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Motherboard making strange noises - help!

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Antioch

Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Location
Japan, California, Maryland
Hi guys. I have a new ASUS P7P55D-E Deluxe (well its actually my second, RMAed the first), a SeaSonic X-750 PSU, Intel i7-860, 4GB Corsair DomiNatrix RAM, and an nVidia GPU (a little 220GT just for debugging).

When I use the motherboard there is a constant, electric, high-pitched "beeping" coming from the area around the CPU where the power phase caps and MOSFETs are. It starts once I being to boot windows (at least I can't discern it while in BIOS) and remains even when idling on the desktop. I'm not sure if this is a bad sign, but the PSU also has a very low buzzing sound (this model's fan never turns on unless you start drawing a lot of power).

I tried plugging in an older, messed up 650W CPU (it's a bit busted and needs RMAing of it's own - it makes some odd noises of it's own). When I test with this PSU the beeping occurs in the PSU unit as well, oddly enough.

I had this same problem with the first motherboard (which was actually a P7P5DD Deluxe, not the P7P5DD-*E* version), although I didn't test it with the old busted up PSU.

Does anyone have any idea what is going on and how I can fix it? This electrical noise is driving me nuts and makes me so upset that I burned so much money on it.

Thanks in advance!
 
What your most likely hearing is the high pitched whine of the CPU PWM MOSFET's, the same applies to you PSU's as they use the same method power delivery. My mobo does this as well but at such a high frequency I barely notice it, somewhat akin to the sound of a CRT monitor or old TV being turned on. What's more noticeable however is my GPU as it does the same thing only very loudly, louder than all my case fans on high combined but it doesn't bother me either as it only whines when running certain games or crunching SETI but not at idle. It's not harmful but as you have noticed it can be somewhat irritating to some. There really isnt anything you can do about it besides a few tricks ive seen from other forum posts and such and sometimes like in my case it goes away after awhile until my rig sits idle for an extended time and brought back to a full load or just turned on from a cold state.
 
Google says your problem has plagued other boards from other manufacturers too. Look for the coils near those MOSFETs. Take a pencil eraser (or your finger if you feel brave) and put some slight pressure on the coil. Does the tone change? If so then you've found your problem.

You can try stabilizing the coil with some hot glue, or just RMA the board. If you're overclocked then back it off to stock and see if the whine disappears. Too bad that you're having problems, that's a nice board.
 
Yes, it's a very nice board - but coil whine kills it for me. I can't live with it at all. My 8800GTX made it and so does my laptop and it drives me insane.

The CPU is running at stock, so no luck there. Maybe dropping the memory voltage will do the trick?

I don't see any "coils" anywhere around the CPU - are we talking inductors or capacitors? Inductors are made from coiled wire but I thought all the silver cylinders on the board were capacitors....

Take a look at Newegg's zoomable top-view found here. There's only one thing I see that looks like an inductor on the entire board and that's directly "above" the RAM slots - the horizontally mounted, long silver cylinder.

The flat, ovular, silver sprinkled around the board look like crystals perhaps -- at least that's my best guess.

I still think the tall, vertical cylinders with the makings on top are capacitors.
 
So what are these "Coils" Im looking for, anyways? Tried poking at things, no luck. Can't poke the caps under the heatsync though (there's one row thats completely covered).
 
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Arg, I was thinking of something that looks like this:

http://www.electronicplus.com/images/products/386901.jpg

My board has one but yours apparently doesn't. Oh well, the consensus across other forums is that it doesn't hurt anything to have a whine, but some manufacturers acknowledge a defect and will allow an RMA.

You paid $250+ for that thing... if I were in your shoes I'd RMA it. If the 3rd one also has a problem, I'd refund or return and exchange for a different model.
 
The chokes are still there theyre just in a different form factor. They're the little black boxes lining the heatsink in between the caps and the heatsinks. You could try to RMA but most likely its going to do the same thing due to the design of that board and the components used to manufacture it. Sometimes you get lucky and get one of a bunch that doesn't make any noise but I would have to say the only permanent fix would be a different model/manufacturer.
 
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Trouble is NewEgg doesn't offer refunds on this series of boards, only replacements. I'm thinking they may let me get a refund after I RMA it enough times, though. Pretty upset. Had potential to be a great board. First ASUS product that I've owned that sucked.
 
Wow! The first thing I would have thought would be that it's the fans. I didn't know that the actual components (AKA no moving parts) would whine though??

Thank god I am older and my ability to hear the "high pitch" sounds is seriously lacking :)
 
Found this thread duing some google searches of my own for this issue. I picked up an ASUS p7p55d-e pro board a few weeks ago and put a system together with it this weekend... and it's doing the same thing yours is doing. I've been thinking about RMA'ing it too.
 
My xfx 680i used to do this. When I had my ol Q66 overclocked and fired up prime it sounded like a friggin cicada. It's the chokes, coils, inductors, whatever you want to call them. Doubt that you need and RMA, or that it would cure your problem. Likely only choosing a different model would do that.
 
I think you have extremely good hearing like me. I can hear my PSU and Mobo screech when they're under load, and to a lesser extent when idle. Try to OC or underclock the CPU a bit and see if you can get it to go away. Just play with power draw till it stops, or if you can find the coil, put some hot glue on it to keep it still.
 
Well, I RMA'ed the old board and got a new one. The new one has the same problem. I wonder if this board is simply not for those of us with keen hearing?

Antioch, what did you end up doing with yours?
 
Well, I talked to ASUS tech support this morning, and the tech recommended that I just return the board and go with a different manufacturer. Heh.
 
i have the same prob too with my board, it seems that the noise is getting louder the higher i increase vcore...
its like a leaking gas or someone farting lol
i probably wouldn't hear it, but with my type of case lid,it sucks!!
i have not tried poking any mofsets, but in case it goes away when i do, are you guys sure using a hot glue gun on it won't screw it up?
 
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