LC.YRS@forsythe.stanford.edu (Richard Stanton) (11/11/89)
I have recently noticed that on my system (an Epson Equity II+ with mono monitor), I sometimes hear a faint high pitched noise. For example, if I pop up a PC TOOLS window, and then get out of it, I hear this noise until I press any key, when it immediately disappears. Does anybody know what causes the noise, and is there a way of preventing its happening? Richard Stanton PSTANTON@gsb-what.stanford.edu
plim@hpsgpa.HP.COM (Peter Lim) (11/13/89)
Ever suspect the monitor ? I know some monitors which squeeks
when you display a big patch of bright color on screen. Sounds
like the coil is under some kind of stress ???
Anyway, I don't think it hurt or does it ??
Regards,
Peter Lim.
HP Singapore IC Design Center.
E-mail address: plim@hpsgwg
Snail Mail address: Peter Lim
Hewlett Packard Singapore,
(ICDS, ICS)
1150, Depot Road,
Singapore 0410.
Telephone: (065)-279-2289yap@me.utoronto.ca (Davin Yap) (11/13/89)
In article <340018@hpsgpa.HP.COM> plim@hpsgpa.HP.COM (Peter Lim) writes: >Ever suspect the monitor ? I know some monitors which squeeks >when you display a big patch of bright color on screen. Sounds >like the coil is under some kind of stress ??? > >Anyway, I don't think it hurt or does it ?? This happens on my laptop too. Explain that?
AIN14922@merrimack.edu (Doug Linder) (11/13/89)
In regards to computer sqeeekage:
I didn't see the original post, so I'm not sure of the specifics, but it sound
like a problem I encountered as a site-maintenance person for a PC CAD company.
Generally, our clients didn't know anything about PC's except how to use
AUTOCAD, and since they were architects with thousands of man-hours invested in
a single drawing, they tended to panic when _anything_ went wrong at all. One
of these mysterious things was an ominous sqeeek.
After much head-scratching and intent listening, I finally determined that the
squeeking was coming form the hard drive (not the power-supply fan, as I had
suspected). I was afraid of something severley wrong inside the thing
(picturing cylinders coming spinning off of a bent axle or something) so I
called the company (I think it was Seagate, what a pain the ass that was!).
They told me that it was a very common problem: turns out the rive had a "bent"
static dissipator.
A static disspator is a small piece of metal (usually copper) attached to the
bottom of many (usually older) hard drives. Its function, evidentally, is to
do as the name implies: dissipate static electricty generated by the constant
rotation of the drive. (and you all know hat random electricity can do to a
hard drive!) Evidentally, sometimes these little widgets come loose (I don't
know why they said "bent," it looked ok to me). All they have to do is loosen
up a little bit and the vibrations from the drive cause them to move very
quickly in a very defined space. Now, I don't know anything about it, but my
theory is that the squeek is some kind of harmonic produced by very rapid
vibration/rotation of the small, thin piece of metal.
At any rate, the company told me to "pull the little sucker off!" I didn't
want to (sounded to me like they didn't want to pay for a repair job) but they
assured me that it would cause no harm, so I did (but only because the thing
was still under warranty). Sure enough, after that the thing was quiet as a
mouse. I repeated the procedure with quite a few drives over time, and none of
then ever failed (at least, not in a way that had anything to do with that
thing). It tenede to distress client, though, seeing me manhandling their
equipment that way, so I usually sent them for coffee when I did it. :-)
So, take out your hard drive, turn it over, and if there's a little pice of
copper attached to the drive axis, thare's your problem. If you want to take
it off or not is your decision, I never had any problems. The only other thing
I could think of would be to somehow immobilize the puppy. At any rate, almost
all the newer drives I've seen have corrected this problem by just covering the
bottom of the drive with plastic.
Hope that helps,
--
Douglas D. Linder, Merrimack College, N. Andover, MA
ain14922@merrimack.edu
{uunet,wang,ulowell}!samsung!hubdub!ain14922ralf@b.gp.cs.cmu.edu (Ralf Brown) (11/14/89)
In article <89Nov13.102501est.18864@me.utoronto.ca> yap@me.utoronto.ca (Davin Yap) writes: }In article <340018@hpsgpa.HP.COM> plim@hpsgpa.HP.COM (Peter Lim) writes: }>Ever suspect the monitor ? I know some monitors which squeeks }>when you display a big patch of bright color on screen. Sounds }>like the coil is under some kind of stress ??? } }This happens on my laptop too. Explain that? It's probably RFI getting into the loudspeaker circuit. My first PC did the same thing. By the sounds coming from the speaker, I could pretty much tell where in a program it was, even with everything in a RAMdisk.... Tight loops, such as a delay loop or memory copy, were particularly loud. -- {backbone}!cs.cmu.edu!ralf ARPA: RALF@CS.CMU.EDU FIDO: Ralf Brown 1:129/46 BITnet: RALF%CS.CMU.EDU@CMUCCVMA AT&Tnet: (412)268-3053 (school) FAX: ask DISCLAIMER? | _How_to_Prove_It_ by Dana Angluin 5. Proof by exhaustion: What's that?| An issue or two of a journal devoted to your proof is useful.
