Computer Update

[ysabetwordsmith]

Today I managed to get the toolbars in MS Word set.

I tried background sounds from ambient websites, and from YouTube.  It doesn't help much.  By the time the sound is loud enough to cover the racket from the computer, it's too loud to be comfortable.  Things like Antarctic Wind and Babbling Brook work best.  I've used nature sounds in the past to cover up temporary noises, but I hate the idea of not having peace and quiet as the general condition.  I'm too frayed in general to enjoy the ones with birdsong, and anyhow it would have to be a fairly constant sound to cover up the computer noise.  And pushing trying to get used to the damn thing is just giving me a headache.

I've tried moving the computer around, which helped some, but not enough.  So I don't think packing things around it to block the sound would help enough either.



We have one more thing to try, opening the case to see if I can figure out what  is making the noise.

And that's on top of the hideous Windows 10 tendency to make things move and crawl around the screen.  >_<

I hate technology.  We've been fixing things for days, and I'm still fleeing my office.

Comments

[jtthomas]

Ugh, yep, some CPU fans do that nowadays because of all the bloatware. Fingers crossed for you.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm not sure if it is the fan. I can hear air moving, but that part is quiet -- actually quieter than the huffing and wheezing my old computer sometimes did. I can hear an ultrasonic whine from most electronics, but this is lower than that, still high. At first it was steady, but then I realized that sometimes it wavers. I haven't heard the ultrasonic whine do that before. So thinking about it further, I wonder if it's caused by something rubbing against something else, which is likely to be a bad thing. Thus, if it's the fan, it might be something in the engine or gearbox that makes the blades turn.

Hopefully opening the box will shed some light on this. One good thing about this computer is that it has a pop-open case. You pull a handle and it opens, no fiddling around with screws. So I actually can just crawl back there and open it to listen and look inside.

Re: Thoughts

[kengr]

Alas, in computer fans the *only* moving part is the fan-blade assembly. Which is a single molded piece of plastic, a couple of strips of the flexible magnet material, and the pressed in bearing assembly. Speed is controlled by varying the frequency fed into the fan. So no gears.

the fan blades rubbing on a stray bit of cabling can make noises. So can things rubbing on the inside of a hard drive (a *very* bad thing).

It's also possible that some electronic component is emitting ultrasonic noise. Not much you can do about that.

On possible solution (if you aren't plugging in thumbdrives, CDs or floppies very often) is to use longer cables (or cable extensions) on the keyboard, mouse and monitor.

That could get you as much as 25 feet of seperation between you and the computer.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> the fan blades rubbing on a stray bit of cabling can make noises. So can things rubbing on the inside of a hard drive (a *very* bad thing). <<

Useful to know.

>> It's also possible that some electronic component is emitting ultrasonic noise. Not much you can do about that. <<

I had thought about that. It is often a problem for me with electronics. The fact that this is lower made me wonder, and when the wavering started, made me even more suspicious that it might be something else.

>>On possible solution (if you aren't plugging in thumbdrives, CDs or floppies very often) is to use longer cables (or cable extensions) on the keyboard, mouse and monitor.

That could get you as much as 25 feet of seperation between you and the computer.<<

I had not thought of that. I very rarely need to insert anything. 25 feet should be more than enough. I can hear the noise from about 10 feet away approaching the computer, but I can't hear it from the other side of the bookcases in the middle of the room, that's enough of a sound baffle to block it. If it were to be possible to obtain longer cables, then perhaps the computer could be placed on a smaller desk inside the book notch. That might solve the noise problem.

There are still a bunch of software issues, but we've managed to solve some of those. I've been told that it's not possible to strip out Windows 10 and replace it with the earlier version I was using, and this version is both harder to read and mentally grating. But we did manage to fix the start menu to a usable condition.

Re: Thoughts

[jtthomas]

You typically have to special order the long cables, but that's what school computer labs use so they do exist.

Worst comes to worst, when I make my big move cross-country I can drop off the old Windows XP computer I have sitting around. Should at least gain you a year or two.

Re: Thoughts

[kengr]

USB extension cables are fairly easy to get, Not hugely expensive either.

