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computer makes harmonica noises!?

sonofslim

sonofslim

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 6, 2003
742
0
this isn't a mac question, but i'm stumped here... my parents got themselves a new computer for christmas, and yesterday i helped them set it up. it's a dell dimension 4100 running win XP.

this morning when i got up, i thought i heard someone playing the harmonica in my parent's family room. which is odd, but it was pretty faint and i didn't hear it after a minute, so i figured it must be coming from somewhere else.

but i sat down in front of their computer, which was asleep with no users logged in, and it did it again. a few bars of harmonica, clearly coming from the speakers. (a bluesy chicago style, thanks for asking.) i went through all the sound themes and couldn't find any "randomly play harmonica while sleeping" settings, and i can't figure it out.

am i going crazy and hearing things? is this computer haunted by a jazz man? in a word, wtf?
 
You are asking about a PC let alone a dell at a Mac site? sacrilege! its a pc need i say more? hope they loaded up on virus protection, my friends less then a year old machine is now useless thanks to a virus he got about 3 days ago. into the shop it goes.
 
You might have better luck finding something about this at the Dell help sites, rather than here, although there are some Wintel slugs around...
 
Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
You are asking about a PC let alone a dell at a Mac site?
Click to expand...

yeah, i know, i know... but i've been around these forums long enough to know that there are some smart folks here, as well as plenty of people who know their way around a PC. just thought i'd give it a shot.

maybe i'll pop over to dell.com and see if i can figure out how to enable a virtual banjo so this PC will play bluegrass while it sleeps.
 
that's one of the funniest things i've ever heard.

if you find the cause, be sure to post it here...

there was a thread here a little while back about people getting phantom music on their speakers, maybe search for that?

paul
 
I may have the answer.

If your speaker wires are not properly insulated, they can actually pick up radio waves and play the station very, very faintly. I've had this happen on my old PC, though it's not limits to computer type, just speaker wire type. I remember picking up a Japanese (?) station on my speakers once. That was kooky.

There is nothing you can really do to stop this (other than play something through the speakers to override it or get different speakers with sufficiently insulated wires), and shouldn't be loud enough to be a bother.
 
Originally posted by OutThere761
...there are some Wintel slugs around...
Click to expand...

Hahaha :D

I remember someone saying they had only used a Mac for about 15 seconds! Makes me wonder what on earth they are doing here :rolleyes:

Maybe the computer is possessed ?
 
my first thought was that the speakers were picking up radio interference, but the sound was nothing like what you would expect from that. it was very clear and distinct, no static, no other music or instruments (what are the odds the speakers are picking up the one and only broadcast harmonica solo?) and it didn't fade in or out.

it was just like someone was absent-mindedly playing a harmonica: a few notes, pause, a few more notes... "dum dee doo.... dee dum... doo dah." clear start and stop to each phrase.

anyway, i spent half an hour this morning sitting by the computer while it was asleep, waiting for it to make some noise. no luck. i'm headed back home this afternoon, so i guess my parents will just have to live with it if it happens again.

although the more i think about it, the less sense it makes and the more i wonder if i've finally come unglued... maybe instead of a dell help forum, i should check a mental health forum? wouldn't that be a fun thread:

new thread: brain making harmonica noises!?
 
next time that happens, plug some headphones into the speaker jack and listen. See if there is actually a miniature man playing the blues inside your computer :D on a side note, my sisters speakers pick up some faint mexican music so we switched speakers and now no more phantom music
 
This is really a harmonic brain wave manipulator to make You spend more money on Microsoft crapware. But really grab a guitar and play along.
 
guess what. I just had the same thing happen to me, while working on my brother's brand-new Dell laptop. I thought was loosing my mind, and was glad to hear that at least on other person had experienced this.

I'm still stumped as to the cause. The laptop was literally brand-new, with only MS Office installed on it.
 
Originally posted by oahudude
guess what. I just had the same thing happen to me, while working on my brother's brand-new Dell laptop. I thought was loosing my mind, and was glad to hear that at least on other person had experienced this.

I'm still stumped as to the cause. The laptop was literally brand-new, with only MS Office installed on it.
Click to expand...

Spybot. AdAware.
 
Originally posted by oahudude
I'm still stumped as to the cause. The laptop was literally brand-new, with only MS Office installed on it.
Click to expand...

seriously? harmonica noises? so i'm not losing my mind? awesome! and likewise, my parent's dell was just out of the box. no downloads, only various hardware drivers installed, which is why i don't think it was spyware/adbot related.

besides, who makes spyware with a soundtrack?
 
Originally posted by sonofslim
seriously? harmonica noises? so i'm not losing my mind? awesome! and likewise, my parent's dell was just out of the box. no downloads, only various hardware drivers installed, which is why i don't think it was spyware/adbot related.

besides, who makes spyware with a soundtrack?
Click to expand...

Dell does not support the removal of Spyware, which many people believe is because their machines are preinstalled with Spyware.

It *never* hurts to run AdAware/Spybot. You can pick up Spyware just by going to a webpage, and it's probably the best theory as to the cause of this problem.
 
I did a search for Spyware on my sister's computer because it displayed a lot of unusual behavior and it had literally 1000's of instances of spyware, pop up banners installed in various directories of her Windows folder in order to pop up at certain timed instances, etc. It's truly scary to see the level of infestation your PC can suffer.
 
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
I did a search for Spyware on my sister's computer because it displayed a lot of unusual behavior and it had literally 1000's of instances of spyware, pop up banners installed in various directories of her Windows folder in order to pop up at certain timed instances, etc. It's truly scary to see the level of infestation your PC can suffer.
Click to expand...

Even scarier when your PC can ship with Spyware and Dell not offer help with removing it.
 
yikes... the things we take for granted, running macs. guess i'll tell the folks to run Spybot or something.

(still, though... harmonica noises!? wtf?)
 
Originally posted by sonofslim
yikes... the things we take for granted, running macs. guess i'll tell the folks to run Spybot or something.

(still, though... harmonica noises!? wtf?)
Click to expand...

It's not too surprising. Spyware is almost always "cute" little applications that people who aren't in the know like, and see as benign.
 
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