OT: Loud pop sound from computer.

[GLeeM]

Anybody know what would make a loud pop or crack sound? Between a firecracker and a cap gun, maybe a little higher pitched.

Pretty sure it came from my dual rig with Asus PC-DL. Temps were low to normal. Everything seems to be still working OK.

Could sound have echoed from laptop, printer, 36" TV, couple power bricks, wireless mouse? All these things are working OK too.

LOL, dog ran and hid!

 

[Fingers]

Maybe a capaciter blowing?

It has always corresponded with lightning for me so I never noticed if it made a loud noise or not.

 

[MechEng]

I have only tried it once and I was never in doubt what it was....

It was the PSU that I had 10-20cm's from my ear !!! :shocked:
I had a ringing tone for the next couple of hours or so...

 

[Freewolf]

PS would be my first guess as well

 

[RaySun2Be]

PS also would be my first guess. Weird that everything is working though.....

 

[Insidious]

You probably blew a cap.

If so, you would only loose some filtering of the supply output (or whatever power was being filtered by that cap... lots of them in a computer... ) which would explain why everything still works. (you would probably see the difference on a scope trace)

Anything smell? turn off your computer and give the innerds a sniff. If you did blow something (burnt trace, shorted transformer winding, blown cap, etc....) it will stink. (and probably show visable signs of damage)

Just follow your nose

-Sid

 

[amdxborg]

I had caps blow off of a mobo once, sounded like firecrackers in there...

 

[mrwizer]

I too have blown caps. Everything "seemed" to function fine for a while, and then.... If you blew a cap, you can usually see the damage. Take a look at your mobo, etc. Look for the top being ruptured, split, leakage, etc...

 

[GLeeM]

Thanks guys, guess I better shut this thing down and have a look (hate shutting down )

EDIT: No smell when it happened, or smoke.

 

[Wolfsraider]

Blew 2 psu that way as well and 1 cap

I did have one pop a cd once thatr sounded similar

it bounced in the tray and caught...It had deep scores in the tracks area

 

[GLeeM]

I didn't see any buldging caps, nothing blackened or scored. There are a couple hidden I think, but didn't really want to take off the heatpipes to see them.

LOL, Even got my wife to stick her head in there and sniff, nothing.

Well I don't know

Thanks everyone.

 

[Doc Brown]

Caps in the Pwr Supply ... My Guess

 

[BlackMountainCow]

Some overclocked popcorn?

 

[Allio]

Hard drives can also make loud cracking noises when they're on the way out, but generally if you'd heard that you'd no longer be able to use your hard drive

 

[LANMAN]

Did you plug a 120v PS into a 220 outlet or power strip plugged into a 220 outlet?

That will do it! It's loud!

Those systems that don't have intelligent power switching will just explode! Most servers you don't have to worry about, but we had a tech plug a normal workstation into a server rack without switching the PS voltage switch and BAM!! Throw out the PS and get another one!

--LANMAN

 

[GLeeM]

Originally posted by: BlackMountainCow
Some overclocked popcorn?

Temps are cool:

Sensor taped to top of heatpipe = 95F (35C)
Air from exhaust fan = 94F
CPU1 = 111F (44C)
CPU2 = 109F (43C)
Case = 114F (46C) (actually sensor near VRM)

2 - Xeon LV 1.6@2.5
matched set (512MB) 3200 OCZ Premium something or other @ 2-2-2-5
Antec TruPower 550W

It's still running.

What can I expect to see happen?
Other signs?

Thanks

 

[BlackMountainCow]

I guess there's nothing more you can do but to be aware of what happened and basically just wait. I once had some bulged caps but the mobo is still running today, two and a half years later. So, maybe you'll never suffer any consequnces of what happened, maybe you will within the next few weeks. Hard to say, especially since you don't see any caps or orther damage. Can only wish you good luck!

 

[Doc Brown]

Originally posted by: Allio
Hard drives can also make loud cracking noises when they're on the way out, but generally if you'd heard that you'd no longer be able to use your hard drive

I seem to remember hard drives doing more of a squeeling noise than a pop ...

 

[Freewolf]

In my case it's been more of a loud grinding sound with hard drives.

 

[networkman]

As others have said, a capacitor in the power supply probably blew. It might not be enough to impair the operation of your computer, but if it were my computer I'd replace the power supply immediately. Replacing the power supply is relatively inexpensive -- running the PC on the damage one may well risk other components that aren't so inexpensive.

 

[Allio]

Originally posted by: Doc Brown

Originally posted by: Allio
Hard drives can also make loud cracking noises when they're on the way out, but generally if you'd heard that you'd no longer be able to use your hard drive

I seem to remember hard drives doing more of a squeeling noise than a pop ...

It totally depends on the hard drive, but some of them do make loud bangs. My 20gb Fujitsu (one of the infamous bad batch) was on its last legs when it let loose an almighty bang that scared the living crap out of me. If my case had been closed and I hadn't known there was a problem with the HD I probably wouldn't have guessed that it was the source of the noise.

I admit that this probably isn't the reason, as like you said, there would likely be many other noises emanating from the crappy drive as well

 

[Wolfsraider]

Originally posted by: networkman
As others have said, a capacitor in the power supply probably blew. It might not be enough to impair the operation of your computer, but if it were my computer I'd replace the power supply immediately. Replacing the power supply is relatively inexpensive -- running the PC on the damage one may well risk other components that aren't so inexpensive.

My antec true 430 popped as well, before it went out completely.
12 volt was registering 13.06 at the time it blew.(after the pop)

hope this helps

 

[Rattledagger]

Hmm, Antec "true"-power? have a 430W only delivering 4.5V instead of 5V, but can't remember any noises...

... well, not quite correct, the hd's started making noises, mostly due to starting and stopping again due the under-voltage...


... but does remember the bang when 2 psu's and a nic went poof due to lightning... :frown:



The most common noises is from fans and cd/dvd-players, the latter can sometimes sound like the player is chewing or something instead of reading, so if using cd/dvd at the time maybe a part of the disk was chewed loose so went poof...

 

[Jeff7]

Capacitor as many have said, or a small resistor or other similar component. I had a cheap PSU die when overloaded (couldn't handle a 1.4GHz Tbird) - a 1/2W resistor blew up and toasted the circuit board underneath it.

Check your power supply fans too. I had an Antec PSU blow out something in it once - the fans in it stopped turning, but everything else worked fine. Got it replaced under warranty.
Immobile fans in a PSU is a very bad thing too.

 

[Wolfsraider]

Originally posted by: Rattledagger
Hmm, Antec "true"-power? have a 430W only delivering 4.5V instead of 5V, but can't remember any noises...

... well, not quite correct, the hd's started making noises, mostly due to starting and stopping again due the under-voltage...


... but does remember the bang when 2 psu's and a nic went poof due to lightning... :frown:



The most common noises is from fans and cd/dvd-players, the latter can sometimes sound like the player is chewing or something instead of reading, so if using cd/dvd at the time maybe a part of the disk was chewed loose so went poof...

Mine says true 430

I believe it said true power on box when I bought it

It dropped the raid"0" array a few times and had trouble with ntdlr missing at times.

Every once in a while I got platter noise from the sata drives

Eventually it lost video, wouldn;t boot etc...


i replaced it with a 520 ttgi from directron.com and all issues are gone.