Today, I received and installed my copy of Windows Vista Home Premium x86.

 

However, since installation, I've come across this weird "buzzing" noise, for want of a better word. At first, I thought it was just happening when I tried to load a lot of stuff off any of my HDDs at once, but it has started happening randomly too. I have no idea how to describe it other than this really grating buzzing noise; it has also been accompanied by a second or two of system lockup once or twice. The only changes I've made in the past month is installing two advanced format Western Digital Green 640GB hard drives, which I formatted again using the correct sector allocation (I had to align them manually on XP) after installing Vista. The problem persists. I am going to be incredibly fed up if I find out it is in fact Vista (and if it is a problem), because I'm £85 out-of-pocket that way.

 

I'm really sorry for being vague, but I have no way of actually showing you it because it's random and not constant. If anyone can shed any light on this at all, please do. I hope it isn't something failing.

This feels like overheating to me, Check if you have a lot of dust in the computer and clear it if it's the case with a can of air. Also, why didn't you get Windows 7 instead of Vista?

This feels like overheating to me, Check if you have a lot of dust in the computer and clear it if it's the case with a can of air. Also, why didn't you get Windows 7 instead of Vista?

 

Nothing is overheating. The CPU is turning over at 25C and the GPU is at 73C (it's a G80 8800GTS, which runs fairly hot). Also, it's just preference. 7 just felt awkward to use in the RC phase; also, there was some issue I had with decoding HD H.264-encoded video that I don't have with Vista.

 

I kind of have a feeling it could be my DVD drive; I'll disconnect it tomorrow and see how it goes. I know for a fact that it used to make 7 seize up. Other than that, I have nothing to go on.

How you could even think it was due to overheating baffles me. Have you checked every screw in the case? Make sure nothing is loose. I've heard of similar problems related to the front USB panel on cases as well, if that helps.

Vidi, buzzing is very vague, I interpreted it as loud fan noise.

That doesn't mean something is over heating. That could just mean a loud fan.

I know, my graphics card fan is very loud, but is consistent.

It sounds more like a drive powering on/off, really. I've disconnected my DVD drive and I'm going to see if I can trigger the sound on shutdown.

 

[e] Two successful shutdowns in the last 15 minutes with no buzz from anything. One was a complete system shutdown to see if it would trigger, the other one was restarting for updates. I found out it would buzz on shutdown when I went to bed last night.

 

My DVD drive is 6 or 7 years old and uses IDE; maybe it's time for a new one. I have a spare LITE-ON SATA drive lying around somewhere.

 

Also, I would appreciate it if the mods could keep this open for a while in case it starts recurring.

 

[e -2] Happened again when I accessed my recycle bin. Honestly, it just seems like a drive spinning up and I'm being paranoid.

I probably won't be able to help further than this question... But, may I suggest that you check the drives with a utility that reads the "S.M.A.R.T." data? (If nothing else, it might help to relieve the paranoia?) :huh:

 

~D. V. "Just a thought..." Devnull

Eh, probably worth checking. They seem absolutely fine though; I was copying stuff at close to my maximum read/write speeds today, and there is no loud noise from them when they're idling any more.

 

I've heard reports of Vista thrashing the HDDs around a bit. I guess it just utilises them differently to what I'm used to.

 

Overall, the upgrade was worth it; it seems to run smoother than XP and I've not really noticed any difference in performance.