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Computers 101

Q:
Help! My computer just started making a strange sound when I turn it on. It sounds like rapid ticking or rattleing (not hard drive sounds either) and goes away after a few minutes. Any ideas?

A:
Sounds like a problem with one of your fans (no, not the people who love you, the ones that blow air).

Your computer probably has two internal fans - one that sits on top of the CPU and one inside your power supply. Most of the time the sound you're describing comes from the fan in the power supply. Note they can make that annoying noise for a long time before they finally belly up and die.

However, if it's your CPU fan, you may have a serious issue. If that puppy dies, your CPU can turn to toast in a hurry (and trust me, they're not very good with butter and jelly).

So, the best advice is to wait till your computer is completely cooled off and remove the case cover. Turn the computer on and see if you can determine where the sound is coming from. If it's the CPU fan, that'll need repalced.

If it's the power supply fan, you'll need to repalce the entire power supply to get rid of the noise. If you think you're going to open the power supply and fix the fan - don't. They're not user serviceable. Besides, if you touch one of its capacitors on accident you'll take a nice little flight across the room.

You may want to listen to your hard drive too (it's the square, slim box looking thingy). The sound described in the question above probably isn't hard drive related, but it's always a good idea to give it a quick listen.

Remember, most of the time these power supply fans still work for years after they start rattling, so usually there's no rush - just keep a close eye on it. If that fan dies, your computer can overheat in a hurry.

Oh, after you're done playing with your machines innards, be sure to put the cover back on. Beleive it or not, your computer can overheat with the cover off. The computer is desigend to pull air thorugh the case in a certain pattern. If there's no cover, the airflow is all wrong and things don't cool as they should.

Tip of the Day

Who's That Site?

Web link - http://www.worldstart.com/tips/whosthatsite.htm

Here's a cool one. Have you ever needed to find out either a name or an IP address for a particular site?

OK, before you stop reading this tip and head to Amanda's section, just hear me out. This can actually come in handy. For example, if you have a firewall on your computer and are getting info that 209.15.178.71 is trying to get into your computer, you can use this tip to turn those numbers into an actual address.

Or, if you need an IP address for some reason (pay attention if you own your own domain), you can type in the name of the site and uncover its IP address.

Alright, so how do you pull off this digital trick? Easy:

1. Hit the Start Button, Run. Type "Command" in the Run line and hit Enter

2. You should be looking at a DOS screen. Type the following:

nslookup 209.15.178.61

Then hit Enter.

It should tell you that 209.15.178.61 is the IP for worldstart.com (note that it may spit our your ISP's info first).

Now let's do it backwards! (And you didn't think this could get more exciting!))

Type in:

nslookup www.worldstart.com

Then hit Enter

It should give you the 209.15.178.61 number (again, it may spit out your current ISP's info first). This is really handy for those who own web sites and have forgotten what their IP address is.

Have fun!

Amanda's Cool Site of the Day

Cat Tales

This site belongs to a wildlife park for big cats. Some of these kittys were household pets whose owners didn’t realize how much work the animals would be. Beautiful photos, sounds, and movies of big wild cats. (Mountain Lions, Tigers, and Servals -oh my!) You can also see photos of the closest living relative to the Australian Dingo, take a gander at these singing dogs – The New Guinea Singing Dogs.

http://www.cattales.org/

Do you have a cool site that you want to share? Send it to Amanda! Here's her address:

amanda@worldstart.com

Oh, and we're looking for non-commercial sites. We generally don't run sites that are strictly for shopping.