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March 14, 2008
Dear CNET members,
Happy Friday! I hope this newsletter finds everyone well. This week's topic is all about that odd humming noise that suddenly developed inside Mike's computer and whether it is a cause for concern that it could possibly lead to a hard drive (loss of data), power supply, or for that matter, any kind of computer failure.
Well, Mike, any weird or strange noise is always a cause for alarm, and the tricky part here is determining where the noise is coming from. Since PCs have multiple moving parts, such as drives and fans (from CPU, video card, power supply, case etc.), tracking down where the noise is coming from will take some detective work on your part. The good thing here is that you won't have to do it alone, because you have many fellow community members who have contributed their time and energy to helping you diagnose the source of the noise and given you possible solutions to remedy your problem. After reading all of our member's recommendations, I see that the majority of our members suggested that the humming is caused by a fan within your computer, but we shouldn't rule out the possibility of other sources, such as your hard drive, CD/DVD drive, or any other components within your machine being the source--even speakers or even a loose screw can cause humming noises. Whatever it could be, my recommendation is to back up your hard drive now, just in case matters become worse than anticipated. Besides, backing up your data should be a regular routine for any PC user.
There are many great recommendations from our members, from basic to more technical. So to get the ball rolling, I will start you off with a few selected recommendations from your fellow members. However, please don't stop at that, as there are many other great suggestions within the discussion thread that will help you achieve an overall sense of what could be causing the odd noise and offer some possible solutions on fixing it. And if the solutions provided are not within your capabilities, my suggestion would be to get help from someone who has more experience, or taking it to a shop and let them take care of it.
Great information, folks, and thank you for sharing with all of us! Good luck, Mike and if you have time, post to the discussion and tell us how it all worked out. The topic is open for discussion, and if you have some additional tips, let's hear them. Have a great weekend, everyone!
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Member Question of the Week
Greetings, I am running Windows XP Pro SP2 on a custom
machine. My wife and I purchased this machine in 2004. We
haven't had many problems with it but recently the computer
has developed a hum while running. I fear that something is
happening to the hard drive or power supply. Is there a way
to troubleshoot this ahead of time to avoid a costly repair
and potential loss of data? Please advise me on all possible
scenarios and solutions, so I can narrow down this cause.
Thanks!
Submitted by:
Mike S.
Vote for the most helpful answer
 Below are the answers we've selected for you to vote on. Click on the title to read the answer by the member.
Here are the selected submissions grouped in one post.
Time to vote! Now that you've read our members' answers, which would you consider the most helpful? Click on the button to weigh in on the decision.
(Note: Below is the section to vote, please read the individual answers above before casting your vote below.)
 Answer by dlauber
Answer by waytron
Answer by High Desert Charlie
Answer by Impreza WRX
Answer by Zouch
For the member whose answer was voted the
most helpful by our community, we will send
this member some cool CNET branded gear.
 Previous week's Q&A
Many would say I'm just a dinosaur when it comes to
entertainment equipment. While it may be that I'm somewhat
"technology challenged," the fact is that there's just too
much other stuff going on in my life for me to stay on top of
entertainment electronics developments. I also don't want to
be on the "bleeding edge" like many others do. However, with
VCRs gone, I need a DVR. One desirable feature might be
having the ability to record some old VHS tapes to DVD. I'd
prefer one with dual tuners so we could watch one program and
tape another. My wife doesn't want to have to subscribe to
TiVo's schedule service. What other DVR's are out there that
I should consider? What brands and features should I
consider? Are there any to stay away from? Thanks very much
for the input.
Community Buzz
 Each week we take a look at topics discussed in the forums.
Have fun and enjoy!
More from the forums
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Check out next week's question:
Greetings! Windows has many annoying "features" that we all
have to put up with. My main complaint is that regularly
Windows decides to make changes to settings, which then have
to be re-set by the user. I'll give two examples. I
regularly connect USB external hard drives and USB flash
memory cards. Using Computer management's Disk Manager, I
will change the drive letter. My Toshiba hard drive is set
to (T:) and the Western Digital to (W:). My flash card is
set to (U:). These all have a desktop icon. I'll also set
the action required when plugged in to open a folder. Then
Windows decides to change the letter and prompts for what to
do, rather than automatically open a folder. Is there a
method to this madness, so that the assigned drive letter
stays assigned? Any detail explanation why this happens and
how I can fix this annoyance is appreciated.
--Submitted by:
Reg
We feature a new question every Friday, and if you have the answer for our member, you can submit it above. If your submission is picked by our members as the most helpful answer, you'll receive some cool CNET branded gear.
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