mvolo@uncecs.edu (Michael R. Volow) (11/14/89)
[stuff about HD squeaks being due to vibration of anti-static tab] There were reams of messages about this in the National Hard Drive Echo. On solution is to remove the tab. I did not see any evidence presented for or against the functionality of these tabs, although most folks feel reluctant to remove them, assuming they serve some purpose. It is said that newer, tab-less drives use a conductive spindle lubricant, and that is why no tab. A proposed alternative solution is to damp the resonant frequency of the tabl by putting thick epoxy on the back of it. Other suggest moving the tab slightly sideways, so that the drive spindle rides against a new, unworn spot. Does anyone have any hard evidence for or against the usefulness of these tabs? M Volow, VA Medical Center, Durham, NC 27705 mvolo@ecsvax.UUCP 919 286 0411
ray@ole.UUCP (Ray Berry) (11/15/89)
<stuff about squealing static dissapators on hard disk spindles> >At any rate, the company told me to "pull the little sucker off!" I didn't >want to (sounded to me like they didn't want to pay for a repair job) but they >assured me that it would cause no harm, so I did (but only because the thing.. Recently I read a clever solution to this problem: dampen the spring with a dab of silicon rubber adhesive. A small blob of this stuff evidently intro- duces enough mechanical damping into the spring so that it is impossible for a high frequency squeal to develop. Haven't tried it but it sounds good. -- Ray Berry kb7ht uucp: ...ole!ray CIS: 73407,3152 /* "inquire within" */ Seattle Silicon Corp. 3075 112th Ave NE. Bellevue WA 98004 (206) 828-4422
ps26617@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (11/15/89)
I too had this kind of problem with my machine, and after taking it apart I also(like previously mentioned) found that it came from the Hard drive. Instead of taking the little piece of metal off(I'm not sure if I'm talking about the same piece as before, but it was located in the center of the drive, covering a small spindle) but I simply put a little silicon (or some other lubercant) in between the metal and what it was touching and this solved the problem Paul
PICHER@MAINE.BITNET (Michael W. Picher) (11/16/89)
Yes, the problem is with the little static dissipator. A better solution
than pulling it off is to use a little conductive grease between it and
the moving piece....
Mike
Michael W. Picher, / ** ** MicroLab / LexIkon Microsystems
Vice President / ** ** 333 Water Street
/ *** ** Augusta, Maine 04330
Picher@Maine.Bitnet / ** **** (207) 623-4012
/ ** Consultants and PC Compatible Manufacturerskraemer@peun11.uucp (Kraemer) (11/17/89)
yap@me.utoronto.ca (Davin Yap) writes: >In article <340018@hpsgpa.HP.COM> plim@hpsgpa.HP.COM (Peter Lim) writes: >>Ever suspect the monitor ? I know some monitors which squeeks >>when you display a big patch of bright color on screen. Sounds >>like the coil is under some kind of stress ??? >> >>Anyway, I don't think it hurt or does it ?? >This happens on my laptop too. Explain that? from: kraemer.pad@nixpbe.uucp In some cases the reason is a little piece of metal called static charge eliminator of the disc drive. It makes contact from the spindle to the chassis.
