My PSU has started making a buzzing sound, fairly loud and annoying. If I turn the power off at the back of the PSU the buzzing is still there but much quieter, obviously if I turn the power off at the wall/unplug it, then the noise stops. Before I throw this PSU away and get a new one I just wondered if anyone had any suggestions. The main thing that interests me is the possibility that the house wiring is having some sort of effect (something a friend mentioned). The reason I thought that this might be the case is that I didn't notice the sound when I was at university, now that I've moved back home I can hear it. My mother's computers PSU (in the same house) also makes the same buzzing sound. My PSU is a Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro (750W) and my system is a 4year old C2D setup with a 8800GTS, so I am not overly taxing the PSU. Any thoughts? Edit: It's not the PSU fan. I just poked a wooden dowel into it to stop it, the buzzing sounds continues! Edit 2: Just noticed my monitor is buzzing as well
I'm not sure about a fix, but I had a similar problem with a very old PSU. It was made in 2001, and worked fine. It was used for a few years, then sat in a box for a few more. I took it out a few months ago, when I was getting ready to build a system, and plugged it into the wall, under no load. It immediately started buzzing loudly. I hooked up a CD drive to it, just to see. It didn't power the drive. It then began to smoke slightly. I decided that would be a good time to unplug it. I threw it out, got another one, and made sure that the outlet was grounded, and ran it through a surge protector, just to be sure. My dad had a similar problem with his old desktop, and it turned out the outlet he was plugged into wasn't grounded. Test the ground connection, if you can. Edited to add: Definitely check the outlet ground. If other components are affected, the problem probably has a common cause. Edit 2: I just remembered that in the one I threw out, the fan didn't even start spinning. It might have been shorted, but I don't know. When it was in storage, it did get banged about a lot.
If other components are buzzing, that suggests an issue with the electrical supply - try powering them from a different socket (preferably on a different circuit, even if that means running a long extension cable from another floor) and checking other items (plug a fan in to check whether its motor sounds different). If so, the only fix (aside from finding the source of the problem - like a next-door aluminium smelter or neighbour with an arc-welder) would be to use proper power filter (such as a UPS or a ferroresonant power conditioner). Edit: check to see if anyone is using Homeplugs (using the power wiring as network cabling) - these can cause interference issues.
I went in search of an extension cable this morning and tried using the newest sockets in the house. No more buzzing! I guess it is time to get the house wiring checked Thanks for the help.
