The fan on the power supply appears to be working fine. I have tried
listening through the tube of a toilet paper roll and I thought the sounds
were coming from the power supply, but I can't be certain. I think the rapid
ticking sound would be much more rapid if something were touching the power
supply fan blades. Also, the fan appears to be spinning so fast that I don't
believe something touching the blades would prevent a successful POST. I
don't have another power supply to throw in for a test. I hesitate to have
my sister buy a new power supplies unless someone can tell me that power
supplies have been known to make such noises while causing a machine not to
boot. Thanks again for your replies!

Bill


Is the fan opn the Power Supply working?

Man - I would have bet money on a HDD failure. ;-)

At least if you can remove the hard drive, you can buy a $20-$20 adapter
and hook it up to USB and copy data off it for now.

Can you listen closely and pinpoint where on the remaining parts of the
system the sound is coming from?

Manual:
http://global-download.acer.com/GDFi... Step1=Desktop

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html