Beginning to blur at the edges
For more than a week now, I’ve been sitting at my desk to the accompaniment of a faint, persistent beep. It’s about 60 bpm though its rhythm is slightly irregular; sometimes it seems to skip a beat or double up.
I have wandered around the apartment listening carefully and the only place I can really hear it is at my desk. It’s not coming from outside. I’ve checked all the closets and rooms for a mysterious beeping device and found nothing. I stuck my ear up close to all the computers and peripherals and there’s no noise but fan whirs. This lack of source brought me to my recent theory that the old lady next door is on life support.
But that theory was shot down when, in the spirit of thorough investigation, I turned off my computer. The beeping stopped. I turned it back on. After a moment, I heard beeping again. Argh. What can cause a computer to beep at a relatively steady and extraordinarily annoying pace like this?
I’d better take a backup now.
It may be a failing drive, or it might be dust in the fan. I’ve had both, and both made annoying high-pitched peeping noises. My husband David claims to be able to tell if a drive is failing by ear, even in a room with many drives, although he’s otherwise pretty much tone-deaf musically.
Hmmm. You’re an audio person; why not post an mp3 so we can hear the noise?
Posted by: ginny on December 13, 2006 01:43 PMYeah, taking a backup could be a good idea, as a possible cause could be the motor in the HD doing something funny.
Posted by: der on December 13, 2006 09:19 PMI want to here sum enterviews and stuff. t hat wood be kool.
Posted by: on December 16, 2006 08:20 AM