Can you let it run with the case open?  If so ... get a can of
compressed air.  Let the PS heat up and start ticking.  When it does,
give a quick shot of air from the can.  Localize the air in different
areas of the PS.  Since the air is compressed in the can, it comes out
pretty cold (pressure and temperature being related).  You'll
(obviously?) need to do this a few times, shooting different spots on
the PS each time, until you narrow things down.  Since you're
localizing your cooling efforts, it should stop ticking when you cool
down the offending part ... or at least a small group of parts.  Might
give an idea of which bits are doing the ticking.

Your ears might be able to help you decide the general area to start
shooting air.  You also might want to vacuum the PS first, to save
yourself a lot of dust up the nose.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 9:16 AM, Matt Callow <mc-lists@tesco.net> wrote:
> Hi, I have a fanless power supply for my mediacentre PC which has started
> to make a ticking noise (5~10Hz i would guess).
> It seems to get worse as the PSU heats up. I took the PSU apart and
> noticed that one of the inductors was no longer cemented to the
> circuit board, so I re-glued it. When I plugged it back in, all seemed
> good =A0- until is warmed up. Then the ticking started again!
> Does anyone have any suggestions as to what else I could check to see
> what's making the noise within the PSU?
>
> Matt

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