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New PSU and Loud Noises

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Picked up a 500W Thermaltake PSU for my old System that I still use for Web Browsing. The old Antec I had was making a high pitched noise that was driving me cazy. This is an older P4 system, even has an AGP slot. When set the cage on the table and took the old PSU out, I realized this thing had gathered a lot of dust, so I took out everything except the Mobo and Chip and blew out the dust, wiped down the case, vacuumed up the mess, then put everthing back together.

Hooked up the new Thermaltake PSU, hit the power button, nothing. However, the standby light was lit up on the motherboard. At first I thought I might have messed up the power button on the case during the cleaning, but I decided to re-install the old PSU first to test. I hooked up the antec and tried to power it up again. It powered on, but a loud siren like sound came out. I'm still not exactly sure where this was coming from, but I assume the Motherboard speaker. Anyways, I immediately flipped the power switch on the back of the PSU off to cut power.

Now I'm thinking the new PSU is a dud. Tried the paperclip test on both PSUs. Fan spun on the old Antec, but did nothing to the Thermaltake. Kindof wondered if that trick doesn't work on these newer PSUs with the larger, differently placed fans. I went ahead and hooked up the new Thermaltake back up to the case and tried it one more time. I only attached it to the motherboard this time, no drives. When I hit the power, my system actually did come on... somewhat. Fans spun, but that loud noise again came from the system. I quickly turned off this PSU as well. When I tried to power the system on again with the Thermaltake, there was no response.

Conclusion, I'm pretty sure the Thermaltake is a dud, but I'm greatly concerned about the loud noise that coming from my system. Does anybody know what all reasons would cause a loud beeping/siren type sound from the Motherboard/Chip as soon as the power button is hit? I've had long/repetitive beeps when there were problems with the POST, but never like this as soon as the system gets power. Just can't stop thinking about it while I sit here at work. Was looking forward to getting this system up and running again when the new PSU came in the mail, but now it looks like my problems have multiplied.

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Yeah, I did check that. I think there is actually a speaker on my video card - XFX 6800 XT (don't laugh, this thing is old), and I considered that as a possibility, but the card is securely connected. That is the only expansion card I have on the machine now.

The thing I keep wondering is if the sound is a warning sound from the Mobo saying it is not getting enough power or something. Maybe the old Antec has gone far enough south that it is no longer able to adequately power everything.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it's not the motherboard (or chip) screaming saying it's broken somehow. Gonna go to my Father's tonight to borrow some parts and test stuff. Maybe the Mobo speaker shorted somehow, I don't know. Hoping someone here will have a better theory that I can work with.
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The loud beeping is probably your MOBO telling you that something is bad or improperly connected. If what cfvh600 said is true, then it's not recognizing that your video card is actually plugged in and giving you the POST warning that it does not sense a video card.

Listen to the beeps next time and then consult your motherboard manual / manufacturer to see what those beeps mean. I have a feeling cfvh600 is right though.

Eh, thinking about that more you might be onto something. I know I had the card connected, but I wonder if I forgot to switch the connectors between the two PSUs when I switched between which I had hooked up to the Mobo.

However, the sound came immediately as soon as I pressed the power button and the board started to power up. That's what had me concerned. I assume if the Mobo goes to post and detects no video card it would just make some kind of beep then, after it had been powering up for a few seconds. This was an immediate warning siren type sound.

I'll definately make sure the video card is correctly connected to power when I test things tonight though. '


One thing though, anybody give me confirmation on the paperclip PSU test? I'm pretty sure that Thermaltake is a dud, but it did give some power at one point. Paperclip test did nothing though, but I've never tried it on a newer style, large fan PSU, only the old small fan, box types like the Antec I have.

Quote:
However, the sound came immediately as soon as I pressed the power button and the board started to power up. That's what had me concerned. I assume if the Mobo goes to post and detects no video card it would just make some kind of beep then, after it had been powering up for a few seconds. This was an immediate warning siren type sound.
My board will beep like mad as soon as I hit the power if something isn't connected properly. For example. One time I didn't connect the additional 6-pin power for my 8800 GTS, well the motherboard would give me one long beep followed by 3 short beeps. That meant there was no video card inserted. (Well, there was, but it didn't have enough power to turn on and be recognized by the mobo) Anyways, try to figure out if there is a pattern to the beeps.

After some testing tonight, my conclusion is that the new Thermaltake PSU is a dud and everything else is fine. Grabbed a spare system at my father's house, borrowed the PSU from that machine and popped it into my old computer. With that hooked up, everything booted up fine, no problems at all. Sigh of relief, I don't have to troubleshoot my old machine anymore.

Took the Thermaltake PSU and popped it into the system at my dad's. Hit the power button and the system started to come on, but I got a lot of beeping like I had on my machine. It was one long beep followed by two quick short beeps. ASUS board, I searched and dug up the manual for it, but could not find anything about what the beeps meant in the manual. When I tried to turn the system on again though, it would not start at all. This is exactly what had happened when I used this PSU on my machine.

It's a little intriguing to me how these systems did power on somewhat one time each with this apparently faulty PSU. My only conclusion is that maybe they started up on MOBO battery power? Maybe the beeps indicate that it's on battery and the PSU is broken? Who knows, but I'm convinced now that the PSU is bad. Time to request an RMA.

Pretty risky using a known bad power supply with a known good system, even just for a quick test. you could have ended up ruining both your and your dad's PC like that.

2 Long and 1 Short = Video Card problem. Since the system worked before though, I'm going to bet my money that PSU is bad and not providing sufficient power to the GPU in both your case and your father's.

The machine I tested with at my father's house doesn't have a video expansion card, it has onboard video. And about ruining it, notice I said "spare" system. Burning it would have only meant one less thing sent to the charity chop shop this year.
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