SOLVED: Third times the charm? Yet another unidentified sound coming from my system

[Mark Kaine]

I know I made two similar topics recently, and it's frankly quite weird, the other two noise problems just disappeared as they came... (one was my cpu fan, which I could identify, the other was a weird grinding sound where I'm still not sure where it came from) 

 

 

Now the new sound is slightly different, it's a very feint clicking about every  *10-15seconds*, it's so feint my phone doesn't pick it up when I try to record it... It's really still just noticeable enough to be really annoying... It also seems to come possibly from the area around the GPU, which doesn't make me exactly happy... 

 

 

It could also be HDD just from the sound of it, it's somehow metallic sounding and as I said rather feint... 

 

Actually the closest thing I could think of is it does sound like some sort of spring that's possibly stuck somehow (no idea what part could have a spring, just explaining what it sounds like...) 

 

 

And the kicker? 

 

It doesn't stop when I turn off the pc... Even unplugging from the wall, it just keeps going...??? 

 

Any ideas what this could be... I know it's strange, but it's definitely happening and I got the feeling this is actually some kind of defect, especially because it sounds metallic (which is super weird) and also because it even happens when the pc is *off*.

 

 

 

Edit: well I found out what's making this clicking noise... See post below, I'm just glad it was actually *not* a part in my pc!

 

[thermalgoop]

Does this occur with the PC in a different room, just for a sanity check?

[Fraka]

How long does it keep going for, after you turned the system off? Is there any heat coming from the source of the sound as well? Perhaps check if all the spring-screws of the GPU or CPU are fastened properly. Or if there is a large source of heat, just cooling down when turned off. I would also start just removing/unplugging things that could be making such a sound. 

[Mark Kaine]

3 minutes ago, thermalgoop said:

Does this occur with the PC in a different room, just for a sanity check?

I could try this but without turning it on as that would be really difficult at the moment, but since it does this even without power, that's a good idea because while I'm 99% sure it does come from the pc I'm not 100% sure... 

 

Also I just counted, it's currently *every 15 seconds* seemingly (which by itself is also weird ) 

 

 

 

[thermalgoop]

Maybe it's getting so hot that you're hearing the metal heating up and cooling down, like the engine bay on a car. lol

[Mark Kaine]

21 minutes ago, Fraka said:

How long does it keep going for, after you turned the system off? Is there any heat coming from the source of the sound as well? Perhaps check if all the spring-screws of the GPU or CPU are fastened properly. Or if there is a large source of heat, just cooling down when turned off. I would also start just removing/unplugging things that could be making such a sound. 

I don't know, when I turned it off I waited about 10 minutes and it didn't stop... Will check tho, I mean at some point it has to stop... right...?

 

And thanks for the other suggestions will check this tomorrow. 

 

 

As for heat / source, it does seem to come from the gpu, but it's hard to say and well yeah... It's about 55C, so there is "some" heat... 

 

 

The most irritating part is the regularity, every 15 seconds "click"... It doesn't really make sense. 

Tho it also sounds like something expanding, and metalic... Maybe it's a spring in the GPU, I'm not aware GPUs have springs however?

 

And yes indeed it sounds very similar to the spring screws of the CPU cooler (still doesn't make a lot of sense considering the regularity and the fact no one is touching the screws, will still check tho!) 

[Mark Kaine]

30 minutes ago, thermalgoop said:

Maybe it's getting so hot that you're hearing the metal heating up and cooling down, like the engine bay on a car. lol

It *does* sound like that yes...  But. Why does this start just now? And my pc is really cool... 55C gpu / 54C cpu... The "hot spot" on the mobo is 64C... and none of this changed lol... 

 

I maybe just need to reseat the gpu or something... Well hopefully it's something like that! 

 

*click*. . .  Every *15 seconds* its so annoying omg. >.<

 

[cr8tor]

use a paper towel tube like a stethoscope to narrow down exactly where the noise is coming from.

[Mark Kaine]

I found the culprit! Unbelievable lol. 

 

So I turned everything off - including lights in my room and it's been really hard to locate as it appeared to be moving (which it really didn't, maybe some kind of illusion...) and I've also counted again this time it wasn't every 15 seconds more like 10-14 so I thought it couldn't be a clock or relay or something... 

 

Anyway, I present to you the culprit which was indeed right under my PC, so yeah closest to the GPU actually:

 

Spoiler

 

 

... Wtf. 

 

Yes I feel kinda dumb now, but I also can't believe this thing even makes this noise (it's open, half empty, and it's still doing it lol...) 

 

And, it *was* something 'metallic' hah!

 

 

Well anyways thank you everyone I really didn't know how to figure this out and eventually turning off the pc was what helped me discover this troublemaker! 

 

(and yes, my hearing is very good, it's possible most people wouldn't even hear this, as my phone couldn't record it either, weirdly...) 

 

 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[cr8tor]

Well i guess thanks for letting us know.

 

I will have to add this to my list of "see, weird things happen".

[Mark Kaine]

12 minutes ago, cr8tor said:

Well i guess thanks for letting us know.

 

I will have to add this to my list of "see, weird things happen".

Well I doubt anyone else will run into this "issue" anytime soon but yeah, since I found what's making this noise... 

 

Also I swear it *does* sound pretty much like a defect harddrive would probably sound ... Also a bit like these AMD spring screws... It *is* aluminum after all lol... The regularity was what got me, so weird.  

 

I'll lay off the monster and only drink coffee from now on lmao ~

[cr8tor]

1 minute ago, Mark Kaine said:

I'll lay off the monster and only drink coffee from now on lmao

Maybe start using the integrated cup holder (cd/dvd tray) for whatever it is you are drinking. haha

[thermalgoop]

Does this now count as Off-Topic, non-PC/tech related? lol