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From: poachedeggs on 23 Feb 2010 13:42
On Feb 21, 7:18 pm, "SteveH" <steve.houghREM...(a)THISblueyonder.co.uk>
wrote:
> poachedeggs wrote:
> > On 21 Feb, 14:16, TVeblen <Killtherob...(a)hal.net> wrote:
> >> On 2/21/2010 5:07 AM, poachedeggs wrote:
> >> <Snip>
>
> >>> What's your opinion on this? I started reading up about whether a
> >>> cold home could be bad for a pc, and saw some advice to stop at the
> >>> BIOS stage in cold conditions to let the machine warm up. The
> >>> terrible din hasn't recurred - the only reason I'm not at present
> >>> reacting to your splendid advice - and I've also moved the pc to the
> >>> least cold part of the room.
>
> >> <Snip>
>
> >> No. Heat is the enemy of electronics. Not cool-ness.
> >> A fan squeal is a mechanical issue. It would be aggravated by cold
> >> conditions but that does not change the fact that the fan is
> >> defective is some way - usual;ly correctable by proper oiling as the
> >> others have pointed out.
> >> Other than BIOS error code beeping, I can not think of a single
> >> instance where a noise coming from anywhere but the speakers could
> >> be software related.
>
> > We can ignore the fan noise now, it occured only yesterday and has
> > stopped.  I just need to learn more about my other enquiries here, the
> > instability with W7 - Windows Explorer crashing and whether it's to do
> > with awrong bios setting in relation to my 800mhz ram etc.  I've put
> > the posting on Asus' own forum too but it seems fairly moribund there.
>
> > Thanks  for any further input.
>
> Could just be the Elixir memory, I've never had any luck with it, and I've
> tried it on a few builds. If I do a build for someone now, they pay for
> Crucial or get a PC with no memory.
>
> --
> SteveH

In case anyone else looks here in the future with similar aggro, I
needed a newer BIOS, and the CPU fan needed some 3-in-1. All is well
now. I hope nothing was worn or overtaxed on the way to this
relaisation to the extent that the life of themachine is shortened.

Amazing really - the people that built this forgot to plug the HD
light in, fitted the CPU fan cursorily and didn't update the bios to
suit the processor, I'm almost tempted to name them...
From: TVeblen on 24 Feb 2010 12:47
On 2/23/2010 1:42 PM, poachedeggs wrote:
> On Feb 21, 7:18 pm, "SteveH"<steve.houghREM...(a)THISblueyonder.co.uk>
> wrote:
>> poachedeggs wrote:
>>> On 21 Feb, 14:16, TVeblen<Killtherob...(a)hal.net> wrote:
>>>> On 2/21/2010 5:07 AM, poachedeggs wrote:
>>>> <Snip>
>>
>>>>> What's your opinion on this? I started reading up about whether a
>>>>> cold home could be bad for a pc, and saw some advice to stop at the
>>>>> BIOS stage in cold conditions to let the machine warm up. The
>>>>> terrible din hasn't recurred - the only reason I'm not at present
>>>>> reacting to your splendid advice - and I've also moved the pc to the
>>>>> least cold part of the room.
>>
>>>> <Snip>
>>
>>>> No. Heat is the enemy of electronics. Not cool-ness.
>>>> A fan squeal is a mechanical issue. It would be aggravated by cold
>>>> conditions but that does not change the fact that the fan is
>>>> defective is some way - usual;ly correctable by proper oiling as the
>>>> others have pointed out.
>>>> Other than BIOS error code beeping, I can not think of a single
>>>> instance where a noise coming from anywhere but the speakers could
>>>> be software related.
>>
>>> We can ignore the fan noise now, it occured only yesterday and has
>>> stopped. I just need to learn more about my other enquiries here, the
>>> instability with W7 - Windows Explorer crashing and whether it's to do
>>> with awrong bios setting in relation to my 800mhz ram etc. I've put
>>> the posting on Asus' own forum too but it seems fairly moribund there.
>>
>>> Thanks for any further input.
>>
>> Could just be the Elixir memory, I've never had any luck with it, and I've
>> tried it on a few builds. If I do a build for someone now, they pay for
>> Crucial or get a PC with no memory.
>>
>> --
>> SteveH
>
> In case anyone else looks here in the future with similar aggro, I
> needed a newer BIOS, and the CPU fan needed some 3-in-1. All is well
> now. I hope nothing was worn or overtaxed on the way to this
> relaisation to the extent that the life of themachine is shortened.
>
> Amazing really - the people that built this forgot to plug the HD
> light in, fitted the CPU fan cursorily and didn't update the bios to
> suit the processor, I'm almost tempted to name them...

