Arch Linux

svg1234

Member

Registered: 2012-03-13

Posts: 10

Archbang & Firefox: mouse movement causing PSU noise!

I recently installed archbang and have been testing it out. So far, I'm loving it. A few minor issues, but managed to solve each one without much fuss.

Strange problem: Whenever my mouse pointer is in the window of aurora or firefox, moving the mouse causes a scratchy sound from what I have now determined to be my PSU. Not a screech or whine (e.g. from mobo caps). It's relatively low-volume. I thought it was my HDD at first. It's a continuous noise that tracks the entire movement of the mouse. When I stop moving the mouse, it stops immediately. When I move the mouse outside of the firefox window, whether on the desktop or in another application's window (like file manager or terminal), there is no sound at all. My PSU is fine (just two years old and more than adequate power-wise). Has never made a peep before.

I originally noticed this with aurora (I'm using heftig's repo), but then I installed firefox from arch's repo and the same thing is happening (except the firefox noise is slightly fainter than aurora's). I have many different distros installed on this HD, with various versions of firefox, iceweasel, and aurora, and none of the others have ever had this behaviour. I also have win7 & FF on this system and there's no noise from them.

I have done nothing unusual to my installation. Haven't installed any other software. My FF add-ons are noscript and stylish. I tried disabling them just to test - but it made no difference.

The mouse is your run-of-the-mill USB microsoft optical wireless wheel mouse plugged into a USB port. Gigabyte H55 mobo, core i3 cpu. I do not have this issue with any other h/w or s/w setup. I tried plugging it into a different port, but it made no difference. I'll try to get my hands on another mouse and see if that makes a difference.

Anyone have any ideas? It's quite annoying.

Last edited by svg1234 (2012-03-16 02:47:16)

Philippe1

New member

From: Montréal, Canada

Registered: 2012-01-31

Posts: 9

Re: Archbang & Firefox: mouse movement causing PSU noise!

Hi svg1234,

By PSU, I suppose you mean Power Supply? I think I had this kind of problem a long time ago with Windows. In fact it was mostly happening with the mouse wheel.
If I remember correctly, it had nothing to do with the Power Supply but with the Sound Panel.
I think it was related to PHONE or something like that. I know it is kind of vague but go in Alsamixer and try muting things around to see if it changes anything.

Philippe

svg1234

Member

Registered: 2012-03-13

Posts: 10

Re: Archbang & Firefox: mouse movement causing PSU noise!

Thanks for the reply (especially from a fellow Montrealer! . I'm not expecting anyone to come up with the answer/solution, but I do think it's odd that it only happens on my AB setup. If it was happening with FF on my other distros, that would be one thing.

When I was searching, I came across exactly what you were referring to. But the sound is not coming out of my speakers. I doubt it's sound-related, but I'll give what you suggested a try. Can't hurt.

I was thinking more along the lines of it being video related (the pointer is being drawn as it moves). It's a scratchy sound coming out of the power supply unit. Why would the mouse movement on AB/firefox do anything different power-wise than on my other systems? Ah well, not such a big deal. I could try another mouse. When I'm listening to music while on my PC I can't hear it anyway.