Source of vibration

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mint
  • Start date Start date
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Mint

I am trying to find out the source of some vibration from my computer.

It usually eventually goes away but not b4 my blood pressure has
spiked. :-)

It's not coming from the hard drives.

Thanks,
Andy
 
I am trying to find out the source of some vibration from my computer.

It usually eventually goes away but not b4 my blood pressure has
spiked. :-)

It's not coming from the hard drives.

Thanks,
Andy
Click to expand...

Some possibilities other than HDD as these are usually quite well balanced.

Fans:

Computers typically have a number of these -
CPU,
Graphics Card,
Case (front, rear and/or top)

CD-ROM drive:

If a slightly unbalanced CD or DVD has been left in the drive, they
often vibrate until the system shuts it down because of lack of user access.

Is the vibration accompanied by the noise of devices such as fans
spinning at high speed?

Does the vibration occur when the case covers are off? These amplify
noise quite a lot in cheaper cases.

Have you tried manually stopping each fan briefly in turn to see if the
vibration ceases?

Does the vibration occur more when the system is under heavy load and or
on hot days?
 
Some possibilities other than HDD as these are usually quite well balanced.

Fans:

Computers typically have a number of these -
CPU,
Graphics Card,
Case (front, rear and/or top)

CD-ROM drive:

If a slightly unbalanced CD or DVD has been left in the drive, they
often vibrate until the system shuts it down because of lack of user access.

Is the vibration accompanied by the noise of devices such as fans
spinning at high speed?

Does the vibration occur when the case covers are off? These amplify
noise quite a lot in cheaper cases.

Have you tried manually stopping each fan briefly in turn to see if the
vibration ceases?

Does the vibration occur more when the system is under heavy load and or
on hot days?
Click to expand...

I found a piece of loose plastic behind the motherboard, but no sound
reduction.

When I pressed against the motherboard the sound changed.

I will see if there are some rubber washers to use between the
motherboard and the case.

Andy
 
Mint said:
I found a piece of loose plastic behind the motherboard, but no sound
reduction.

When I pressed against the motherboard the sound changed.

I will see if there are some rubber washers to use between the
motherboard and the case.

Andy
Click to expand...

Are the screws tight holding the MB to the standoffs? (Don't over-tighten- you could crack the MB.)
If the vibration is from the MB, then it would almost have to be the CPU heatsink fan. Putting rubber washers behind the
MB may throw your add-in card alignment off to where you may be putting undue stress on the board with cards in and
tightened down. A MB really isn't designed to flex much.
 
Are the screws tight holding the MB to the standoffs? (Don't over-tighten- you could crack the MB.)
If the vibration is from the MB, then it would almost have to be the CPU heatsink fan. Putting rubber washers behind the
MB may throw your add-in card alignment off to where you may be putting undue stress on the board with cards in and
tightened down. A MB really isn't designed to flex much.
Click to expand...

The screw are tightened correctly.

I put my finger lightly on the CPU fan and there was no change in
noise level.

I'll just play some disco music and drown out the noise. :-)

Andy
 
I am trying to find out the source of some vibration from my computer.

It usually eventually goes away but not b4 my blood pressure has
spiked. :-)

It's not coming from the hard drives.

Thanks,
Andy
Click to expand...

My first suspect would be an imbalanced fan.

Open the case, go through fan by fan and stop them with your finger
and see if it changes the situation. (To stop them safely you either
press on the hub or if that's not an option gently put your finger
into the path of the fan blade, make sure that your finger is pointing
with the rotation rather than against it. The fan motors and blades
are light enough that you can easily stop one this way. Watch the
rotation direction, though, doing it the wrong way around will hurt.)
 
The screw are tightened correctly.

I put my finger lightly on the CPU fan and there was no change in
noise level.

I'll just play some disco music and drown out the noise. :-)

Andy
Click to expand...

I've never seen the CPU fan cause vibration. I would be looking at
case fans.
 
I put my finger lightly on the CPU fan and there was no change in
noise level.
Click to expand...

The PS powersupply has a fan which hasn't been mentioned yet.

