Xps 12 High-Pitched sound

Dear Terry

Thank you for stepping in!

I can confirm your first 3 points, but not the 4th:

1. indeed, The noise is not fan related.

2. indeed, The noise does not come from the speakers.

3. indeed, Windows doesn't need to be running for the noise to occur. However on very simple screens (like the boot setup) the noise becomes a simple high frequency.

4. NO, sorry, It seems sometimes the noise is louder when I pull out the AC power supply, but the noise never goes away.

It may still have to do with power, as in powering the screen...

Kind regards,

Mark

sorry for double-posting...

I have read this a couple of places,  how many of you feel that the noise is coming from the area of the LCD screen?

Thank you for the information so far.

TB

Hi Terry,

Sorry, can't answer your question as yet. I haven't been able to catch my machine making the noise lately. Maybe it has cured itself! (Yeah, right!) Will let you know as soon as I have anything.

Cheers,

A

Hi again Terry,

Well! Some interesting news.

The noise came back. I paid a lot more attention this time, and found out something very interesting. And, apparently, another possible fault. More on that later.

This time, when the noise started, I went straight into Diagnostic mode.

This time, the noise was a somewhat different, but I believe that was due to running the Diagnostic program. On my machine, it seems to be directly related to the Power Supply load - or, possibly more accurately, the program / CPU activity.

Today, the noise was quite consistent, and didn't seem to change very much with screen brightness. However, the sound was continually varying, if you can accept that apparent contradiction. Today it sounds much more like what was described by mlooman on 08-01-2013 10:45 AM. It depends what the program is doing.

I was running the Diagnostics. It was at 61%, though I'm not sure what test that was (Memory, I guess). However, I went to / stayed on the System Health tab. That screen reports all the details of Battery Charge, Health, Voltage, Current Flow, Charging State, AC adapter and CPU Fan speed. This is where I found a big clue to what's going on.

The System Health Data is updated on screen about once every second. This can be seen by watching the data changing. More importantly perhaps, on my machine, every time the screen was updated, the noise changed as well. The background noise was a steady high-pitched sound. But now, every time the screen was updated, a much louder 'chirp' sound was produced.

So, the sound was the high-pitched noise: zzzzzzzz, interspersed with 'chirps', about once every second, thus:

zzzzzzzzzchirpzzzzzzzzzchirpzzzzzzzzzchirpzzzzzzzzzchirpzzzzzzzzzchirpzzzzzzzzzchirpzzzzzzzzz...

It was close to perfectly the same each time, and didn't change much with screen brightness.

However, on this occasion, I was running on low battery charge, about 17%.

That's when I noted something odd. Previously, when running this System Status screen, I recall that the Battery Current Flow was just over 2 amps, Charging.

This time, the current flow was very much lower, and was very dependent on Screen Brightness.

Initially, when the noise started today, I was in my car, running on a 3rd Party Car Charger / Adapter. I tried unplugging and plugging in the charger, and the noise stopped each time it was unplugged. This time, it resumed when plugged back in.

So, I recorded some data from the Status screen, as below:

From this, it's easy to see that the noise is only present when the Battery is in Low Current charge mode. When the battery is charging at full current, there is no noise.

The question is, What is the cause of the supply going into Low Current mode?

As I was running on a 3rd party power adapter, I figured that would be the first thing to get the blame. However, on all previous occasions, I was running on the Stock Dell supply. So I rushed back inside with the laptop, and plugged in the standard, 45W AC Adpater. The noise was still there.

So, thinking that no one is going to believe this, I took some photos of the Diagnostic data on screen.

Not sure how to attach so will post this now anyway.

TBC...

Continuing...

On my XPS12, this problem seems to happen much more when the machine is cold, though I don't suppose that it universally significant. Anyway, it was back again this morning, running on the 3rd Party Car Charger again.  

First, let me correct a point from my previous post. I now realise that the Diagnostic Tests weren't actually running when I made the data records shown above. The 61% value is simply how far the tests had run before I pressed ESC, so really, the machine was in idle mode at the time.

