High Pitch Noise and Random Reboot

[supremeninja]

Hi all,

I've usually been able to troubleshoot all my computer/technology problems by searching the tom's hardware and google, however, this one has me stumped. I'm new to the community, so please enlighten me if I'm not following any forum rules properly.

I recently did a drastic upgrade on my desktop and I now encounter two problems which I am not sure if they are related or not. Actually, it's a brand new system, just with the old case, power supply, dvd-drive, and I'm using my old WD hard drive as a secondary.

Problem 1: High pitch noise. It sounds like it is coming from the graphics card. It is not constant, and is actually quite random from what I have been experiencing. However, once I was in photoshop and noticed that I could trigger this noise when hovering my mouse cursor over two different tool icons.

Problem 2: My PC would randomly reboot every once in a while. Maybe once every couple of days. I disabled automatic restart on system failure, and get the BSOD with code 0x0000003b.

System:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Asus P8Z68-V LE
Intel i5 - 2500 3.30GHz
16GB Corsair Vengeance LP - Blue
Sapphire Radeon HD6870 1GB GDDR5
Crucial M4 128GB (C)
WD Caviar Black 600GB (D) --- I think
WD 2500KS 300GB (G)
Antec Truepower 650W Power Supply
Antec P183 Case

Please advise on some solutions and guidance.

Thanks!

 

[supremeninja]

I've updated the drivers for my graphics card from the sapphire website; no help.

http://arpeus.com/downloads/IMG_0236.JPG --- image of the BSOD
http://arpeus.com/downloads/MVI_0237_1.mp3 --- audio of the high pitch noise. @ 20 seconds, that sound is me stopping 1 of 2 fans for clarity.

 

[Proximon]

The coil whine could be coming from the card or PSU or board. It's not dangerous but can be annoying. Use a stethoscope or paper towel tube to help isolate it.

I have heard of times when whine from a GPU could actually be fixed by swapping out the PSU, even if there is nothing wrong with the PSU... something about the exact voltage ripple and some sort of resonance, I imagine.

As to your BSOD, it's usually a memory issue, especially on new builds. Is the ememory running at 1333Mhz? With correct timings and voltage?

 

[supremeninja]

I did some trouble shooting. I thought it was coming from the GPU, but after removing it and using the onboard video, the sound persisted. Narrowed down to the MOBO/CPU/RAM area.

I came across this thread which describes the same problem with the same board:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/300515-30-p8z68-high-pitched-noise-coming-motherboard

I disabled C3 and C6, and boom, sound is gone. Since it was purchased 1+ month ago, the retailer couldn't help. I'll be contacting Asus to hopefully get a replacement.


As far as the BSOD's memory issue, what should I be looking for and how to troubleshoot?
The memory has been running at 'auto' which is default, and i just tried changing it to 1600Mhz.
How do I determine the correct timings and voltage?

I ran Windows 7 Memory Diagnostics Test and it reported back 100%.

 

[Proximon]

Download CPU-Z.
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Set your RAM for the more relaxed 1333Mhz, and use the settings found in the SPD tab of CPU-Z to do so. (should be 9-9-9-24, 1.5V)

The run memtest overnight, from a disk
http://www.memtest.org/

If that fails you might want to try running with just 8GB, and swapping pairs to see if one stick is bad.

 

[supremeninja]

Ran memtest at 1600mhz with all 16gb overnight.

Pass: 100%
Test: 46%
Test: #8

Pass complete, no errors found.

 

[Proximon]

OK then. On the Antec Truepower - That is not an OLD truepower is it? There is an old version from about 4 years back that is NOT very good. The newer ones are great.

I think that otherwise you are looking at a board issue probably. Updating the BIOS would be a good step, but wait for Asus to ask you to do it maybe

 

[supremeninja]

So I RMA'd the motherboard, and ASUS sent me a replacement.

I installed the new MOBO, and boom, same annoying sound (although not as often/intensive).

I called ASUS back, and they said the only thing they can do it replace this board again.

Do you guys think I should replace the board again or just keep C3/C6 disabled?

 

[Proximon]

What about the PSU? Read my last post please.

 

[supremeninja]

I'm not sure how I can determine whether it is an OLD truepower vs NEW truepower. I've tried searching to see if there are any ways to determine this, but had no luck.

It was purchased about 3 years ago and looks like this:
http://www.atxpowersupplies.com/images/Antec-650W-Power-Supply-TruePower-TP-650-600x500.jpg

 

[Proximon]

If it looks just like that and is partly modular, it's one of the good ones. Still, they can have coil whine, and that can change given what they are connected to.

I have also heard that a PSU can contribute to noise from a MB, and that changing out the PSU can resolve the issue that way as well. Just a few instances, never confirmed by anyone in the know.

Just seems to me that swapping out the PSU would be a good step. You could use any old ATX PSU for a quick test.

 

[supremeninja]

If the problem is the PSU, could it cause noise from the MOBO? Or would the whine be coming directly from the PSU?

 

[Proximon]

Sorry I wasn't clear. There is coil whine from the PSU, and there is whine from the MB. Sometimes it's just the combination of those two parts that creates the conditions that produce whine. So a PSU can be good but changing it can stop the noise from the board.

Of the two sources, PSU whine is by far the most common. You can use a stethoscope or long paper towel tube to help determine where the noise is coming from. Or you can remove the PSU from the case, then re-attach it to the board so they are more separated, to isolate the noise.

 

[supremeninja]

"Power supply surges detected during the previous power on. Asus anti-surge was triggered to protect system from unstable power supply unit!"

My computer rebooted and I got this error a few days ago.

Confirmed PSU problem?

 

[Proximon]

Or a problem at the wall.

 

[supremeninja]

Best answer selected by supremeninja.