XPS 13 Kaby Lake: coil whine

@Community,

I'm working on the issue over here:

en.community.dell.com/.../19992655

I have one capture so far that's going to be sent to our engineering lab. It's up to 3 weeks away though.

I could use another capture or 2 if anyone else wants to start a case with me for that.

The problem is known for at lest 3 years in various XPS variants. Unfortunately each time Dell follows exactly the same path.

Gathering samples, testing and ... ending up with "whine is barely audible in office environment, so works as designed".

It happened with 15" 9530 XPS, 9550, 13" models etc.

If you are a customer and you hope that Dell will provide solution for the issue then stop dreaming. Dell history showed us that nothing gets fixed. All is documented on this forum. Just search a bit - tons of threads about this issue in last 3 years. No fix.

Here is example thread that was started 2 years ago with over 800 posts and the only Dell "solution" is: "works as designed".

en.community.dell.com/.../19992655

The _only_ true working solution is returning XPS and buying something else.

Just got a brand new Dell 13", top of the line specs, from Costco with this exact issue!  I updated all available drivers, windows updates, and bios firmware.  No luck...  I also notice the fan is revved even when there aren't any cpu intense things running.  I was just surfing the web reading about this coil whining noise.  After I shut down i realized how loud the fan(not the whining) was.  It's not as bad as the coil whine noise since it's a consistent hum.

I'm really glad that I stumbled upon this issue while researching the XPS 13. I bought one for my wife 4 years ago and, while it doesn't have sufficient connectivity ports, it's a great laptop and has never exhibited the coil whine issue. Curiously, I've looked at 3-4 Inspiron 13" laptops and none of them exhibits the issue. I'm no PC techie but it doesn't sound reasonable that the two machines would use different boards (but I'll that to the experts). The guy who posted about one purchased at Costco reminded me of a question that I wanted to pose. Does this issue affect all XPS 13 units or is it confined to only the touchscreen or non-touchscreen models?

I was sold on this model based on all other user feedback, the reviews and experience with my wife's XPS. Unfortunately, I'm now stuck. I need a laptop and I don't want to buy a second-tier unit but I can't afford the aggravation of having to return a unit because of the coil whine.

I agree with a previous post that Dell engineers have ignored the problem for too long. It's time to fix it and restore customer confidence in that particular product and in their fault analysis process.

this is my 3 minute video after new reboot that the machine is operating. Find me a QA that would accept this as a dev machine... Dell does not accept to replace it or refund. They will only change motherboard when they are available !! Insane 

@emm.vog Did they explain what they mean by "available"?  A new motherboard revision that specifically solves this problem? Something else? This sound is driving me crazy.

i also have the coil whine on my xps 13 9360. i got a replacement unit and it still has the same issue. they are offering to replace the unit again with a third one. i cant return it because its past my 30 day range. i would love to just get a refund and buy something else

unfortunately nope. just bought kaby lake 9360 and it is the same issue. going through *** dell support all over now. tracking my time since I have until end of Dec to return this ***.