[Pc_Support] Intermittent, high-pitched noise from PC

[Justin M. Keyes]

hi guys,

I'm getting a randomly-occuring, high-pitched "eeeeee" noise from my
box. From several weeks of observation, it seems to occur under load.
>From watching gkrellm, sometimes it occurs on high CPU usage,
sometimes HDD usage--so it seems I can rule both of them out as the
origin. This thread[1] suggests that such a sound may be caused by a
motherboard part. Is that really possible/probable?

Another interesting thing is that the sound occurs quite frequently
within the first hour of cold-booting the computer. However, leaving
the computer on for weeks doesn't completely eliminate occurences of
the sound; they still occur almost daily.

I guess it must be the PSU. Is this a sign of a dying PSU? Is this a
sign of brownouts? Chad Perrin says that power fluctuations can harm a
PSU, motherboard, CPU, and even a hard drive.

Is an oscillating coil, as mentioned in the link[1], a harmless thing?
Is this the same thing that causes cathode-ray tubes to make a
high-pitched noise?

I'm just fishing for comments, similar experiences, or knowledge of
the possible causes and ramifications.

Thanks!

[1] http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=380488
-- 
Justin Keyes