Why wouldn't you? You could be helping some other potential victim.

From: larry moe 'n curly on 25 Feb 2010 02:54


poachedeggs wrote:
>
> I have got a custom built machine: Asus M2N68-AM SE2 motherboard with
> an AMD Athlon I X2 250 3 ghz CPU, plus 320 hd drive, 4 gb RAM
> (Buffalo, PC6400, a compatible speed with the m/b), PNY Nvidia G210
> card, running Windows 7 64 bit.
>
> I had some instability problems when I'd had some apparently faulty
> Elixir RAM - blue screens, and warped thing shappening on the
> display. For a little while, waiting for the Elixir to be replaced by
> a second stick of Buffalo RAM - asked for by me because the other one
> seems fine - I only had 3gb, adding a 1gb generic stick that came with
> the machine. Today is the first time the CPU has made this terrible
> grinding din. It stopped doing this after I shut down and started
> again.
>
> Could this be simply because my home is unheated? February in England
> and no central heating, which I can't rectify without trebling my
> electricity bill. My laptop and netbook and other appliances cope and
> have for fifteen years here. I would prefer to ignore this factor if
> anything else is also possible, simply because this factor is
> unresolvable.

Cold isn't a problem unless condensation forms on the equipment, so
you want to keep it well above the dew point, especially for a couple
of hours just before you turn on the computer system. An old VCR can
be useful here because it contains a dew sensor and a front warning
light that glows when dew is detected.

I've never had an old AMD fan fail, but I've had several brand new
ones squeal (rear sleeve bearing not oiled at all; front had ball
bearing) or vibrate badly. All of these were made by Delta, which is
supposed to be good quality, and AMD seems to use Delta fans even when
the heatsink supplier normally provides a different brand. Sometimes
a fan makes noise because a washer inside is cocked funny, and pulling
or pressing the fan rotor can move the washer out of the way. Fan
noise has nothing to do with the WIndows version, memory, or BIOS
settings (except to turn the fan on and off or adjust its speed).
I've had good luck with Elixir (Nanya), but others have reported
problems with it, and just because some memory passes MemTest doesn't
mean it's OK; you need to run 2-3 different good memory diagnostics
for several hours each, with the memory at its default timings and
voltage. Don't trust DDR2 memory rated for over 1.80 volts or DDR3
higher than 1.50 volts because that indicates it failed at normal
voltage.

From: edfair on 25 Feb 2010 00:16

You may as well be looking for a replacement fan. They tend to go bad
again once you have to oil them.


From: RayLopez99 on 26 Feb 2010 02:13
On Feb 20, 10:06 pm, poachedeggs <poachede...(a)hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
> I have got a custom built machine: Asus M2N68-AM SE2 motherboard with
> an AMD Athlon I X2 250 3 ghz CPU, plus 320 hd drive, 4 gb RAM
> (Buffalo, PC6400, a compatible speed with the m/b), PNY Nvidia G210
> card, running Windows 7 64 bit.
>
> I had some instability problems when I'd had some apparently faulty
> Elixir RAM - blue screens, and warped thing shappening on the
> display.  For a little while, waiting for the Elixir to be replaced by
> a second stick of Buffalo RAM - asked for by me because the other one
> seems fine - I only had 3gb, adding a 1gb generic stick that came with
> the machine.  Today is the first time the CPU has made this terrible
> grinding din.  It stopped doing this after I shut down and started
> again.
>
> Could this be simply because my home is unheated?  February in England
> and no central heating, which I can't rectify without trebling my
> electricity bill.  My laptop and netbook and other appliances cope and
> have for fifteen years here.  I would prefer to ignore this factor if
> anything else is also possible, simply because this factor is
> unresolvable.

> All advice, as jargon-free as possible, would be appreciated.  Many
> thanks in advance.

Yes, the noise if from your fan and it's due to the cold. My PC is
also the same. But the noise has nothing to do with any other
problems, just as bad memory. Noise is just a nuisance, but it does
not affect performance, though sometimes if the noise gets too loud
(before the machine heats up) I tap the sides a few times, and that
breaks up the resonance and stops the noise.

RL

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