Loud Humming or Running noise

Whenever I am playing games (Bejeweled 2, rainbow web, flip words, etc.) on my dell dimension 4600c, there is a loud humming or running sound. It happens whether the game is online or on my harddrive, but does not occur on my other computers. This is a new hd, installed recently, and the same thing happened with the previous hd. Any fixes or suggestions?

Ruby

 

Hello RubyRed,

It may be one or more of the fans running - when playing games, the video card/CPU is working the hardest. If I remember correctly, the c designation on your model number means a small enclousure with space very tight - therefore more heat.

Regards - Charles

 

Thanks. If so, is this hurting my computer? I am on my 3rd hd in 2 yrs. Both died after 1 year.

 

Hi RubyRed,

What seems to be happening is that the heat keeps doing your hard drives in. EDIT: Then the noise is probably the HD fan. The HD has to work more because of paging activity (Virtual Memory) which is due to lack of System RAM and video card RAM.

This is the wrong system to play games on.

What are the specs - RAM and the video card? http://www.gtopala.com/about_siw.html SIW will scan the system for info. Its an execute and run - doesn't "install ".

I don't know whether this system can be upgraded or worthwhile to do so.

And heat will always be a problem because of the small size.

Regards - Charles

 

My system has 64MB of video memory and 512 MB RAM. Is it worth upgrading?

Ruby

 

Hi RubyRed,

The video memory is certainly underpowered. Should be 128 at least.

Don't know whether there is a seperate graphics card for this system or not. If its "integrated" with the Motherboard, you're out of luck - you would have to upgrade the MOBO and that's not worth it.

If it is seperate, its most likely an AGP connection - SIW should tell you that.

Regards - Charles

 

Hello Charles

I know a little about Bejeweled 2, it is really only a few pretty colours. I looked up the System Requirements for it:


* Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
* 500MHz processor
* 128 MB RAM
* Sound Card
* SVGA Graphics Card
* DirectX 7

It should run on a 1Mb RAM graphics card.

I can't offer a whole lot else, seems strange, but I wonder why the HDD is being "thrashed ". I would suggest updating the chipset drivers (Intel calls them Inf utilities) from the Dell website.
Just found it:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...aseid=R58201&formatcnt=1&libid=0&fileid=70069
Read the instructions lower down the page.

I might wonder if there is a problem with the IDE Controller drivers (one of the chipset drivers). That update should fix the problem if those drivers are the cause.

Here is the driver download page for your system:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...=en&s=gen&SystemID=DIM_P4_4600C&os=WW1&osl=EN
Tip, use Internet Explorer to navigate at Dell.

Matt

 

HI Matt,

This system is physically very small and depending on the environment, heat can be a problem, and the HD problem I think is heat related. These boxes stand on edge, and if they are not stood that way, that really causes problems with heat.

I forgot to mention to make sure to clean the dust out.

My Sister-in-law had one of these Dell "c" systems and had nothing but problems with it. She finally got a full tower system.

Regards - Charles