[David Bane]

Hello! I have a question about my cable modem. I returned my old one to my local cable office because it wasn't working properly and they gave me a new one. Actually, it looks like it's refurbished. Anyway, I hook up the new one I got and I noticed a faint "buzzing" sound. Maybe a better description would be a "motorized" sound as if there were a little cooling fan in there. But as far as I know, cable modems don't have cooling fans in them. Or do they?
What I really want to know is this sound I'm hearing normal? Is it safe for me to use it? It feels slightly warm to the touch but nothing out of the ordinary for an electronic device such as this. The AC adapter feels quite warm, but so did the one on my previous unit. I expect that to be warm.
It's a Comcast cable modem. Is there anyone that can help me on this? I would really appreciate it!
Thanks!

[Tekara]

Well, if there are no mechanical parts in the modem then the noise is most likely being caused by the arcing of eletricity. Common causes are capatiors that have died. It is something that I would get checked out, if it is an eletrical short the problem could potentially cause feedback in your other electronics or network.

[Marko Berg]

My external ADSL modem has been making a faint buzzing sound for years now and it is still going strong.

[David Bane]

Well, it's been twelve days since I got my new(?) cable modem and so far, so good. I notice that it only makes the noise once in a while and I have no problems with my connection or anything. I've come to the conclusion that the sound it makes is normal. It's like the sound my hard drive makes when it's active or when I visit a web page with a lot of animations on it.