[Novalug] can noise from a computer tell you something?

Peter Larsen peter@peterlarsen.org
Mon Sep 2 11:27:03 EDT 2013


Nino,
That just means, that your fan only runs when the temperature gets above a
certain level; and if you push your CPU a lot it gets hotter. I think Jay
is right on the money. Look for dust and bad cables.  When you power on the
system, ALL fans should momentarily be on full power until the OS is up -
getting any noise then? I know most of us don't power on servers that
often, but give it a try.

Noise is mechanical. Unless it's coming from the speaker, it's got nothing
to do with what you're running.  Noise means something mechanical isn't
right - from wires hitting the fans to airflow problems. Old/bad fans can
also make noise when they get over a certain amount of RPM.  You have
several options - try turning on the fans on full power - the easy way is
to boot to bios setup where it should have a screen that tells you the RPMs
and temperature of the case, cpu, ram etc.  Another option is mmdecode (I
think it is) where you can query and set bios options from the command
line.  In the past I've also had noisy CD/DVD drives. If it's "really"
random, it could be it.

So - your plan of action should first be to do a full clean of the system,
then determine WHERE the noise is coming from.  Once you identify the fan
(cpu, gpu, psu, case etc) push the fan to full power, to confirm. Once
identified fix the stuff that gets in the way, or replace the fan/item.
PSUs have fans too, and they can be replaced if you're careful.
On Sep 2, 2013 10:17 AM, "Nino Pereira" <ninorpereira@gmail.com> wrote:

> the fan is fine: the case is a high-quality Lian Li; I hear sound only
> when the computer is doing something that may demand some resources,
> like acrobat reader and libreorffice..
>
> On 09/02/2013 10:13 AM, Jay Hart wrote:
> > Perhaps.  Do you do a semi-annual Clean & Inspect?  *
> >
> > * Based on your questions, I assume not!
> >
> > Buy quality fans, not cheap ones.
> >
> > Jay
> >
> >> So, no little blinky light to show when your HD is being hammered?
> >>
> >> My other question would involve possibly a cooling fan that's not
> >> working right - too much dust perhaps?
> >>
> >> Ed James
> >>
> >>
> >> On Mon, Sep 2, 2013 at 9:59 AM, Nino Pereira <ninorpereira@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi All,
> >>>
> >>> on occasion, and just now, I notice a lot of ticking and clicking from
> my
> >>> computer. I have 8 terminal windows open, one for mail and one for
> >>> libreoffice with a 1 Mb file, and when I open acrobat reader to look at
> >>> the same file the computer becomes noisy, I can't move the open windows
> >>> from one screen to the other as the machine is apparently too busy to
> >>> listen to what I want. Then, the noise stops, and the machine starts to
> >>> follow orders again.
> >>>
> >>> Does this tell you something? like, too little memory perhaps?
> >>> cat /proc/meminfo (below) gives lots of information that I can't
> evaluate.
> >>> Is what I have a lot, or a little (compared to the needs).
> >>> ...
> >>> .
> >>>
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