My computer has learned to sing!

[clamor_m 0]

Actually it's not so nice as the subject may suggest... the thing is that since 2 or 3 days, every time I'm playing the computer starts beeping like mad, it's like a police siren (deedaadeedaadeedaa.......).
It doesn't come from the speakers but from the computer itself, like it's trying to tell me it's going to explode or something...
The first times I shut the game down immediately, then I found out that if I save the game without exiting it will shut up, only to start again after a shorter time, and then I save again a second time and it'll shut up but for even a shorter time... until it just keeps on beeping and I really can't do anything anymore... Once in a while it may randomly become quiet again when (for example, but not always) I zoom in/out, or I select some visualization (like trash, or education, or anything).
This thing just makes tha game unplayable, and I'm worried for my computer... It's not just limited to SC4 either, as it happens even when i play my other game, which is MoH pacific assault.
I don't know what's going on, can anyone tell me at least where you can find out what a computer is trying to say when it's screaming like that?
Thank you!

[xcalbier 43]

 does it just make this noise when you play simcity????

   Does it just make this noise when you play a city?then stop once you exit to thereagion?

If its the second answer then theres a lot causing it.Probly something you downloaded.

   Ps if your Pc just randmle starts making this noise even if simcity isent running then you have hardware problems .

[clamor_m 0]

it's happened in several cities, when I go back to region it stops and doesn't start untill I load a city again. It also happened in another game, but never while using the computer for other things.

[xcalbier 43]

If it has happened with other games then its defintly a hard ware problem.

   and I immange because simcity is a graphics hog that it could be your graphics card going going .

of corse this is just a gess .

   Psss take it to a shop to have it repaired if you can afford it because a little problem becomes a big problem realy quickly.

   for instance if it is the graphics card then it may be over heating the prosser wich is BIG problems im sure you know.

   anyway hopfully you will figer it out.

[clamor_m 0]

thanks, I really hope it isn't anything too bad...

[tchaos713 5]

Rather than the graphics card overheating (which would just trigger a GPU reset and blank your monitor for a few seconds), this sounds like the motherboard alarm telling you your processor is overheating. If you're not too technical, take it to a shop to have it looked at. Otherwise, see if your CPU fan is loose or if there is excessive dust or something obvious. Whatever it is, an alarm like that is BAD; get it checked out!

[Aramus 1]

hardware
could it be your video card?

does your video card need and receive enough power? did you recently replace it? the newer ones are more demanding, ie. a 300W power supply is often no longer enough. Also check if it has a power socket or two that need connecting.

or as tchaos mentions in the previous post:
other options are cpu fan failures and such... check your bios when rebooting and see if it shows the cpu temperature. if it's over ... say 70

[clamor_m 0]

aramus: I've got an ati radeon 600x, it's not so new, and I've had it it since I got this computer more than a year ago.
What I did now is open the computer and clean it as much as possible. It was full of dust, expecially the heat dissipator of the mother board which was really clogged. You know the stuff you find in your belly button every evening? On the heat dissipator there was a whole year worth of it... I'm running the computer now for the first time after the clean up, I think the problem should be resolved, except that when I turned it on it started beeping right away... now it's quiet though, and I want to believe that at start-up it still was a bit confused by what happened earlier on... I'll run SC and see what happens

[calm_blue_sea 3]

Yes, it may be a heat alarm that comes on when your video card is overworked, in which case cleaning could help (make sure your video card and processor fans are running alright too - you can check the rpms in the BIOS as mentioned). I had a similar thing happen twice to me for two different reasons. One time it was due to a short in my motherboard (I hope that's not your problem...my motherboard died a few weeks later). The other time it was due to a loose keyboard jack - the computer would beep repeatedly and then shutdown. Wiggling the jack would stop it (this of course was not game specific though).

[ten1902 4]

lol i dont know about the belly button stuff but when cleaning just make sure u use canned air, and dont clean by hand...i also recommend cleaning it atleast bi-monthly, cuz no harm will come of an oft-cleaned-computer!!!

[redfox85 659]

but, if you have a laptop dont go cracking it open to clean it out, it'll void your warranty and then you'll be in a world of trouble...

[joeynymets 19]

Can we hear it sing please? lol jk

heres some advice, try doing a virus and a spyware scan.

[newyorkstate 6]

interesting... must be scary...

[pepsi71ocean 2]

it's a mobo problem i'm almost certain. What type of processor do you have Intel, or AMD.

amd's don't shutdown if they overheat. however intels do, if i remember correctly.

 

i am certain it's not your GC, because the type of card you have would shutdown any your screen would go blank for a few seconds.

 

that's my first two cents. 

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Sounds like an overheat to me. Cleaning all that junk out may have fixed the problem, but remember bad things get worse.

[tagigan 0]

My motherboard has an alarm that makes a similiar sound

[clamor_m 0]

it's overheat, now I know: I saw it in the BIOS. Now I cleaned the whole thing even better, I hope it doesn't happen anymore. If it does, I'll bring it to the shop...

[SimFox 802]

It is MOST definitely motherboard alarm. And most probably about your CPU getting to hot! I assume you have a desktop system, if so open the case and check if fan on the CPU cooler is active. It could be either broken or some wires may jammed it. Check you motherboard manual to see what is where on it. Another thing is to check is this alarm settings. It may be just so that for whatever reason the alarm temperature is set to low! This could be adjusted from BIOS of your motherboard. Again you should find the instruction in the motherboard's manual.

Least probable but still possible situation is that alarm indicates problems with power. Some voltage could be off.

[mntoes 270]

A friend of mine clogged his computer up with dust in no time at all. The cause.... smoking near the computer. Seriously, all the smoke settled in the computer and dust stuck to it. Just goes to show passive smoking can harm you.

[clamor_m 0]

After thoroughly cleaning the computer with a bottle of compressed air I bought this morning, it seems to be working just fine... I believe the problem is solved
I guess it wasn't enough to remove the biggest part of the filth with a vacuum cleaner, I had to blow everything inside with compressed air to really get the sticky stuff off. Another positive thing is that the computer is running so quietly I almost can't believe it! Now my girlfirend will have no reason anymore to complain about it hehehe...
Thanks for your suggestions, I hope this is my last post in this thread

[tchaos713 5]

I'm glad this was resolved. However, if you start to have heat problems again in the next couple weeks, then you may have to investigate whether some old thermal paste could be the culprit.

Cheers.