I ran the tests for longer this time, and the noise varied a lot depending on the specific test that was running. However, I also realise that the System Status data is not regularly updated when the tests are running, so I quit the test routine again so I could see the data changes.

Obviously, there are some peculiar problems to do with the battery charging system and general machine hardware control. I guess (hope) these are all BIOS problems.

For a start, this morning, this happened as soon as I turned on for the first time. The PC was cold (it's winter down here). I was running in the car (my "office" much of the time) and the ambient temperature was low - maybe 15C. Last night - the previous post - I was mainly reporting from inside the warm company offices (about 22C). Last night, the fan speed was about 3600 RPM. However, this morning, with a cold PC in a cool environment, the fan was reported to be running continuously at over 5000 RPM. This doesn't make sense, and brings me to the other problem I mentioned last night.

Last night I noticed that the auto screen brightness control goes "inverted".  By this, I mean that normally (as you'd expect) when the charger is unplugged, the screen goes dim to reduce battery drain. (In Diagnostic Test stopped System Status display mode anyway.) When you plug the charger in, normally, the screen then goes bright.

However, on my machine when it's having these noise problems, the auto brightness control starts to work back-to-front. When I UNPLUG the charger, the screen goes BRIGHT. When I plug it back in, the screen goes Dim. This is repeatable. It seems that at some point, the auto-brightness control "flips".

I suspect this is very closely related to the Low Charge Current mode, but I can't yet say for sure. In fact, it seems like a few things are back-to-front. The fan speed also seems to be inverted - fast when cold, slower when warm. These two things may be directly connected, and may also be related to the Low Current Charge mode, and to the noise. On my PC these always seem to occur together - Noise and Low Current Charge mode - at least as far as I can tell -  which means I must be in Diagnostic mode in order to see the battery charge data.

If it's any help, I now have a collection of photos which confirm the Low Charge Current values, the Fan Speed and the Screen Brightness when plugged in and running on battery.

I'll see if I can send some of these by PM.

PHOTOS:

!2 August 2013, 16:16hrs, in Office on Dell OEM Charger, Low Charge Current, but Bright Screen, Noise present

13 Aug 2013, 08:01hrs: In car on Targus 19.5V Car Charger, Cold PC, cool ambient, battery slightly discharging, noise present, screen Bright!

13 Aug 2013, 08:03hrs: In car on Targus 19.5V Car Charger, Cold PC, cool ambient, battery High Charge Rate, Noise absent, Screen - DIM!!!

13 Aug 2013, 08:04hrs: In car on Targus 19.5V Car Charger, Cold PC, cool ambient, battery Low Charge Rate, Noise Present, Screen - Bright!!!

13 Aug 2013, 08:06hrs: In car on Targus 19.5V Car Charger, Cold PC, cool ambient, battery Charge Zero, Noise present, Screen - Bright

13 Aug 2013, 08:07hrs: In car on Targus 19.5V Car Charger, Cold PC, cool ambient, battery High Charge Rate, Noise absent, Screen - DIM!!!

There ya go!

Hope this helps, and look forward to hearing more.

Cheers.

A couple more pictures, taken when back in the office today, running off the Dell OEM 45W Mains Adapter / Charger.

At full charge current, Display is Dim, noise is absent.

In this case I guess it's hard to tell but believe me, with the adapter unplugged, the display goes Bright! No noise though.

A couple of other points. The system correctly reports the capacity of the Power Adapter that is connected, but for some unknown reason, sometimes it switches to Low Charge Current mode. I haven't correlated that to anything yet, except that when it does, the noise happens.

However, it happens more when the unit is cold, and more easily when running off the Car Adapter. Sometimes, messages appear (in Diagnostic Test mode), saying "Warning: Charger is not detected, please attach the charger now" even though the charger is connected and running.

To get the machine into Low Charge Current / Noise Generator mode, it's usually a matter of plugging and unplugging the power adapter when the machine is "in the mood". Sometimes, it is ok, sometimes, it switches to Low Charge Current, and starts making the noise. It seems to be something to do with whatever system is detecting the power adapter, the temperature and the battery charge state (%age of full charge), and then setting the charge rate. Sometimes it happens when you plug the cord into the side of the laptop, other times, it happens when you turn the adapter off and on at the wall switch.