It isn't quite as easily reached the way you did the cpu fan by
accessing the interior of the case, because even when you open the case
the PS fan is still within an enclosure which encloses the PS, but you
can see it from the back of the PS from outside the case.

Short of dissembling the PS enclosure, one easy way to have an influence
on vibration from that source is to 'blast' the PS fan with compressed air.

You can see that fan thru' the louvers/spaces of the PS at the back of
the case and blast it thru' the same holes.
 
Loren Pechtel said:
I've never seen the CPU fan cause vibration. I would be looking at
case fans.
Click to expand...

I have. My SO had an eMachine years ago that would give her fits about every 6-7 months because the case would start
"buzzing." You could hear it and feel it in the case. My first thought was the rear case fan (nope, not it), and then
the PS fan (nope, not it either). Turned out it was the CPU fan. It was an old Pentium II with one of those tiny Radio
Shack POS fans, and the bushings would wear out regularly. At the time, it was all she needed in the way of a PC, and it
was a heck of a lot cheaper to buy new fans ($4 or $5 at the time) than it was to buy her a new PC.
 
I am trying to find out the source of some vibration from my computer.

It usually eventually goes away but not b4 my blood pressure has
spiked. :-)

It's not coming from the hard drives.

Thanks,
Andy
Click to expand...

I haven't seen mentioned the fan on a video card..... That was my
problem.
 
I've never seen the CPU fan cause vibration.  I would be looking at
case fans.
Click to expand...

I believe I replaced the CPU fan from a box of salvaged items.

I think the newer fan is too fast, thus the vibration.

Andy
 
Mint said:
I believe I replaced the CPU fan from a box of salvaged items.

I think the newer fan is too fast, thus the vibration.

Andy
Click to expand...

Is the newer fan a 2-, 3-, or 4-wire fan? If it's anything other than a
2-wire, it should be able to be controlled, either manually through a
program like SpeedFan http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php , or
automatically by the MB.
 
I have. My SO had an eMachine years ago that would give her fits about every 6-7 months because the case would start
"buzzing." You could hear it and feel it in the case. My first thought was the rear case fan (nope, not it), and then
the PS fan (nope, not it either). Turned out it was the CPU fan. It was an old Pentium II with one of those tiny Radio
Shack POS fans, and the bushings would wear out regularly. At the time, it was all she needed in the way of a PC, and it
was a heck of a lot cheaper to buy new fans ($4 or $5 at the time) than it was to buy her a new PC.
Click to expand...

Understandable for an eMachine. I've only dealt with one of those. We
normally had decent equipment.
 
I just had/have much the same thing. The 'buzz' would go on for some
minutes, then fade away. I opened the side panel on my Gigabyte Aurora
3D case and started touching stuff to try and find the buzz. It was in
the front of the case, I'm pretty sure. I wanted to unplug the 3 case
fans but plug is buried under some USB connectors at rear of
motherboard. I did unplug the big 500G secondary hard drive - no help.
The CPU fan and video fan definitely not it. Power supply? unknown.
My biggest suspect, the front case fan is pretty unaccessible, I'd
never had the front panel off. Looked like it was just plastic clips,
but he damn thing RESISTED. Eventually I loosened up the various
drives that stick their little faces out thru the front panel, that
finally got the thing to come loose all the way. I still didn't take
it all the way off. I researched some 120mm fans at NewEgg.

And, after all that fussing, the turn-on buzz has disappeared, at
least for now. But at least I now know I CAN get that damn panel off
if I want to.
Click to expand...

I've seen some cases like that, a total pain to get at the fans in the
front.
 
Understandable for an eMachine. I've only dealt with one of those. We
normally had decent equipment.
Click to expand...

The fan usually fails on my graphics cards and I don't smoke. You
should see the cards I pull out of my sister's machines.
 
The fan usually fails on my graphics cards and I don't smoke. You
should see the cards I pull out of my sister's machines.
Click to expand...

Almost everything I've worked with has been from non-smoking
locations. I do agree smoker's machines are miserable.
 
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