clients tell me that
Sep 21, 2018 12:45PM PDT

Then we unplug it and it stops. If this test is done, then you start unplugging any item that spins until you find it. Some owners can't do this so we do it for them in the shop.

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Answer
It is the top of the power supply resonating
Sep 21, 2018 4:34PM PDT

I found what caused this noise. The top of the power supply was a bit loose (compared to what it should be at least) which caused the power supply to resonate a bit to the spin of the fan. I pushed down on the top and the noise vanished.