A computer’s two main components are the motherboard and the peripheral devices connected. The motherboard has many components like CPU, GPU, HDD/SSD, and Fans that are essential hardware to components. Unfortunately, these components often have issues and errors.
Many users report constantly hearing a whining, high-pitched noise from their PC. Why is your PC making such noises? How can you resolve that issue? Here, we will answer all these questions and review each possibility. So, stay tuned!
Why Is My PC Making A Whining & High-Pitched Noise?
Dusty fans, aging motherboard components, loose wire and connections, loose screws, and bolts, faulty old hard drives, component overheating, and electrical devices that interfere with one another are common causes of high-pitched and whining sounds.
Dust in Fans: Dust may restrict the fan’s proper functioning and produce friction that leads to disturbing high-pitched and whining sounds.
Old components: Old components are the major factors producing high-pitched sounds. It is because they
Coil Whine: Coil whine is a normal process in computers. But if the coil whine is too high-pitched, you must resolve it.
Faulty Hard Drive: Faulty hard drives have faulty heads. These heads move back and forth on the data disk and make high-pitched noises.
Damaged DVD Driver: If your DVD drive is old, its motors and scanners produce this whining and high-pitched noise.
Loose Wires and Screws: Loose wires also contribute to these noises. Loose wires cause tiny short circuits.
Overheating Components: Overheating components often start to vibrate due to excessive heat. This vibration causes noise in your computer.
Dusty Computer Fans
Different computer hardware, like the CPU, GPU, power supply, and case itself, have fans. These fans are used to cool down the hardware whenever it’s overheating. If these fans are dusty and rusted, they will produce high-pitched noises. Here are a few tips to eliminate these noises:
- Use an air blower to clean the dust from your computer.
- Clean each fan individually using a soft cloth.
- Check fan connections and ensure they are proper.
- Replace the old fans with the new ones.
Proper Wires and Connections
Most of the components are attached through wires. For example, the power supply has many connections to provide current to your motherboard, GPU, hard drives, and DVD drive. The computer case spreads all these wires from one end to the other.
If any wire is not connected or has loose ends, it will cause electric pulses that will make high-pitched and whining noises. Therefore, properly connect all the wires to their respective slots and hardware. Moreover, follow these few tips to avoid this issue:
- Use cable management to avoid hanging wires in the PC.
- Renew the damaged cable connections.
- Replace old cables.
- Tighten the cable connections using a nose plier.
Tighten All Screws and Bolts
Your computer shakes when GPU, CPU, or PC fans spin. It can cause other components to vibrate as well. Also, if you have any screws or bolts that aren’t tight enough, they will make high-pitched whining sounds. You can avoid this by simply tightening these screws and bolts.
- Open your PC case, look for all the motherboard screws, and tighten them using a screwdriver.
- Now look for the hard drive and DVD drive screws attached to the PC case and tighten them.
- Lastly, look for the power supply and graphics card screws to tighten them.
Faulty Hard Drive
A hard drive has two main parts: the disk, which spins and stores information, and the head, which rotates back and forth and reads the information from the disk. If you have an old and faulty hard drive, its head will move and produce a high-pitched sound.
The only solution is to replace your hard drive with a new one. If you are looking for the best solution, then go for SSDs. SSDs don’t have any physical moving parts. It makes them fast but quiet while running.
Damaged DVD Drive
Nowadays, we don’t often use DVD drives. Instead, we prefer USB and other portable data storage devices. But, unfortunately, it makes these DVD drives old and faulty. If you have a damaged DVD drive, its dusty old motors and scanner will produce high-pitched noises.
You can replace the DVD drive or remove its power to avoid this noise. To do so, follow these steps:
- Open your PC case and look for the DVD drive.
- Remove all the connected screws and cables with the DVD drive.
- Now place the new DVD drive and screw it back.
- Just remove the power cable coming from the power supply to remove the power.
CPU and GPU Overloading
Component overheating is a common issue in computers. When you run demanding apps, games, or other tasks, your CPU and GPU overheat and produce high-pitched sounds. To prevent this, you must invest in a good cooling system.
You can either go for air-cooling solutions or liquid-cooling solutions. Liquid cooling is more expensive but gives you better performance and better cooling. Air cooling is less expensive and uses multiple fans. You can also purchase a good fan-speed controller to keep your system from making annoying noises from overheating.
Remove Electric Devices
If you have other electrical equipment close to your computer, it may also start making loud, shrill noises. To avoid this, please disconnect all devices from your computer. If you’re too close to many electrical appliances, your computer may start making strange noises.
Therefore, move all extraneous hardware and devices away from your computer. For example, computer motherboards have different coils that produce their magnetic field. If the nearby devices have their electrical field, it will cause the coil to whine.
Tips To Eliminate Whining and High-Pitched Noises From Computer
High-pitched and whining sounds irritate and can lead to frustration while working on any important project. Here are a few tips you can follow to avoid these noises:
- Clean your computer periodically to avoid dust and debris collection.
- Check your computer’s loose, broken, worn, and frayed wires.
- Renew the damaged cable connections.
- Purchase a good cooling system for your CPU and GPU.
- Replace faulty hard drives with SSDs.
- Disconnect any electric devices near your computer.
Conclusion
There are many reasons behind the PC whining and high-pitched sound, and we have listed the most important. Here, we have also described ways to get rid of this problem. These tips will help prevent such noises in a laptop or desktop computer. We hope this article resolves your issue.
Hey, I’m Hammad. I have been writing for several years now and have amassed a wealth of experience within my field. My focus is on technology and gaming, two areas that I am highly knowledgeable about. Also, I’m writer for iPhonEscape.com and CPUGPUnerds.com as well and where I have written over 350 articles.