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PSU whines as Win 7 bootup halts.

M

mingsoup

Golden Member
My computer has been occasionally hanging on bootup. After the windows 7 screen I hang at a black screen. After a long labor day weekend I came back to this situation. It has happened occasionally before too.

What is strange is that the PSU (or at least I *think* its the PSU) starts to emit a high pitched electrical screech/whine. The screeching just continues on forever and the computer never boots.

If I attempt to restart sometimes it will work and sometimes it will not.

Now I also have an issue with electrical noise which is associated with power saving C1 on my P7P55D Deluxe. However, I'm pretty sure that the noise is coorelated to the PSU. The PSU is a Corsair 850TX. Its already been RMA'ed once as it flat out died the first time. The case is a P180 Antec.

In my mind I have a feeling that my system/cooling/load is killing PSU's. Thoughts? Exhaust on the PSU doesn't feel overly hot. In the P180, the PSU fans essentially blows directly into the metal separating the top chamber from the bottom, becoming useless. Could I be loading the PSU too heavily, thus killing it? Is there any foolproof way I could tell? Apart from this bootup problem, extended periods of gaming seems to not have any effect on the system. I can bench 5x AVP stable and play extended periods of Deus Ex HR and Fallout New Vegas without crashing. You'd think that a heavy gaming load would kill the system, not Windows 7 bootup.

System:
i5-750 @ 4.2Ghz.
8gB DDR
P7P55D Deluxe
2x 6950 @ 6970
Two hard drives, two readers.
 
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Sounds to me like it's either a power failure to one of the graphic cards- in which case it may make a high pitched noise indicating it's not getting power.

Or it could be your PSU is overloaded and/or dying.
 
Sounds like a PSU that's going out. I just had the same problem and when I opened the PSU I saw a couple caps that were bulging bad.
 
Zaap said:
Sounds to me like it's either a power failure to one of the graphic cards- in which case it may make a high pitched noise indicating it's not getting power.

Or it could be your PSU is overloaded and/or dying.
Click to expand...

The high pitch would come from the video card itself correct? That wouldn't make much sense as my AVP 5x benchmarks hit exactly where they should according to online benchmarks. If one GPU wasn't on, that wouldn't happen I'd think.
I'm pretty sure that the sound came from the PSU itself. Any good techniques to isolate sound? I've heard that holding a cardboard tube to your ear works well.

This would be my 2nd Corsair PSU fail.....🙁
 
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I am going to rma it (AGAIN!) I can still RMA it. I bought it in August 2010 and it has a 5 year RMA.

Do you guys think I'm doing something wrong? Destroying PSU's? Am I loading it too heavily? Again, the exhaust from inlet/outlet isn't that hot. My specs are up above.
Opinions on the power supply i'm using for the load I'm trying to drive? I feel that is has something to do with resetting the power supply. Sometimes when I turn on the computer a) the computer won't boot as it sits at the black screen as the PSU screams b) the computer boots but the PSU is very noisy c) the computer boots and the PSU is relatively quiet. I *may* see a correlation between HD access and PSU noise, but right now its not happening. On my last boot I had to shut down, remove the plug, flip the switch and restart cause the PSU was just screaming sitting at the Win 7 desktop.
 
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The TX PSUs whine, that's just what they do. I wouldn't worry about that in and of itself. CFX 6970s and a 750 should be no problem for a 850W PSU either unless your using some obscene amount of voltage.

In the P180, you should have the option of flipping the PSU so that the intake is towards the bottom. There is a special bracket in the case just for that.
 
mingsoup said:
In the P180, the PSU fans essentially blows directly into the metal separating the top chamber from the bottom, becoming useless.
Click to expand...



Ummm, no it doesn't. If your power supply is installed correctly, the exhaust exits the rear of the case. I don't know how you'd ever get a power supply to exhaust up toward the divider in that case.

