Wildfire Riders

^

That is the sound my computer is currently making when turned on. It's coming from the power supply. It's like a grinding hum. It makes the entire case (and in turn my desk) vibrate. The fan is still spinning, tapping where the fan is changes the tone of the grinding/humming. The noise is loud enough to be heard across the house.

I have tried several times to clean it out with condensed air, to no avail. Checked the screws and mounting for the supply, and it's really secure. The age old 'smack it where the buzzing is to make it stop' doesn't work.

I talked to my grandfather on the phone, but he won't be home until late tonight. He says it sounds like the PS is dying. This baffled both of us since it's less than 7 months old.

It's an Logisys ATX 20/24 or so says the case. It's found here: http://www.logisyscomputer.com/viewsku. ... owersupply

I don't think I'm putting a heavy load on it. It's a max output of 480w and the only major power-hog in the system is a Radeon HD 4850, which shouldn't need any more than what I had.

Anyone have any more troubleshooting recommendations? Meanwhile, I am going to see who I can sell my soul to in exchange for computer parts >_>

I'd recommend disconnecting the more expensive bits from it. I've had a power supply failure damage half my components before.

Your computer is otherwise still functioning normally in spite of this?

Yes, though it hasn't been turned on since the noise began, except to test to see if the sound was still there. I'm not going to take chances and blow any other components.

Seconding what Denne suggested - otherwise you might let the magic blue smoke out of your motherboard, and once you do that, there's no turning back.

Two cans of air and some tweezers later, the culprit of the noise has been extracted.

Did you know one tiny bug of some sort (it's rather shredded) can cause all that trouble?

Further proof that bugs are evil.

Also, ew. ><

The old wive's tale is, of course, that the first "computer bug" was an actual bug in the mechanism. Snopes hasn't covered that one yet, so who knows?