Computer making sound when turned off

noise

My computer currently makes a constant sound when it is turned off. The kind of sound you sometimes hear from a television for example. A really annoying sound.

Could anyone point me in the right direction on what causes this sound? Some time before this sound started, my computer stopped working all together, which is still the case at this moment.

When I currently start my computer the following happens:

  • The coolers are running
  • The hard drives are running
  • The computer makes a constant sound of the coolers, it isn't going faster or slower
  • Nothing appears on the screen
  • CD/DVD-roms aren't opening

Best Answer

My money's on a bad power supply.

Power supplies are transformers, and they can make a very high pitched (I hear it as almost a hissing sound) noise, especially when they are failing/failed. In this case, it sounds like the power supply has given up the ghost and now makes noise, as you say, 'like a TV set'.

As to why this happens, I have no idea. I suppose this could be oscillation of a hardware component, or something. One message board says this about televisions:

As CRT TV's get older, the laminations in the coils get dryer and looser. allowing the coils to vibrate. This acts as an acoustic amplifier for subharmonics of the frequency the circuit that the coil is in operates at."

But I have heard the same noise on computers and very shortly thereafter, they are dead.

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