Like a previous poster, I have listened carefully to the noise, and agree that it's coming from under the keyboard in the vicinity of the Backspace key. In my view, it's pretty much under the +/= key.

And it's happening now, on the Dell charger, as the battery approaches full charge. After unplugging and replugging the Adapter from the laptop, the battery is discharging, the screen is at full brightness and the noise is a buzzin'... Note that is says there is a 45 watt adapter connected, but no Charger is detected! Go Figure.

Please keep us posted.

Good Luck!

If any other XPS12 owners have anything else to add, of course, please do!

Huh!

Well, Hi again!

The Dell guys are not going to be happy to see yet another post from me about this...

I've just run my XPS 12 all day, on the desk, on Mains Power. It's quite warm now, since I used it in Tablet mode for a while just before my latest discovery.

I've just noticed that there is a continual noise now, as long as the mains adapter is powering the laptop. It stops as soon as I unplug the adapter. I'd say it's the same noise described in the post by dgbrenner on 07-25-2013 4:46 AM.

the problem seems to only be if you are in a quiet room AND the laptop is charging...  

I'd have to amend that slightly as my laptop battery is now fully charged (icon doesn't say "charging...", but it's running off Mains power. That's the thing. 

Anyway, I can hear the noise continually now, but it's different from what I have been describing previously.

This time, the noise is a much higher frequency than the other sound - this is almost at the upper limit of my hearing. I'm guessing it's around 25kHz. It's not nearly as audible as the "other" noise, but unlike the other noise, it doesn't stop or go away - it's continual while on Mains.

For a while, I thought it might be my ears, but it's definitely not. If I hold the laptop up to my ear, I can hear it much more clearly. It's best heard from the top side, but can also be heard from underneath. Still from the same place, near the +/- keys.

This is not good. What does Dell say?

Anyone who has XPS 12 can experience this.

Plug in earbuds. Volume down/up - then for a brief moment your headphone audio channel will be activated

during this time you'll hear static/white noise

you can make it permanent by deleting audio drivers. It has nothing to do with poor cable assembly inside ultrabook or power cord.

Is dell trying to fix this audio defect?

I've the same issue, Dell has already replaced motherboard speaker and internal power connectors.

I think the problem is coming from Hard Drive (or something related to it), if you run Iometer to test disk performance this noise change frequency and volume.

In my case the noise is louder when power supply is connected.

Can someone else test it ?

Has anyone found a solution to this problem? I just got my XPS 12 and I found out I could disable the noise by holding onto the auto rotate button. Once I release it the high pitched noise returns.

I ran a dell diagnostics check and it found no errors. BIOS is updated to the latest and I've tried to uninstall the audio drivers to see if it fixes the problem but it doesn't work.

Anyone have any other suggests?

Hah you are right.  Holding in the rotate button stops the noise.  

Dell, don't you have an XPS 12 that you can turn on in a quiet location and listen to?  Seems that everyone has this issue.  Those who don't probably just can't hear it.  I'm working in a library carrel that has a back and sides, and the sound echoes and drives me crazy...

P.S. 

I asked one of the visiting Techs if he knew about the noise issue. He didn't admit to knowing, and I suspect he really didn't know.

So, chances are, when the Tech does turn up, he won't know what the problem is caused by. I suggest you tell him it's most probably from a power supply component on the motherboard, and show him this thread before he starts work, or he'll probably be more in the dark than you are. You don't want him randomly changing the wrong parts simply because he's guessing. You'll end up with him having to come back several times, and each time he pulls your machine apart, the "older" it will get. The connectors inside these laptops are, of course, tiny, and fragile, so the less it's opened and played with, the better.

My advice is to listen very carefully and closely to your particular noise, and note exactly where the noise is coming from, before you call Dell. If it's from the area under the +/= key, that's a power supply issue, which I am sure requires a motherboard swap, so stick about when the Tech turns up and keep close tabs on what he's actually doing - or you might be left needing to send the PC back for replacement - at the risk of whatever data, software, etc you already have on your PC...