Weird beeping noise from Parhelia?

[IM_Riktar]

I have heard every conceivable "beep" noise my computer has made over the last year. But since I put a Parhelia in I am getting some kind of wierd beeping noise after the computer is running for a short while. It sounds like a melody of sorts, and I swear it sounds like it is coming from the video card!

Does the Parhelia have some type of hardware monitor onboard that will set off beeping?

[KvHagedorn]

My GOD, man.. throw it out the window at ONCE and hit the deck!

[ALBPM]

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Matrox Minister of
Marketing and Product Development

"I remind you that they said that their strategy is based on shock and awe."

[Hazmat2k]

Re: Weird beeping noise from Parhelia?

Originally posted by IM_Riktar
I have heard every conceivable "beep" noise my computer has made over the last year. But since I put a Parhelia in I am getting some kind of wierd beeping noise after the computer is running for a short while. It sounds like a melody of sorts, and I swear it sounds like it is coming from the video card!

If it's Beethoven or Mozart sounding beeps, it'll be your CPU.
I've heard this a few years ago with a failing 486.

[VJ]

Wasn't there also a small batch of Pentium mainboards that had this in the bios ? (IIRC, put there some disgruntled employee or something like that)


Jörg

[Maggi]

Re: Weird beeping noise from Parhelia?

Originally posted in IM_Riktar's signature
P4 1.6Ghz OC'd to 2.113Ghz(133)|

I thought those P4s had built-in temperature control that would start beeping, once the core passed a certain degree of heat ....

[IM_Riktar]

I checked the temps when I first heard that but they were normal. When my mobo is overheating, it makes a disticntive alternating sound. Kind of like a cop car.

As I said I have never heard it before. Just for the sake of arguement I backed down the CPU to stock speeds. It doesn't make much of a difference.

As long as I don't play Unreal Tournament, or play DVD's for longer than 15 minutes I am just fine.

The song this thing is playing could be the classical version of taps? Maybe my years of overclocking is catching up with me.

[VJ]

Re: Re: Weird beeping noise from Parhelia?

Originally posted by Maggi
I thought those P4s had built-in temperature control that would start beeping, once the core passed a certain degree of heat ....

Yep, they do... The beeps depend on the manufacturer (possibly the bios or monitoring system). Good call, I hadn't seen his system was overclocked...

At work we have a PIII that gives a siren-like sound (very annoying, as the machine seems to be running quite hot lately, despite having a properly functioning fan); and my Xeon (Supermicro X5DA8) gives a continous beep (happened once, during installation made a small error... ).


Jörg

[FormerEx-SalesSoup]

Originally posted by ALBPM

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Matrox Minister of
Marketing and Product Development

"I remind you that they said that their strategy is based on shock and awe."

[IM_Riktar]

After doing a little digging I discovered the problem: The power supply in the computer! After setting the CPU back to stock speeds and STILL having the problems I started doing some searching for similar problems on other forums/groups.

A fair amount of posts discussed the PS requirements of the card. NAW I thought, that can't be the problem since I have a 500W PS. Admittedly it is only a Compusa/Powmax unit but the unit must be able to handle the load from my video card, right? WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

I went in the monitoring section of my bios and even though the alarms weren’t going off the 3.3volt reading was all over the MAP! The swings were so wild it was hard to get the exact readings, but they were off so much and at such quick intervals that the display looked strobe-like since the reading would change to red whenever the spec variable would be reached.

Fortunately I had an extra PS from a computer I am building for a relative (She can wait) and I replaced my PS with a 300W unit. ALL problems disappeared.

So I guess it's time to get a new PS for my box. I don't know if I should blow the budget and just get a PC Power and Cooling unit, or maybe a lesser brand (Antec, Enermax, etc.) but at this point I am extremely paranoid about the power requirements of this vid card. No apparent damage was done as far as I can tell, but voltage swings this severe is a proven formula for premature hardware failure that leaves a person scratching his/her head.

Anyone got a fully laden system (Parhelia included) that has a recommendation for a PS based on his or her experience?

After seeing this I am now wondering how many of the complaints regarding the stability of this card could be traced back to the power supply?

[GNEP]

I'm happy with my whatever-watt (430???) Channel Well (CWT)PSU - runs P+AMD2000+ and HDDs, cdrw, dvd, etc fine.

[Maggi]

maybe it's just an issue of distributing the load evenly over all powerlines that come out of your PSU ?

[IM_Riktar]

If your describing the physical hookups of the peripherals to the PS I do that as a regular practice in any computer I build. I have never believed in loading up one line until all the plugs are used and then going to the next one. Makes for a neater inside of the case.

[VJ]

Originally posted by IM_Riktar
So I guess it's time to get a new PS for my box. I don't know if I should blow the budget and just get a PC Power and Cooling unit, or maybe a lesser brand (Antec, Enermax, etc.)

Glad you found it !
(I assume the beeping came from the mainboard ?)


I have this unit (510XE):

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/power_supplies/highperformance_d/turbocools/index_hp_atx.htm

for a dual Xeon system.

The powersupply seems very smooth (allthough there is not that much hardware drawing power: 2 Xeon 2.4 (FSB533), 2 10K drives, G450, DVD drive and CDRW (system still needs to grow ). Ordering was no problem (device arrived in Belgium in under a week), questions I had beforehand were answered immediatly. The PSU has a great feel of quality (even the cables feel better - I know this sounds stupid ).

Only downside is that it is quite noisy (noisiest device in my computer), but bear in mind that my model is one of those high performance server whatsamajiggies. Most likely the other units will be more quiet.


Jörg

[Maggi]

Originally posted by IM_Riktar
If your describing the physical hookups of the peripherals to the PS I do that as a regular practice in any computer I build. I have never believed in loading up one line until all the plugs are used and then going to the next one. Makes for a neater inside of the case.

yup, I had in mind that you probably overloaded just one of the outlets, causing instable supply on others