BleepingComputer.com: Noisy PSU

I was making my way to the washing machine late the other night when i herd a horrible buzzing noise comming from somewhere. After crawling around for a short while i realized what appeared to be the CPU on my old Dell. I removed the side pannel and verified the source. It was not only making a fast buzz but to the touch also vibrated fairly intensly. My question is is this dangerous to replace if it is broken? And is this most likley the source of the poor performance isssues with that PC? I have read the threads on PSU's, but wanted to get some direct responces from people maybe who have had this same issue with this model.

This post has been edited by Shane-N: 19 February 2011 - 04:46 PM

The noise you are hearing is most likely the fan in your PSU. The fan in a PSU can be replaced but should only be replaced but someone who knows a little bit about electricity, as there are capacitors in your power supply that can give you a nasty shock if you don't know what you're doing. Power supplies are cheap nowadays, I would recommend you simply replace the who PSU.

You sure its the PSU fan?

Might be the fan on the CPU as well. I have never heard of the CPU itself making a noise.

You can test that by temporarily disconnecting the fan power lead from the motherboard and see if the sound goes away.

If you do plan on replacing the PSU be cautious as Dell has done some shady things in this area. On some of their models the connector on the PSU is the same but the wires are installed in a way that is not consistant with the ATX standard. Hooking up a standard ATX power supply would then fry your motherboard. Just to be sure I would measure the wire voltages and wire color codings to be sure the Dell power supply conforms to the ATX spec before replacing it. The good news if it is different is all you would have to do is adjust the wires in the new PSU to match the old Dell PSU to use it.

Ok, thanks i will check before i replace it. I dont know if this clues into anything but i have found by unplugging and then plugging back in the power cord the noise stops.

It's most likely that the fan inside the PSU has bad bearings, causing it to make noise. Unplugging and plugging the power cord will only be a temporary fix. You'll want to replace the PSU as soon as possible, if the fan quits it can/will overheat quickly and could be a fire hazard.

Unplugging the power cord will shut all the fans down in the system. It is likely a fan, the question is, are you sure it is the fan inside the PSU unit, or a exhaust/intake fan on the case or the CPU heatsink fan?