weird noise coming from my tower when i scroll...

[Twigs]

when i scroll with my mouse, not the arrow keys, just the mouse, something in my tower makes a weird, faint grinding like noise(not really grinding but i cant think of how to discribe it)...it almost kind of sounds like my hard drive doing something...also, it only does it on certain websites. ign.com does it, gamefaqs.com does it, this forum doesnt, but the actual www.overclockers.com webpage does... can anyone help?

 

[RevelatorHarmon]

My best guess is that it is coming from the HDD, there is probably too much information on the screen for you V/C to handle, and it is using the virtual RAM from the HDD.

Do you hear a grinding sound any other time?

 

[cack01]

Got to be the HDD. Probably just some cached files loading. Does it happen on only old sites that you have visited before, or does it happen on new sites too?

Or it could also just be a real mouse physically trying to get the files.

 

[stui_nz]

Are you sure its not coming from your speakers? I had a computer that would pick up interference through the line in port when the mouse scrolled.

 

[DaveSauce]

well, there's your first mistake right there....going to ign.com....lol

Anyway, before you do anything drastic try unplugging your speakers. If they're cheap computer speakers, they aren't going to have very good shielding around the wires...I doubt even klipsch come with well-shielded wires...most places just toss in the cheapest wire they have, if they even give you wire, lol.

Anyway, computer speakers can pick up some strange signals. Since that's the easiest thing to rule out, I would try unplugging then first and see if that does anything (if you can, take the wires out form the speakers themselves, to ensure that no current is being induced).

Next thing to try would be to watch your HDD activity light while you're scrolling.....if it lights up and you hear the noise (and you've ruled out the speakers), then it has to be the HDD. The only things that can make strange noises are the drives and the speakers. If its not the speaker, it's one of your drives...in that case, it's 90% likely that its the HDD....optical drives make obvious noises, and floppies are pretty distinctive as well.

 

[ThePerfectCore]

I remember someone talking about how they OCed their system so much that scroll the mouse caused certain parts of the system to make strange noises.

I thought it was truly bizarre. I can't tell from your sig if you're OCed or not, are you?

 

[kaltag]

Warning: going into extreme depth here.

What you may be experiencing is that when you scroll the mouse you're drawing just a slightly larger amount of power from the PSU than moving the mouse around. This will slightly change the load on the PSU and my cause a VRM to put out some sort of RF interference that could be picked up by the speakers. Also this change in load could cause the fans in the PSU to spin a little bit faster if the fans are controlled by heat/load. If those fans are a bit out of balance they could make some noise. You could also get a "whine" from the VRMs or a number of other electrical components in the power supply.

Although the reasons above are less likely than the hard drive do not completely dismiss them. I'd say it's probably the hard drive first and foremost.

 

[Twigs]

well, I can tell you, its not the speakers, I have no speakers...Zalman theatre 5.1 headphones...it might be the thing with the video card, Im using a crappy geforce 2 mx200 at the minute... yes, I have my 2.8 modestly oced to 3.0 but im pretty sure it did it at stock also...its not really a problem, just weird, could possibly be signal something is wrong(probably not though). the hdd activity light does nothing when I scroll... anyway, Im getting a mx700 and logitech elite keyboard for xmas so changing the mouse could make a difference, and a R420 when it comes out could fix it if its a video card problem...oh well, just seeing if anybody has had this 'problem' before... I might shoot off an email to M$(I have a intellimouse explorer( or the hdd company...wd ...thanks for the responses

 

[UberBlue]

I've heard it too.

Through deductive reasoning, at least for me, it has to be power related.

The first time it did other than scrolling, I was doing an ATTO disk bench on my new RAM drive. made the same noise the entire duration of the test and every test after that.

The other time I get the noise Is when I'm resizing HUGE files in Photoshop. Photoshops scratch disk is, you guessed it, the RAM drive.

Also, during the last two examples, case lights dimmed and fans slowed down. Before you start raging on me about getting a new power supply, My PC Power and Cooling Turbo 550 is in the mail.

How scrolling in IE is a power intensive operation is beyond me, just remember, it's a quality Microsoft product.

It can't be the speakers, because I don't have any.

 

[Como]

okay, i tried to post this earlyer, it wouldnt let me (at school)

i had the same thing here. basically, the noise is the pc speaker inside beeping fast at a high speed. i disabeled "smooth scrolling" in IE (somewhere...) and reinstalled the mosue drivers. that was before i ended up doing a clean install, but it worked for a while! (i diddnt do the clean install b/c the mouse, you just have to periodically...this one needs it again!

 

[Diggrr]

I get it through my speakers too, not usually the one in the case, but my desktop ones.
I've taken to turning them off while online.

 

[zebkoolindc]

i used to get the same thing but mine was when i moved the mouse

i haven't noticed it lately

i think it came from the little internal speaker

its the elves inside my computer trying to drive me nuts

Can you be drivin nuts if you already are ???

 

[donny_paycheck]

I have this EXACT same quirk as we speak. I didn't notice it until I started running with an open case just recently though. Read what kaltag posted. I looked into it myself (as well as performing a few amateur experiments) and that's exactly what I came to decide upon.

It's not a problem. It might be interesting to get down there while somebody scrolls for you and try to isolate what part is emitting the noise. I've narrowed mine down to the graphics adapter itself (FX 5900 ultra).

 

[TR_B]

How scrolling in IE is a power intensive operation is beyond me, just remember, it's a quality Microsoft product.

Depending on the website the % of cpu usage is between 50 and 100 for me when I scroll with my mouse.

And it is beyond me as well it only seems to be with IE version 6.
I could be wrong on this one though, but I found out after I upgraded my IE (5.5) on Win98 to IE 6 and everytime I scrolled the mouse the CPU usage was 100% and Mediaplayer (or any other active program) would stop for the duration of the scrolling.

So, it could be power related ...

 

[Supchaka]

Well, it is most likely the PC speaker, and some people that dont have one connected, you can hear little clicks from the mobo instead. Other than what other people have mentioned, possibly a wiring issue in the mouse or who knows what, causing some conflict the machine doesnt like.

Ive seen it before, but on older serial mice, dont think Ive seen on PS/2 or USB. I had a USB mouse once that ****ed me off, in gaming if I was using mouselook and jumped while firing, I stopped firing... lol Was most irritating, remedied that situation by hooking it to the PS/2 adapter

 

[Como]

yeah, i thnk i remember it coming throguh the pc speakers as well, and cutting off my winamp. all i know is it does not do it anymore...i reinstalled hte mosue drivers and disabeled smooth scrolling...dunno what it is, though. this was almsot a year ago