Member Avatar for AllBrain

I just bought myself a new PC and there is some problems. It seems that when my hard-drive go over some amount of rpm, I get interference on my screen. It almost looks the same as when you get a cell phone call and your phone is near the screen. I have moved my pc around, pluged in another screen and check every piece of hardware in the case. No use. Please Help!!!

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— the pattern you describe (screen noise that lines up with hard‑drive activity) points to a component that is radiating or coupling noise into the video path. Several replies touched on grounding, shielding and outlets; below is a short, safe, step‑by‑step way to find what’s actually at fault and some practical fixes to try.

  1. Reproduce and log: run a file copy or a seek‑heavy benchmark so you can see exactly when the noise happens (watch the HDD activity LED).
  2. Minimal boot: unplug every nonessential add‑on (extra drives, network/modem cards, sound card) and boot from CD/floppy. If the problem disappears, reconnect devices one at a time to find the culprit.
  3. Swap simple parts: try a different video cable and a different monitor if possible, and plug both PC and monitor into the same grounded power strip. If you can borrow a known‑good PSU or HDD, swap those next.
  4. Cable and EMI fixes: separate video and power/data runs, keep the VGA/DVI cable away from IDE/power cables, and clamp a ferrite choke on the monitor cable and on the drive power lead. A grounded metal shield between the drive bay and the video cable often helps.
  5. Ground check & safety: make sure the monitor uses a 3‑prong grounded cord and do not use a cheater adapter. Unplug power before opening the case. If you feel tingling on the case or see arcing, stop and get an electrician.

Interpretation: if the noise only appears when the drive is active, focus on the drive power wiring, drive mounting and local shielding. If it follows you when you change monitors or video cards, the noise source is likely radiating into the video cable or the PSU. and were on the right track with shielding/outlet checks, and ’s grounding note is worth testing early. If these steps don’t find a simple fix, a shop with an oscilloscope can show whether it is spike/ripple on the supply lines or RF bursts and recommend replacement parts.

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Member Avatar for TallCool1

I just bought myself a new PC and there is some problems. It seems that when my hard-drive go over some amount of rpm, I get interference on my screen. It almost looks the same as when you get a cell phone call and your phone is near the screen. I have moved my pc around, pluged in another screen and check every piece of hardware in the case. No use. Please Help!!!

This is nearly always a power supply problem. Depending upon the cost/age of the case, either the PS is too small for the load or the electrolytic capacitors are dried out due to heat (this causes the voltage to drop and ripple to increase, leading to interaction with the video). The second scenario is usually due to the PS fan seizing up over time. In your situation, it's probably the power supply pooping out due to marginal specs.

Member Avatar for aeinstein

if u can bring it back to your point of purchase & exchange it as it sounds like it's not shielded properly.

Member Avatar for Doug

Make sure that something is not running on the same circut........... Try moving it to a different plug outlet. Doug

Member Avatar for MuddBuddha

The cell phone thing is common. I put my cell phone close to the monitor to boost the signal when at work cause we have very thick concrete walls - I, too, had issues with cd-roms causing the screen to flicker, aaaannnndd I did something about it internally - but it seems to be eluding me.........will call back later.

Member Avatar for MuddBuddha

now i remember! - it was a grounding problem. I was getting slight feed to the case from the drive -> this may not help you at all. I would take it back ->

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