Lound Ringing/pulse/alarm from desktop

[Flash Walken]

I'm getting a loud, alarm type sound from my computer.

I had disconnected it to move it, plugged it back in and then sound appeared.

I fired up the computer off and on, still emitted the sound.

I did some reading online and found that it is likely a powersupply unit problem, so I disconnected the PSU from everything, plugged it into the wall and switched on the power; no noise.

I then connected it only to the mother board, and bam, the sound. I figured this was because the mobo was drawing power and that that was where the problem was happening.

So today, I went and got a new PSU, 85 bucks later, I'm home have it all installed fire it up, and bam, hit with this annoying alarm sound again.

Anyone know what's going on inside my computer? It's not a whir or a revving sound, it's an alarm like pulse, like something no fan of that size could reproduce.

Help please.

[photon]

Kind of depends on the motherboard, do you have the manual for it (or know the model to get the manual online)?

But things that I could think of that might do that:

- No memory or memory isn't installed fully or memory is so dead that it can't be seen - try re-seating or 1 stick at a time if your motherboard doesn't require them in pairs

- No CPU fan, if the CPU fan isn't spinning and it's hooked into the motherboard, some will beep and halt the CPU so that you don't fry your CPU

- Could also be the video card, some video cards require additional power to them and will protest if the system is turned on without that power

[Flash Walken]

ARGH!

So I am almost certain that it's coming from the heatsink/cpu.

The major problem now though is getting this goddamned heat sink off!

It's got 4-corner plastic mounts and I can't get this bugger off without wanting to smash the whole mobo.

How do you get these freaking things off!?!?!?!

ARGH!

[photon]

Is it an Intel heatsink? What CPU?

[BlackArcher101]

Could it be a dead CMOS battery warning? I had that years and years ago.

[Titan]

Not helpful but we put an alarm clock in a buddies computer at work. It was funny.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Could it be a dead CMOS battery warning? I had that years and years ago.

Does removing/replacing the watch battery in the motherboard have negative effects that I shouldn't try replacing it as an option?

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by photon

Is it an Intel heatsink? What CPU?

I can't tell. I was gifted this computer so I don't know what the heatsink is, and I've never actually removed a heatsink/chip before (but I'm not a dolt, I looked up how to do it first before attempting).

I wish I could post a picture, but there are 4 plastic tabs on each corner mounting the heat sink to the mobo. These plastic tabs have two parts, one is white/translucent plastic going into the mobo, and the other is a black plastic piece that connects the white part to the heat sink.

At this point I think my only option left is to remove the entire mobo and try to detach things from the rear.

Such a pain in the butt.

[photon]

Some intel heat sinks have intel stickers so thought I'd ask.

http://www.frostytech.com/articlevie...id=2132&page=2

Does it look like that?

EDIT: Some heatsinks do actually require the motherboard to be unmounted to install.

[Flash Walken]

By the way, thanks again photon for your help.

The heatsink doesn't look like that, but the mounts to the motherboard are those ones.

The heatsink itself is large and square shaped.

I'm thinking what I need to buy now is thermal paste, and that should be it?

[photon]

Yeah you'll need thermal paste if you are going to remove it and put it back on, plus probably some Isopropanol to clean the old thermal paste off.

Though if the heatsink fan is actually the problem (i.e. it's beeping because the fan isn't going), that should be apparent without removing anything.

If it's a temperature alert, you'd probably be able to see right away that the heatsink isn't attached properly (I had that once where the heatsink retention bracket had actually broken and the heatsink wasn't making contact with the CPU).

[Flash Walken]

Because I can't get the heatsink off yet, I can't really tell the workings of it.

There was a fan on it with a separate attachment point on the side, I've just spent 15 minutes trying to find a picture, here's the best I can do:



That fan is working. There doesn't seem to be a fan that isn't working, but there is a MASSIVE amount of accumulated dust bunnies in there that I'm going to clean off (again, computer was gifted to me, I take better care of things than this).

Can you give me any clarification on damaging my system by removing the mobo battery?

[Hanni]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Can you give me any clarification on damaging my system by removing the mobo battery?

All it will do is reset the BIOS to it's original settings, which it is most likely already in.

[photon]

Yeah if you are paranoid or want to be safe, just go through all the different pages in the BIOS and write down (or take pictures) of all the settings so you have them, just in case things don't work after changing the battery.

[Flash Walken]

I am both paranoid and desire to be safe, thanks for the info guys.

[Flash Walken]

OK! SO!

Did a full clean of the tower, removed the motherboard, removed the heatsink, removed the chip, cleaned everything, blew everything out, put new thermal paste on the chip, re-attached, re-assembled everything, looks like a new PC on the inside.

Fire it up; RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!

Ugh. What the fark is going on here?!

[Hanni]

So it's not coming from the speaker right? Like that beep you hear when you turn a computer on, except more than once obviously. Is it a constant sound?

[Flash Walken]

It's not like the regular beep upon startup.

It's a constant, LOUD sound. Like, I can't stress enough that this isn't a 'whir' I am hearing, it's like an alarm.

As soon as I press the power button it starts, and as soon as I press the power button again it stop. Turning the PSU on and off doesn't activate the sound, only once I initiate the power up sequence.

[Buff]

Does it sound like a British cop car/ambulance? If so, I want to say that your computer has, or thinks it has a heat issue. I'm not sold on this notion though.

Are some beeps longer than the others? Almost like Morse code? If so, find out the code, and google beep codes.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Buff

Does it sound like a British cop car/ambulance?

Nope