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PC shuts down right after 'scratchy' noise

X

xtknight

Elite Member
Could there be termites biting at my power cord or something? 😕 It is exposed to my garage (there's a small hole at the bottom of the wall between this room and the garage which my dad is too lazy to fix.) Bad power cable? Anyone know what would make a mild "nails on chalkboard" scratchy noise then power everything off? That what a frayed power cable does? I've heard the noise plenty, but only recently (2 or 3 times) has it actually shut down the PC. Should I get a new power strip? (this one's old) My other rig was on and also bit the dust as soon as I heard that scratchy noise, so it's not just my power supply. The noise sounds like it's coming from behind my LCD, but I'm not sure. One PC was completely idle, and this one I was just browsing the web with, so not much stress. Obviously I'm not too swift with electricity so if anyone could help I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

Edit: just heard it again as soon as I repowered-on my old rig. 🙁
 
definitely spend the $10-$20 on a decent surge protector (not power strip) at a minimum. Better yet, pick up a UPS.

Even if the problem ends up being something other than the strip itself, it's still of benefit to you to change that to a decent surge protector.
 
OK...will do. This is my second old "Generic" local hardware-store power strip I've gone through, and I should really get a decent one by now. Any ideas what could be causing the scratching noise? I know sometimes electricity makes noise, but it doesn't sound like a zap, it's scratchy like a mouse. Is that a common known sound for a frayed power cable or something? Right now there is a severe storm in my area, but nothing else in the house is going off, and it sounds like the scratching noise is the thing that happens right before it shuts off.
 
when electricity arcs, it can make that scratchy sound and cause a surge... usually when something not grounded correctly. It could be the strip that's causing the issues at the outlet. Since it's happening when your computer is starting to pull power, I'm guessing that the strip has just gone bad.
 
OK, thanks. I'll obtain a surge protector ASAP then, if not a UPS. I don't really need a UPS to keep my PC up when the power goes off though. A surge protector is just as good, or not quite as good as a UPS?
 
Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
Besides power, how about your harddrive? Just throwing suggestions into the air.
Click to expand...

Would that cause my whole power-strip of devices to go off? I figured out that all the devices connected to my power strip (both my PCs, HD tuner, LCD) shut off at the same time.

Could I be overloading my well-aged "99 cent Walmart" power strip? Right now, all of its four power slots are maxed out, and I haven't turned the whole strip off for, gee, it must have been 4 months (which was my last big power outage). It's been fine for a while though, it just started doing this recently. Actually I also just started using my HD tuner more and more lately and that could be causing the need for more power.

Edit: nothing has shut off for about 35 minutes since my original post. I shut off my virtually unused old rig, because that noise happened when I turned it on. If you've ever heard your hard disk through your crappy integrated sound before (via interference), that's almost exactly what it sounds like, except more intense/powerful sounding than that. However, I can hear it with my headphones off, so that's not it. Plus I'm not using that integrated sound anymore.
 
if everything's turning off at once, definitely replace the strip first. A surge protector will work just fine. A UPS will be safer simply because just removing power from a PC isn't the best way to turn it off 😉

The other thing that could be happening is that the actual circuit you're plugging the strip into is getting loaded up... but since the breaker hasn't gone off (I'm assuming) the strip is still the primary suspect.
 
Are you talking about the major circuit breaker in my house? No that hasn't gone off. However isn't there a circuit breaker you activate by pressing that "reset" button the side of the power strip? I think I may have accidentically pressed that once with my feet a couple days ago (or it could have been this noise again), but I'm sure I didn't press that reset button today (when I heard the noises). What is the purpose of that button?

I'm pretty sure the noises correlate with the power going off. I have heard the noises before, couldn't figure out what they were and just ignored them, because they didn't affect anything just a couple days ago. Now I hear that noise and I know the whole power strip's going off. I don't see anything at where I hear the noise from, so that's why I assume it's not some kind of termite, but rather a power sound or something else.

Thanks again for the help.
 
Switched to a different power strip and it's been fine for days. Hopefully soon I'll get an even nicer power strip/UPS that won't ever quit on me. Actually turned out it was my LCD's transformer making the noise (and it blinked a couple times). I think it's fine now. Thanks again.
 
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