Corsair 4000D case vibrations

[marty]

Hi,

I have a system in a corsair 4000d case that sometimes has an annoying
periodic vibration noise every two or so seconds.

Brmmmm.... Brmmmm.... etc

Not always, sometimes the pc is fine and noise free for days.

If the solid metal side panel is taken off the case the noise stops, so
debugging is difficult.

Squeezing the two sides of the case by hand together sometimes stops the
noise for hours afterwards. Adding a wad of bubble wrap inside the case
and wedging it inside the vibrating panel did not really help.

The case has six possible noise sources. Two HDDs sideways in sliding
trays, CPU fan, PSU fan. Two front fans, and a rear fan. The noise
happened before I installed the second front fan. T

Does anyone have an idea of how to fix this?

--
Marty

[Bill]

On 10/7/2022 10:42 PM, marty wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a system in a corsair 4000d case that sometimes has an annoying
> periodic vibration noise every two or so seconds.
>
> Brmmmm....  Brmmmm.... etc
>
> Not always, sometimes the pc is fine and noise free for days.
>
> If the solid metal side panel is taken off the case the noise stops, so
> debugging is difficult.
>
> Squeezing the two sides of the case by hand together sometimes stops the
> noise for hours afterwards. Adding a wad of bubble wrap inside the case
> and wedging it inside the vibrating panel did not really help.

Ah, so you've identified the vibrating panel? That would drive me nuts
too. Apparently the side panel is changing the shape of the case a bit.
It might be interesting to apply forces to the case with the cover off,
to see if you can identity the source of those vibrations. I am not an
expert, but I would consider adding wedges around the vibrating panel if
I had one. Have you ever seen someone stick a penny under the
windshield of their car? If the wedges don't seem right, then maybe a
little "Duct tape" could help? Good luck! I'm pretty sure you'll be
able to find the culprit. Just be "methodical". It's the sort of
low-priority task that you can work on when you feel like it.

My current case made a "whistling" noise when it was new; I figured out
that the front case fan was blowing air through a steel grid. I cut it
all out with a hack saw and a pair of pliers. I probably voided my
warranty too, but I fixed it! ; ) Good luck!

[Paul]

On 10/7/2022 10:42 PM, marty wrote:

My guess would be a beat note, between the vibrations
of two unbalanced hard drives.

Cases such as the aluminum ones made by Lian Li, they have
a hard time damping out vibrations. The PC cases with heavier
steel panels (not the "tin cans" you can buy at newegg for $39.95),
those should be a little harder to disturb.

Another source of vibration, would be the water pump
on a water cooled system.

Modern hard drives have very good balance, and
can be quite quiet when not seeking (moving heads).

Your computer case is a bit on the unconventional side,
and it's really hard to guess at the fit and finish using
only promo pictures. A tempered glass panel should really be
mounted in a rubber framework to help damp it.

https://www.amazon.ca/Corsair-4000D-Airflow-Tempered-Mid-Tower/dp/B08C74694Z

Paul

[marty]

Sorry about starting a new thread, my follow ups disappear.

It was a hard disk making the noise. I have fixed this by using

/usr/sbin/hdparm -S 12 /dev/sda

which shuts down the disk and the noise after a minute or so.
The disk is only used for automatic backups once a day so waiting for
spin-up is not a problem. For the moment I have put the above command
in anacrontab but I will look at /etc/hdparm.conf for how to do it properly.

Thanks to Bill for suggesting 'be methodical' and Paul for disk 'beat
note' tip.

Cheers,

--
Marty

[marty]

Just testing follow ups!
--
Marty

[Marco Moock]

Am 09.10.2022 um 14:14:36 Uhr schrieb marty:

> It was a hard disk making the noise. I have fixed this by using
>
> /usr/sbin/hdparm -S 12 /dev/sda

Some drives have a jumper that disables the automatic spinup when power
is on. Many Spin-ups aren't good for a drive.