Hi. I have emailed Gateway & Microsoft about this problem, but I am still not getting a straight answer. I'm not the most technical computer person in the world, but I am computer savvy. Hopefully I am posting this in the right forum, if not please forgive me.

I'm having a problem with the "tower" of my computer. I have noticed that when my computer is completely turned off, I can hear a high pitch squealing noise coming from it. It's nothing deafening or anything like that; it's just enough to be noticeable. The sound is more like an "electricity" noise, like what you would hear when you first turn on a TV after I long period of it being off.

This noise sometimes starts up right after the computer is completely turned off, or sometimes it doesn't start up until an hour later. Once while the noise was happening I unplugged the power cord from the back of the tower, and the noise stopped. When I plugged the cord back in the noise didn't return. So I don't know if this is a sign that to much power is being feeded into the system or not. Again I don't know too much about the technical stuff for computers.

This has been happening for the past couple of months, and I don't know if this should be something to worry about, or just something that happens as a computer ages.

I have a Gateway and I had it for about 3 years. I forgot to mention that the noise does stop when I turn on the computer.

Hi there and welcome to PC Help Forum.

If we're going to find the culprit here you're going to have to do a couple of things that you may not have done before.

1) Switch the PC off so that the noise begins. Open the PC case and use your listening skills to pinpoint the source of the sound.
2) Grab your digital camera and take a photo of the part that the noise is coming from
3) Upload the photo here and post it back into your next post.

That's the advice I received from Gateway. I never really performed this task, because I didn't feel comfortable with opening the case. But after I read your suggestion, I went back to the instructions gateway emailed me. It said something about unplugging all the wires from the computer (it's dangerous if you leave them in while opening up the computer). If I do that the noise actually stops. It stops when I unplug the power cord from the back of the computer. So there wouldn't be any noise after all the wires are unplugged. By the noise stopping when I unplug the power cord, is that a sign as to were the noise is coming from?

I just don't want to do anything to mess up the computer and I really don't want to pay god knows how much for a tech to open it up for me.

You won't. Just make sure that when you have removed the case carefully, you just don't touch ANYTHING inside the PC....you don't need to in order for you to carry out my suggestion

I will post the pictures this weekend, it's really hard for me to actually take time to sit down and complete this...lol

Ok, I finally did it. I had the cover undone and turned on my camera, to find I needed new batteries. So I had to run to the store and buy some new ones. So now I finally got everything straight and took the pictures.

The first image below is a picture of the inside as a whole.


The next picture shows the more isolated part to where I hear the noise.


The Third picture shows where I hear the noise coming from


The fourth picture shows a closer image of the general area of where I hear the noise.





The fifth picture is another picture of the area where I think the noise is coming from.


Whatever is inside the grey box, that's where I think the noise is coming from.

That is youre power supply unit , and i dont think it is a very comferting thought that it starts making noise when turned off..
Might be time for a replacement.

Not sure if it is relevant but how are the voltage outputts of the power supply? You can see that with this app:

http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php


And i think it might be a good idea to unplug the pc at night and when noone is at home ect..