The monitor is going to cost more. Especially if it is HDMI rather than VGA. Oh yeah, almost forgot. If you are using VGA, you'll want a cable that also has a audio connector on each end for the speakers. With HDMI the cable carries audio anyway (if your monitor has speakers)

I've seen 100 foot VGA cables listed (for AV setups like in auditoriums). Last time I looked the "standard" lengths seem to be 3, 6, 12, 25, 50 and 100 feet.

I know they have long HDMI cables for home theater systems and the like, They're just higher priced.

[mdlbear]

Fan blades rubbing against a cable is a good thing to check for first. If there are air filters, clean those. Check all the fans -- there's almost certainly one in the power supply, one on the CPU heatsink, and at least one case fan. Possibly one on the graphics card.

In my experience, smaller fans fail before larger ones, and are noisier even when they're working perfectly. 120mm is a good size for case fans, and 80mm for CPU fans.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

The fans all seem to be inside their own boxes. I could see wires inside one but could not tell whether anything was rubbing.

[thewayne]

If you're able to determine it's not the fan, there are high-frequency signaling going on inside today's computers, that could be what's bugging you. You could try changing the video resolution on your display and see if that changes the characteristics of the annoyance: it would at least give you a clue.

If it is the fan (which I'm doubting), there are shareware programs that will get into the guts of the OS and give you control over fan speed, but I can't recommend any off-hand.

I thought this was a laptop, but reading the comments above I guess it's a desktop case with an external monitor. Maybe the noise is in the monitor. Both the power supply and video card have high-frequency components.

Do you still have your old PC? I'd hook it up and check what video resolution and refresh rate it was driving your monitor at. I am thinking maybe your new one is driving it at much higher numbers. And if your monitor is a little on the older side, it might be creaking a bit.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> If you're able to determine it's not the fan, there are high-frequency signaling going on inside today's computers, that could be what's bugging you. <<

I couldn't figure out exactly what it was.

>> I thought this was a laptop, but reading the comments above I guess it's a desktop case with an external monitor.<<

Desktop with external monitor.

>> Maybe the noise is in the monitor. Both the power supply and video card have high-frequency components.<<

It is definitely not the monitor. The noise is new and coming from the computer box.

If physical separation doesn't work. . .

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe you could put it in a cabinet? Even with ventilation holes you could cut at least the upper range of the sounds (well it worked for me, but not for a friend of mine with perfect pitch and better hearing)

If you put it on a rubber mat, that can eliminate subsonic vibrations, too.

Re: If physical separation doesn't work. . .

[ysabetwordsmith]

I had not thought of either of those ideas, and they seem worth trying. Thank you.

Yes, part of the problem is that I hear better than humans typically do. I can hear most owls flying and some bats squeaking.

[acelightning]

I kept hearing random squeaking or beeping noises from my husband's side of the computer room. It turned out that the rotating bearing of his desk chair was noisy, so I put some WD40 on it, and no more confusing noises.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

My chair does make noise. Fortunately it has controls that I can tighten, so then it makes less noise.

[pronker]

My sincere sympathies. Quiet is paramount to writing.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Also to health. I've been exhausted for days wrestling with this.

Today we popped the case open. While I couldn't find the exact source of the whine, it is a bit quieter now. Doug took out the CD he left in the slot and that seems to help somewhat.

[scrubjayspeaks]

Oof, that's no doubt most unpleasant. On the front of covering up the noise, maybe take a look at myNoise. In addition to a lot of lovely ambient and musical options, they have the "synthetic" section. If natural-type sounds are causing too much brain strain, perhaps something like white noise would cancel out the computer sound. The site has some information on fine-tuning these sound generators for just that sort of purpose. Might offer some relief.

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

That was one of several I explored. They almost all have synthetic sounds now, which are aggravating rather than soothing for me. I also tried YouTube, which has better quality of sounds. However ...

* I really need peace and quiet in order to be healthy, let alone functional.

* By the time a sound is loud enough to cover the noise, it is too loud to be comfortable.

* I can use music or nature sounds to cover a temporary noise elsewhere in the house, but not for everyday use.

* Making the noise slightly less loud has slightly reduced its emotional irritation but has not stopped it from giving me a headache.