Gigabyte 8KNXP MB making strange sounds!

[Massey4]

This board is making strange noises. Frequently it emits a long continuous moderately-pitched beep. Often this is when the computer is busy like when zipping or unzipping a large number of files or sometimes while the machine was waiting for me to respond to a confirmation dialog during a software installation. The beep doesn't end until I responded to the dialog. It is repeatable. If often happens after a reboot while Windows (XP Pro) is working through my Start folder. One sure way to cause it is to open Adobe Acrobat and start a text-selection process..., the beep will start if I hold the mouse button down too long, only stopping when I release the button.

When I run "SiSoft Sandra Professional 2002 (SP1)" and use it to get BIOS or MB information, the board starts a continuous series of short lower-pitched beeps that will not stop until after the machine is rebooted. This too is repeatable.

Nothing is plugged into the PCI bus. I've tried various combinations of the four Kingston KVR400X64C3A/512 512Mb memory modules that I have on hand and that doesn't make a difference.

I have tried a second 8KNXP motherboard (same, rev, bios) and it behaves exactly the same.

These beeps are produced whether or not the PC speaker is connected to the motherboard and whether or not external speakers are plugged into the back-panel speaker port.

So far I have NOT been successful in locating the (piezoelectric?) noise maker on the MB (does anyone know where it is?).

I'm not doing anything funny in the BIOS - all stock settings. I've tried both the "safe" & "optimized" settings and it does not make a difference.

I have, with the BIOS PC Health options turned on, reached in and stopped the various fans from spinning by hand and have heard the warning sounds produced by those alerts and those sounds do not match the questionable ones that I have heard.

I have tried turning off all the alerts in the BIOS PC Health options and still the sounds occur.

How can I prevent this?

Model Name : GA-8knxp
M/B Rev : 2.0
BIOS Ver : FH
VGA Brand : ATi Model : Radeon 7000 (AGP)
CPU Brand : Intel Model : P4 Speed : 3.2Ghz
Operation System : Win XP SP : 1
Memory Brand : Kinston Type : DDR
Memory Size : 4x512Mb Speed : PC3200
Power Supply : Antec "TruePower" 430 W
Disks: Pair of WD2000jB configured as RAID1 on Gigaraid controller

 

[sumrtym]

That's one of the weirdest things I've ever heard. It makes the sound WITH the case speaker unplugged and no speakers to either a soundcard or built-in sound?????? I don't see how that could be.

My first inclination is to say you're getting a warning sound of system too hot as set in BIOS. It makes a sound when you hit the temp set in BIOS for warning, and the fact it happens when you're doing stuff seems to maybe support that it is the CPU temp warning in BIOS responsible. Are you SURE you got them disabled???

 

[Massey4]

If I change to a old PCI video card, remove the network card, all but one of the memory sticks (it doesn't matter which one) and disconnect all but the boot disk I can still cause the sound to occur. I even tried another 430W power supply and also tried running the board without its 6-phase power module and neither of those impacted the problem.

I have discovered that the continuous series of short lower-pitched beeps that I get When I run "SiSoft Sandra Professional 2002 (SP1)" and use it to get BIOS or MB information are coming from the PC speaker. I have decided that the fact that this software does not get along with this MB is a different problem form the one that is causing the continuous beep when the system is working hard since that sound does not rely on the PC speaker. It sounds like it is coming from the vicinity of the IO panel. I?m beginning to suspect the noisemaker is built into either the assembly that houses the 3 audio connectors (there is a tiny hole between the top and middle jack that might be a sound port) or else the assembly that holds the Ethernet and USB connectors.

In the PC Health setup in the BIOS, yes I am sure I have DISABLED everything (fan & temp warnings) that can be disabled. That same page does show system voltages (that look OK) but they are sort of "greyed-out" and there is no indication that there are any warnings associated with them much less any means of enabling or disabling anything, but it got me to wondering if some sort of warning exists anyway if the voltage sags too much. That is something that one might expect to happen when the system was working hard (not that I have had any other symptoms or suggestions that such a thing was happening). The power supplys that I have tried are both good ones (Antec True Power 430W) and I think they are big enough for the job they have.

 

[sumrtym]

Well, this doesn't help you too much, but I'll tell you what I'm running on an 8knxp rev 1:

Antec TruPower 430
On-board sound disabled, using TBSC
Four HDD, two in RAID 0
Two optical drives
Floppy Drive
ATI AIW 9800 Pro
Five case fans
DPS is NOT used...
2.6 Ghz P4
Two stilcks 512 MB PC 2700 memory

I don't experience any weird sounds other than a chirp once in a while and I discovered that's because running Prime 95 at 50% of CPU load was toggling my CPU temp between 59 and 60 degrees C. In BIOS, I have alarm set at 60 degrees C. Needless to say, I disabled Prime 95 until winter again.

Anyway, yes, I don't think it's power supply (if it's working properly), as I don't have any problems with all that equipment on the same PSU.

I find it interesting that you had the problem with TWO different mobos though. Are you sure it isn't the PSU itself making the sound????

 

[Massey4]

I tried a second power supply and it still made the noise. I moved the power supply as far from the case as the wires would allow and confirmed that the noise was not coming from the power supply.

 

[Massey4]

I have discovered the source of my problem and boy do I feel stupid!
The noise was coming from the (APC) UPS that the computer was plugged into. The computer and the UPS are co-located adjacent to each other under my desk and that walled-in location combined with the high frequency of the sound was enough that I couldn't be sure of the direction of the source. Evidently when I push the computer into a very busy state it drew just enough extra current from the UPS to push it into an overload warning state and its internal sonalert would go off. I removed the monitor from being supplied by the UPS and now the noise does not occur.

Boy do I feel stupid!

 

[sumrtym]

KNEW it had to be something else considering you said two boards AND with the speaker disconnected!!!

Don't worry, I've done my own stupid things recently....

1. Couldn't figure out if my floppy was going bad and wasted several hours trying to figure out what was going wrong with the drive after making a memtest86+ disc (these dics can't be read by windows....says so in the readme....doh!!!)

2. Kept passing memtest86+, but got rounding errors in prime95 (turns out you need the newest version...I was one back....if you're running more than 1 GB).