PSU Grinding Noise?

[orionnt]

Recently my PC has started making a loud grinding noise when i turn it on. At first i suspected my HDD, but i only hear when i turn the PC on, and when i took the case off, booted up the PC and listend, the sound was coming fromt he PSU.

I think, but im not sure, that it may be because the PSU isnt strong enough for the system, and its straining the power supply. I have an Aspire X-Dreamer II Case and the 350w PSU that came with it.

My System Specs are:
Athlon XP 2600+
GeForce FX5600 256mb
1gb Kingston PC-2100 RAM
DVD Burner
CD-Rom
Floppy
40 & 160gb WD Caviar Hard Drives
6 80mm Csae Fans
12" CCFL
Zalman 6 Channel Fan Controller
Modem
Ethernet Card


Any Ideas?

[johan851]

What brand is that PSU?

I can't think of anything that has a grinding noise and no moving parts, so I'm going to guess that it's the PSU fan. Can you see if the fan is hitting something as it spins?

[orionnt]

its an Aspire PSU, it came with the case. I can see the fan, and best i can tell nothing is hitting it. Is it possible that the PSU is going bad and the grinding noise is the electrical components on the board just making noise?

[SavageBasher]

It might be the fan's bearings. Might wanna take the psu apart (first discharge it by unplugging the cord and hitting the power button on the computer) and check if it is the fan or not.

[orionnt]

I checked the Fan and its bearings, couldnt find anything wrong with um. Sometimes when i turn the compute ron, it will restart during the boot up process, this is becoming more frequent and so is the grinding noise when i turn on the PC. so i tihnk the PSU isgoing to die on me soon. Guess i should invest in a new one, anybody got an idea for what size i should get?

[SavageBasher]

350 will get you by, but I'd look at a 400 or higher. I like Fortron and Antec, as well as Sparkle.

[FLG]

Definitely invest in another psu. The psu that comes with the case is made by L&C which is manufactured by DEER. They make horrible psu's, most will fail prematurely and take something with it (mobo,hdd,cdrom, or worse everything connected to it). And if memory serves correctly the 12v rail is at a measly 12a!!

350w will do fine, if you plan on upgrading look for something in the 400w range so you have some head room. Enermax make one of the best, check out there noisetaker line of psu's. Some of the other ones are Antec, Fortron source, Thermaltake, Enlight..just to name a few.

[sJetski]

Originally posted by FLG
Definitely invest in another psu. The psu that comes with the case is made by L&C which is manufactured by DEER. They make horrible psu's, most will fail prematurely and take something with it (mobo,hdd,cdrom, or worse everything connected to it). And if memory serves correctly the 12v rail is at a measly 12a!!

350w will do fine, if you plan on upgrading look for something in the 400w range so you have some head room. Enermax make one of the best, check out there noisetaker line of psu's. Some of the other ones are Antec, Fortron source, Thermaltake, Enlight..just to name a few. Yes and it is garbage. I'm almost positive it took out a friends new hard drive recently (it couldn't even boot his rig for that matter). The thing barely has vents to capture case air and the 350w label is very misleading since a quality 250w unit puts out just as much power.

Verdict: get rid of it asap !

[orionnt]

Just ordered a new Antec 400w True Power PSU from NewEgg.. It should be here wendesday :)

Not a Bad Deal Either... 79.99 at Circuit City/Best Buy or 53 on NewEgg after shipping... Hmmm... Wonder wher eim gonna get it from?!