Prevention interference from HD

Hi all,

Can anyone advise me of some ways to curb interference coming from my hard drive.

Two people have been complaining in our apartment block, they claim when I boot my machine up they get a whirring noise which speeds up to a constant whine. After checking, I find it is my machine, and I`m 99% sure it`s my hard drive.

These two people are using AM radio (the only ones on the planet), and insist I do something about it or else they`ll complain to the building owners and CRRT (or whatever they are called)

Is there a cheap solution to this? Such as some kind of shield?

Any help would be appreciated before I strangle these people!!!

Why are you sure its the hard drive? I think I've seen something about fan vent patterns being possible sources, as well as the power cord/house wiring. This isn't real common though. Have you been able to reproduce the interference on a radio of your own?
Not sure how you would shield things, you could try aluminum foil perhaps?

Nah, I use AM radio all the time. It's where baseball is at.

I don't think it would be your hard drive if it's a constant whine. More likely the power supply. What kind of computer are you running here? This stuff is covered under FCC rules regarding interference induced by electronics devices. If there really is a case against you be your neighboring tenants then you in turn probably have a case against the offending device manufacturer.

There are specialty cases mostly targeted at home recording musicians which isolate the PC. These claim to reduce interference in both directions and keep the noise of the PC from leaking into the studio. They are expensive!

I would do a fact finding study to determine that it's really your PC. Get out your own radio for starters (and tune it to your neighbors' favorite station).

(^^;?(We are taught we must save such rare animals in danger of extinction on our planet. )

As Karsh says, it is not always HDD to produce such a effect. But it is possible for HDD to make such frequency as syncronizing or interfering. The cheapest way to to this worth trying is to change your DMA speed by the aid of utilities from HDD makers. Also suspect CPU and try to change its speed.

Thanks people, some interesting comments. I know it`s my machine as I`ve turned my radio onto AM, then as soon as I start my computer up, the whine starts. First it starts slow as though building up speed, then it`s a steady whine while the machine is running.

I`m going to start unplugging all the external stuff ie: cable modem, router etc one by one and see if anything is there (never know!).

Then start looking through the power supply, cpu fan etc etc.

Thinking about it, maybe the power supply is a problem. Just lately my machine has been acting up. Some mornings I have to start it up several times. Meaning, I press the power on switch at the front, the machine will start up for a few seconds then shut down. I have to go through this several times. Odd!!

i think its your SMPS has gone kaput. the base signal generator may have blown off. u may want to change the SMPS and test the interference.

And definitely remove the crickets ...