noops@hm.com wrote:

>  My PC (several years old) started to emit a groaning /moaning sound

> at bootup a week or so ago. The low-pitched sound is loudest right

> when the power is switched on, then as the sound diminishes the pitch

> follows with it, getting lower and lower. After about one minute of

> less the computer sounds perfectly normal again and remains this way

> for hour after hour. It's only when the computer is shut down and

> cold-started that I get this groaning sound.



As Peter said, it's a cooling fan that's the source of the noize. Most

likely the CPU fan, second most likely the PS fan (because the PS fan

usualy knows intensety *levels*, which does not go with the slow

fade-away you're talking about).



The fan makes such noize because it is not well adapted for slow speeds,

which are only required when the CPU is still cold <-- at startup.



The most short-term fix is a dose of WD-40 (tested to be harmless; all

my hardware is covered in it to keep off dust), which will actualy do

only for a few weeks, so you'd practicaly need to be constantly

repeating it, but this saves you any other trouble.



The alternative is of course switching the fan for a new one, which

brings up two more points: If you buy an indentical one you'll be good

for another one of those several years. But if you buy a weaker one, it

won't ever emmit the groaning sound again, but could result in a

meltdown, if it's too weak to cool apropriately.



The most odd alternative lies in the history of computer hardware:

Really old computers didn't make any such sound on startup. Why, weaker

fans? Nope, no thermostate! The fans were spinning at a constant speed

(most probably optimal/maximum) all the time and there were no slow

speeds to make sounds on! So guess what, if you're a veteran, simply

unplug the CPU fan from the board and connect it to the wires from the

power supply (red with red [5V; low] *exclusive OR* yellow with yellow

[12V; high], then black to the nearest black to the wire you chose).



In either case, don't hold me responsible if anything goes wrong, I'm

just providing the info I gathered while fixing about the same problem

on my box.



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