You do know that that large fan installed in your power supply is an INTAKE fan, right?
 
http://www.silentpcreview.com/files/images/p180/PSU-installed.jpg

I have mine installed like this except vertically flipped so the fan grill and fan is blowing towards the top of the case. I'll get around to flipping it soon, but I still don't think heat is a problem.

So the TX850 is known to whine? Could you point me to a source or other users with this problem? Just for peace of mind? Possibly what they personally did about it. Point me to a PSU that doesn't whine? Sizing PSU's has always seemed to be a semi guessing game for me.
 
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mingsoup said:
The high pitch would come from the video card itself correct? That wouldn't make much sense as my AVP 5x benchmarks hit exactly where they should according to online benchmarks. If one GPU wasn't on, that wouldn't happen I'd think.
I'm pretty sure that the sound came from the PSU itself.
Click to expand...
The sound I'm reffering to with a graphic card is basically a built-in warning sound that the card isn't getting power- it's usually a pretty distinct noise, and the computer probably wouldn't power up if this was the case. But it doesn't sound like this is your system's problem.

Any good techniques to isolate sound? I've heard that holding a cardboard tube to your ear works well.

This would be my 2nd Corsair PSU fail.....🙁
Click to expand...
If you can, just take the side door off the case, lay it flat, and power it up, listening for the source of noise, especially around the PSU since that is probably most suspect.

It pays for any PC enthusiast to have a spare PSU around somewhere. You don't really even need to install one just to test things out- you can unhook the suspect one, and just temp-connect a spare with the minimum needed connections to boot and diagnose the problem. If the machine works fine, then remove the old and install the new PSU. If the same problem exists, then it's something other than the PSU.

Yeah, it's an added expense having a spare around, but for my own saved time and hair not pulled out, well worth it.

I've always had good results with Corsair PSUs- if that turn out to be the issue, you might want to consider that something in your set up might be blowing out PSUs. Maybe it is heat. Maybe your power from the outlet isn't clean enough. (As in, you may need a UPS). Brownouts in particular can murder a system, and a good PSU will actually take the hit rather than your more valuable components.

Or maybe that particular model of Corsair PSU has a higher than normal failure rate. Sometimes you have to do a little investigation of these things and rule out one possibility at a time.
 
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I've got an Antec 750W I'll replace the Corsair with while I wait on RMA. Is it the inductor coils that make that noise? What other components of a PSU could be making these noises?
 
mingsoup said:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/files/images/p180/PSU-installed.jpg

I have mine installed like this except vertically flipped so the fan grill and fan is blowing towards the top of the case. I'll get around to flipping it soon, but I still don't think heat is a problem.
Click to expand...

I get a 403 when trying to view that file. I'm really confused by the orientation you're talking about. The 850TX has a single large intake fan that sucks air into the PSU and blows it out the back.

p182-psu.jpg


Please excuse the shitty cell phone picture and the wiring job, but you should have the PSU turn such that the fan sucks air from the bottom.

mingsoup said:
So the TX850 is known to whine? Could you point me to a source or other users with this problem? Just for peace of mind? Possibly what they personally did about it. Point me to a PSU that doesn't whine? Sizing PSU's has always seemed to be a semi guessing game for me.
Click to expand...

I don't have an article or anything as a source, but if you search this forum, you can find plenty of examples of people with TX (version 1) PSUs and whine.

For your system, I would probably recommend a 750W Seasonic build like this XFX for $85 AR.
 
mfenn.

Its the difference between the PSU label sticker facing towards us or away from us. Towards us the intake points down (the correct way) or away from us the intake fan points up.

Another thing I noticed. Changing Win7 from Balanced Power to High Performance immediately caused a noise at constant to emit from the Corsair. That was a definite. With my replacement Antec 750w, it doesn't do this anymore. No more whining. Haven't seen a hang on shutdown/startup yet.

Sending the Corsair back. Got RMA approval. I'll report back when I get the new one.
 
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Sounds like you've narrowed it down to the PSU then. If the Antec is working well, you might as well keep using it and put the Corsair on the shelf for emergencies.
 
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