Hacker News Reader

Yeah, fly-back transformer hell.

I used to manage a network of about 400 computers. People would turn off their computer but the monitor would stay on, and if there were any loose components in there, I could hear the noise. I would wander around the building, trying to find the beast.

It was relatively rare to have a monitor that was that loud when it was synced up and busy showing the computer display.

Mass-market televisions, though... every damn one.

> rare to have a monitor that was that loud when it was synced up and busy showing the computer display.

Yes! Back then I could see a computer failed without looking at the screen.

Tom Scott covered this in a good video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA5UiLYWdbM

Beware of corona leaks, if you can really hear it and smell ozone you might have bigger problems than just noise.

Other than that: you may be able to varnish the coil and get the whine to become inaudible, make sure you use the right kind (HV suitable). Capacitors can also make quite a bit of noise.