[rescue] PC Hardware

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Aaron Finley <aaronfinley at gmail.com>
>Date: 2008/03/11 Tue AM 12:07:45 CDT
>To: The Rescue List <rescue at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [rescue] Help finding flat cable to slimline IDE adapter

<snip>

>Finally, I found "reset to optimal settings" on the
>last page of the BIOS menu. Everything just worked from there. Oh
>well.

You know, I've built several dozen PCs over the years and read many articles 
on building PCs and I've never had a reason to use that BIOS option, and the 
few times I've tried it it never made a difference, but many MB manuals cite 
that as one of their first suggestions.

Another PC hardware story - I've put together a "nice" system (i.e. not based 
on the cheapest parts available) this past weekend, but there was an annoying 
problem with the fans - there was a constant "rub" noise coming from the 
chassis with 3 fans (front, back, and CPU) plus one in the power supply, and I 
couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I stopped each fan individually 
(by either pulling the connector off the MB or physically stopping the fan) 
and I couldn't make the noise stop. It had a cycle of about 2 or three Hz, and 
it was just loud enough to drive me crazy. Then I decided it was the Power 
Supply, but when I tested it out of the case it didn't make the noise either - 
I was at a loss, and I was going to scream. (I yelled at the system a few 
times in frustration)

Then I had a thought - I strapped the case fans (front and back) to the 12V 
power bus directly (the case came with adapters to do this already) and the 
noise was gone. Sun of a gun - the issue appears to be the fan control of the 
MB and the fans aren't playing nicely together (probably pulsing the power to 
the fans to throttle the speed). I've never seen anything like that before - 
I'd prefer to have the fans controlled by the MB, but I'm happy to have a 
quiet (and plenty cold) system now...

Gotta love PC hardware. Gotta, otherwise you'll go crazy!

Lionel