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I have had a PowerEdge 1950 for quite a while, then all of a sudden today it started to make a high pitched tone. It wasnt a beep code, because it was solid, during this the fans also ran louder than normal, despite temperatures being within normal limits.

Any ideas?

AffectedArc07
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    Like the whine of a failing capacitor? If most of the age 40+ people in your office can't hear it but younger people can, it might be that. – StackOverthrow May 07 '18 at 18:57
  • someone still using poweredge 1950?! – alexus May 07 '18 at 19:44
  • If you're going to open it, do it outside. You don't want your home or office blasted with dust. Also probably wear an apron and possibly a breathing mask if you suspect there's gonna be lots of dust. – user1306322 May 07 '18 at 20:51
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because we can't hear the sound. – user9517 May 07 '18 at 20:59

4 Answers4

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It's probably screaming to be put out of its misery. Seriously, thats a 12+ year old server you got there. They are easy to take apart and investigate. I'd get out a thing of canned air, take out the fans and blow them really well and then put it back and hope for the best.

dmourati
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My suspects in order would be:

  1. Power Supply
  2. Fan
  3. HD

If possible I'd start with opening it while it's running and try to isolate an area. The fans are hot swappable as are the power supplies if you have duals. If it seems to be one of those, pull them until you find the culprit. If it's a fan, you now have a new desk toy. Seriously. I wouldn't even bother replacing it. There's something like a dozen in that box. If it's the power supply, ebay is your friend. HD, give it a shiny new SSD.

I don't personally subscribe to "shoot it because it's old." If it is doing what you want in the way you want then keep it. Too much electronics in landfills as it is.

Jeff Snider
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Turns out it was due to excessive casing heat (Not CPU heat). After adding supplementary cooling, the issue stopped happening.

AffectedArc07
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I'm not sure about the noise because I don't know what it actually sounds like in this case. However, this is likely some sort of hardware failure. Check that your fans are all running at the proper speeds, etc.

This thing is also ancient. Might be time to take it out back and shoot it.

Spooler
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