Monitor's power brick makes a weird noise.

[BadPeteNo]

I bought a $5 replacement power supply for a used monitor from amazon.

It's the correct model, and it works, but it makes a very high pitch squealing noise. When I put it up to my ear, it sounds like radio static.

Is this the sound of something inside arching?
Am I running the risk of damaging the monitor or starting a fire?
Can I open this thing up and fix whatever is making the noise?

NOTE: It makes the same sound when it's plugged into the wall and not the monitor, but the noise is much quieter.

As always, any help is appreciated.

 

[DarkSable]

Bad capacitors. That's pretty common, especially with cheap things. It means the caps could fail at some point, but that's a roll of the dice. If you have soldering skills and are willing to buy better quality caps, you can fix it that way... but it's probably cheaper just to buy the real version of that power brick.

 

[BadPeteNo]

Thanks for the reply, and that makes perfect sense.

If I wanted to do 10+ hours of reading and soldering, sure. I COULD do it, but my soldering skills aren't great and I'm not gonna cry over a few bucks.

In the mean time, if I ignore the noise, is it a fire hazard or could it take out the monitor when it dies?

I'd be nice to have a hold over while I wait for a decent one (I'm thinking about stuffing it under something to muffle the sound).

 

[DarkSable]

Depending on how the caps blow, it could start a fire or at least leak nasty chemicals. I wouldn't stuff it under something, just in case.

Not positive about taking out the monitor when it dies - it depends on which capacitors are going bad.