LC.YRS@forsythe.stanford.edu (Richard Stanton) (11/18/89)
As the original poster of the query, I;d like to thank everyone who has suggested reasons for my squeak. However, I've realized that it is not a disk drive thing (not that I don't have a ST 251 on my system, the source of much discussion a few weeks ago), but something in the video system. I have a mono monitor and Hercules clone card. The squeak is VERY high pitched - near the limits of audibility, so perhaps as I get older I won't hear it any more. The squeak only occurs at certain times using certain pieces of software. For example, I have just downloaded the JOVE editor, and while this is running and waiting for me to press a key, the squeak is there permanently. When I press a key that needs a response, the noise goes away until the screen is next redrawn. It sounds like it is coming from the computer box, not the screen, so I imagine it's the video controller board. I just wondered what some pieces of software do to write to the screen / read the keyboard that is different from others, that would cause this behavior only at specific points in specific programs. Richard Stanton pstanton@gsb-what.stanford.edu
bobmon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (RAMontante) (11/18/89)
LC.YRS@forsythe.stanford.edu (Richard Stanton) <5847@lindy.Stanford.EDU> : -As the original poster of the query, I;d like to thank everyone who -has suggested reasons for my squeak. However, I've realized that it -is not a disk drive thing (not that I don't have a ST 251 on my -system, the source of much discussion a few weeks ago), but -something in the video system. I wasn't gonna say anything, but... I can hear the high-frequency squeal from some video devices, including my CGA monitor and many color tv's. The squeal gets less annoying as my hearing deteriorates.... You can check whether your squeal is monitor or display card --- just turn off the monitor and see if the squeal stops or not. A friend had a laptop with an LCD screen that squealed. The noise went up and down with the screen "brightness". She took it back to the (Zenith) dealer, who said that all the screens on that model squealed to some extent. However, my friend's machine was excessively noisy, and the screen was replaced under warranty with one that was *much* quieter.
baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) (11/18/89)
>LC.YRS@forsythe.stanford.edu (Richard Stanton) <5847@lindy.Stanford.EDU> : >-As the original poster of the query, I;d like to thank everyone who >-has suggested reasons for my squeak. Maybe the squeak is coming from your mouse? :-). Ron Baalke | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov Jet Propulsion Lab M/S 301-355 | baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov 4800 Oak Grove Dr. | Pasadena, CA 91109 |
liberato@drivax.UUCP (Jimmy Liberato) (11/21/89)
LC.YRS@forsythe.stanford.edu (Richard Stanton) writes: >As the original poster of the query, I;d like to thank everyone who >has suggested reasons for my squeak... >It sounds like it is coming from the computer box, not the screen, >so I imagine it's the video controller board. There is a PS/2 Model 80 here that has a distinct squeal from somewhere in the main box. I would call it more a chirping sound. The funniest thing about it is that when a graphics program that does bezier curves is running the frequency range of the chirping varies proportionally to the acuteness of the beziers being formed. Figure that one out! -- Jimmy Liberato ...!amdahl!drivax!liberato
las) (11/22/89)
In article <5847@lindy.Stanford.EDU> LC.YRS@forsythe.stanford.edu (Richard Stanton) writes: }As the original poster of the query, I;d like to thank everyone who }has suggested reasons for my squeak. [It's not his hard disk]. }[The squeal occurs only at certain times in certain software and }seems to be related to what's on the screen. For example...] }the JOVE editor, and while this is running and waiting }for me to press a key, the squeak is there permanently. When I }press a key that needs a response, the noise goes away until the }screen is next redrawn. My old TI Pro (MSDOS but not PC compatible), has a high-pitched squeal coming from its speaker which behaves in much the same way. It always squeals when the machine is idle and waiting for keyboard input. It is quietest when the screen is clear and the processor is busy (not waiting for input). The speaker was too loud anyway, so I put in a volume control. Turning it down diminishes the squeal. Since I put the machine under my desk, I can't hear the squeal at all. regards, Larry -- Signed: Larry A. Shurr (cbema!las@att.ATT.COM or att!cbema!las) Clever signature, Wonderful wit, Outdo the others, Be a big hit! - Burma Shave (With apologies to the real thing. The above represents my views only.) (Please note my mailing address. Mail sent directly to cbnews doesn't make it.)
plim@hpsgpa.HP.COM (Peter Lim) (11/23/89)
I am posting this for Herman Ellingsen who can't post to notes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Herman Ellingsen <hpsgpa!hpfcla!hermane@ifi.uio.no> To: plim@hpsgwk (Peter Lim) Subject: Re: Why does my computer squeak? In-Reply-To: Your message of 13 Nov 89 09:55:00 GMT Message-Id: <CMM.0.88.627741880.hermane@aurboda.uio.no> Status: R I'm sorry, but I can't find the first poster's address. Lay your harddisk down flat. It's a hardcard? remove it from the hardcard, lay it down flat somewhere inside your computer. Yes, I know it can be difficult. That's why they made the hard-card in the first place. 'Woice-coil' harddisk (that's most harddisks) does squeak. This information probably should be available on the net, anyway. I'm not able to post. If you'd like to, feel free to do it. Herman