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[JonS77]

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[bebejapes]

10 minutes ago, Jon-Slow said:

Sorry for the long writeup. But TLDR is that I’ve accidentally downloaded and clicked on some malicious installer, now my PSU is whirring on and off and I can’t tell if malware destroyed my PSU.  I appreciate if you read the rest of this so you know exactly what happened.

built my new PC 5 months ago. Worked great. Tried downloading a DOS game from a safe website. It downloaded an installer which I clicked on before realising that it shouldn't be an installer. Then I realised that I've clicked on the wrong tab on my browser and that the website I got this from probably wasn't safe. I'm not an idiot but I've just clicked download on the wrong page before catching on. So I didn't run the installer just clicked on it and immediately closed it but that's still all it takes. I'm always very cautious and haven't had any such issues with virus/malware in over 10 years.

NOW, all of what happened next might have been a coincident or not. I'm losing my mind. I immediately ran a scan with my free and limited malwarebytes scan, including for rootkits and it came back clean. Then I thought that I'm in the clear and I ran Dosbox downloaded from Sourceforge to open up the actual copy of the correct download. And as soon as I open Dosbox, not even using it, I start to hear a whirring noise from my PSU like the fan was acting up on and off. going on whirring for 5-8sec, stopping, going on again.

At this point I'm panicking, I know a virus/malware doesn't do this but I also know anything is possible.

I restart my PC, and the PSU fan starts whirring on boot, I restart again before I see the windows. whirring again. I visit my UEFI, and I see that my XMP is disabled and my CPU power limit is removed and my CPU fan curve is set to auto. Did I do those things? I do not remember disabling XMP and keeping it that way. But I'm all confused now. I fix my UEFI settings and get back to windows.

Now the PSU keeps whirring periodically, like when I wake my PC up from sleep or standby mode. The whirring is unpredictable and often. Sometimes it just stops for long periods of time.

Do I have a malware/virus that did this to me? How could I thoroughly check that I'm safe? I've used windows defender and Malewarebytes and both came back clean. Is this a coincidence that my 5-month- old PSU's fan has a worn bearing? Can anyone help out?

i9-13900KF

MSI Z790-A pro

32gb DDR5 6000mts

Colorful 4070ti

Corsair HX1200

Windows 11 pro for workstation 22H2

 

you could use a fan control software to test

[JonS77]

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[JonS77]

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[bebejapes]

10 minutes ago, Jon-Slow said:

You can do that? How do I know my PSU's fan can even be controlled. I think as far as I can see with Argus Monitor or my UEFI I only have access to my chassis fans and CPU fans.

well you probably could with the asus thor psu. but if it really is your psu do one thing. test with open panels. manually set the fans to lower than 50% so lets say 40. check if its really from the psu.

 

[JonS77]

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[bebejapes]

4 minutes ago, Jon-Slow said:

That one I'm certain of. all my fans including my CPU aio are 14cm fans and nearly silent. My GPU fans are at 0rpm when I hear the noise. It is the PSU and it is coming from the PSU as well.

well normally malware wont affect psu. only cpu or gpu usage or even hard drive usage. you might have a bad batch psu. is it under warranty?

[JonS77]

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[bebejapes]

5 minutes ago, Jon-Slow said:

I know that, it does sound stupid to myself thinking that my PSU fan somehow got messed up because of malware. Almost a laughable proposition, but I've kinda panicked and lost my mind over stupidly clicking on a file I shouldn't have. And the coincident of the PSU fan starting to act like this seconds after that is a bit too weird. 

 

I mainly need to know how to thoroughly check my PC because outside of a normal Malewarebytes and windows defender scan. I need to know if it’s possible that I have a some sort of malicious software going into my UEFI or something like that.

 

My PSU is under warranty but that effectively means I’ll just have to buy another PSU because warranties take ages to get back to you.

well due to malware probably only if you use HW Monitor and see that theres alot of power draw. did you buy it online or at a local store?

[kb5zue]

wow, check that out.  invisible text.

[JonS77]

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[JonS77]

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[bebejapes]

17 minutes ago, Jon-Slow said:

The PSU in question is a Corsair HX1200. I've already made a post about this in troubleshooting because I wasn't sure about another side of this issue which was virus/malware related.

But long story short, my PSU's fan makes a whirring noise specially when I wake the PC up from sleep or standby. It started yesterday after I suspected a malware/virus but Malewarebytes and Windows defender all came back clean. I know a PSU's fan can't be related to a malware in this way but it may have just been a coincident.

 

 

Sometimes the whirring noise goes on at random for a couple of periods of 5-10 seconds at for a couple of minutes after PC waking up. And it always does the whirring noise right after I wake it up or boot the PC. 

 

I’ve tried to push my CPU/GPU (13900Kf, 4070ti)to 100% power draw but I can’t hear the whirring noise under load. I’m kind of lost as to what’s going on and what’s the cause. My guess is that the PSU’s fan coincidentally got a bad bearing issue yesterday and has to be repaired or sent back for warranty. It’s only 5 months old and the warranty is going to take over a month. 

 

 

 

 

 

whats your case?

[kb5zue]

I like it, it's different.

[JonS77]

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[kb5zue]

Just now, Jon-Slow said:

No idea what you're talking about.

Not to worry, sometimes I don't either.

 

take care and good luck