SOUND ON SOUND

[R_A]

Hello,

My audio PC occasionally will not wake from sleep. This was happening about once a month and now seems to be happening up to twice a week. The computer is ten years old, so I'm thinking that perhaps this is a mother board or power supply issue? The computer emits a loudish CRACK! sound approximately three times a day. Initially I thought that this might be one of the HDs clicking however I've run Window's error checks on them and they are apparently fine (both HDs are only 18 months old, whereas the PSU and MB are as old as the computer).

Needless to say, I am backing up my work frequently.

I'm happy to run a Speccy or any other diagnostic tool and share the information. Here are some basics:

OS - Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Motherboard - Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. H55M-UD2H (Socket 1156)
CPU - Intel Core i7 870 @ 2.93GHz Lynnfield 45nm Technology
RAM - 16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 533MHz (7-7-7-20)

The MB is home to a RME Hammerfall 9652 (requires a PCI slot) and I rather like this card, so I'm somewhat reluctant to buy a new computer before trying to fix this problem. Further this machine is plenty powerful enough for my needs. Though I guess I have had a pretty good run out of this machine...

Thank you for any help.

[Eddy Deegan]

The computer emits a loudish CRACK! sound approximately three times a day.

I would be mildly surprised if this has anything to do with the wake-from-sleep issue. I'd say it's more likely to do with thermal expansion/contraction on a subassembly anchored with an aging tightened screw. At least from the description you gave, assuming it's a mechanical 'crack' sound.

I've had various issues on a variety of computers with Windows combined with sleeping/waking. I've found it more reliable with later versions of Windows and hardware, but even today once in a blue moon it does't want to know.

For some weeks earlier this year there was an issue with Windows 10 waking from sleep on Dell laptops (possibly others, but I don't know that) whereby it would display a blank blue screen and you'd have to power cycle to recover. That was 'magically' fixed by an update a couple of months ago.

It might be worth googling your system/motherboard/chipset model numbers and seeing if there are any known issues, or common problems, with other users of the hardware.

I'd widen the search if necessary to include Gigabyte motherboards in general. This may or may not be useful/relevant but it illustrates the kind of breadcrumbs to follow when racking down such issues!

http://forum.gigabyte.us/thread/5087/wake-sleep

Hopefully others will have additional suggestions.

[R_A]

I would be mildly surprised if this has anything to do with the wake-from-sleep issue. I'd say it's more likely to do with thermal expansion/contraction on a subassembly anchored with an aging tightened screw. At least from the description you gave, assuming it's a mechanical 'crack' sound.

Interesting - thinking back the occurrence of issue did coincided with an upgraded of the CPU from a first gen i5 to a first gen i7.

I've had various issues on a variety of computers with Windows combined with sleeping/waking. I've found it more reliable with later versions of Windows and hardware, but even today once in a blue moon it does't want to know.

For some weeks earlier this year there was an issue with Windows 10 waking from sleep on Dell laptops (possibly others, but I don't know that) whereby it would display a blank blue screen and you'd have to power cycle to recover. That was 'magically' fixed by an update a couple of months ago.

It might be worth googling your system/motherboard/chipset model numbers and seeing if there are any known issues, or common problems, with other users of the hardware.

I'd widen the search if necessary to include Gigabyte motherboards in general. This may or may not be useful/relevant but it illustrates the kind of breadcrumbs to follow when racking down such issues!

http://forum.gigabyte.us/thread/5087/wake-sleep

Hopefully others will have additional suggestions.

Thank you - I'll have a Google session. When the wake up issue happens the blue power light of my computer slowly flashes on and off, this is combined with a very gentle clicking sound.

I've just unplugged my MOTU Midi Express 128 (this seems to be an occasionally problematic USB device after longish, yet successful sleeps - all of my other usb devices function perfectly). I wonder whether this will improve things.

[Eddy Deegan]

When the wake up issue happens the blue power light of my computer slowly flashes on and off, this is combined with a very gentle clicking sound.

That's interesting, and not something I would expect. If Windows has problems resuming from sleep then other than waking the drives up (and even then, only if they are HDD and not SSD) I can't think of any other reason you should get a clicking sound, certainly if it's ongoing.

Is it a persistent clicking sound or only for a moment or two? If you are able to, it would help a lot to identify where in the system it's coming from.

[R_A]

That's interesting, and not something I would expect. If Windows has problems resuming from sleep then other than waking the drives up (and even then, only if they are HDD and not SSD) I can't think of any other reason you should get a clicking sound, certainly if it's ongoing.

Is it a persistent clicking sound or only for a moment or two? If you are able to, it would help a lot to identify where in the system it's coming from.

I think the clicking cycle would go on and on. I'm gussing this might be the HD's struggling to wake up as the drives are both Western Digital 1TB WD1003FZEX Black Performance Hard Drive (HDD). The PC is racked (in one of those tough Carillon cases). I'm moving house next week, so I'll remove it from it's rack and open it up after the move and localise the noises.

I'm starting to think the problems are not as serious as I first thought.

[CS70]

There's a gazillion possibilities, but this smells of a hardware issue to me.

You mentioned you changed the CPU. A pin slightly distorted and/or not making good contact could cause issues like this. But so it could the power supply, a bad disk controller, a failing motherboard. Or just a bad wire. Hard to say.

[Bendy Carlos]

As someone who works in IT Support, I always recommend to end users to turn off Sleep Mode on any Windows PC. It truly is more hassle than it is ever worth.

[James Perrett]

When the wake up issue happens the blue power light of my computer slowly flashes on and off, this is combined with a very gentle clicking sound.

Sounds a bit like a power supply issue to me - possibly going into protect mode and then trying to restart? I've had switch mode power supplies do something similar and usually they fail completely in the end.

[resistorman]

As mentioned above, do not use sleep mode in Windows on a production machine, it’s just not worth it, and if you have an SSD for your boot drive, little time will be lost. I’d reseat the memory and all power and data connections.

[Pete Kaine]

Another for avoiding sleep mode on DAW's.

That aside, 10yr's for a PSU of that vintage is very, very good going. I wouldn't be surprised to hear it's on its way out either.

[R_A]

Just a little update:

I hung on a little longer and the case fan stopped working on start-up (it required a little finger spin to get going). This made me think that James and Pete were on the right track with the PSU. So I picked up a good quality replacement power supply and case fan from SCAN and had a trusted local computer hardware tech install them for me.

Whilst he was at it, he kindly reseated the CPU for me (Eddy and CS70 pointed out that the cracking noises could be caused by errors in my own installation of this minor upgrade).

The result - no more unsettling CRACK! noises and a much healthier computer. The repair came in at £85, which I thought was very reasonable.

Thanks chaps!

[Hugh Robjohns]

:thumbup:

[OneWorld]

As someone who works in IT Support, I always recommend to end users to turn off Sleep Mode on any Windows PC. It truly is more hassle than it is ever worth.

I found that too, seems to put the PC into a coma

[Eddy Deegan]

The result - no more unsettling CRACK! noises and a much healthier computer. The repair came in at £85, which I thought was very reasonable.

Thanks chaps!

Thanks for the update, that sounds like a reasonable bill and it's good to know it's fixed :thumbup:

[ef37a]

All seems to be fine now but I was going to say, for 10 year old MOBO, I would have it out and clean all the card slots and connectors. Pay particular attention to earthing pads around mounting screws (always M3?) and ensure they are all present and snug on assembly.

This Lenovo T310 upon which I am typing does not start from lid lift at least 3 times a week. Have to push the button. That never happened with my old HP i3 g6 which by the way I still use on the internet and have had no problems with so far.

Dave.