New Kaby Lake XPS 13: coil whine

Thanks Alan, I've just returned it for a refund and will purchase a different machine until Coffee Lake comes out and maybe will try the 9370...

I spoke with Dell assistance two months ago, and I have chosen to keep my faulty 9360 with coil whine until another motherboard revision will be released.

It's useless for now returning your model I think, because A02 motherboards still have the issue

I'm another unhappy user of new XPS13. Sadly this laptop is nothing but huge disappointment from its purchase 6 months ago. My unit has coil whine but it's unbearable only when I use laptop with battery. On AC power it's twittering but I don't hear it most of the time.

There is new problem though. From the very beginning I was suffering from regular freezes of the system. I use Linux Mint 18.1. It happens once a day at least and it looks like it's related to either high load or GPU use. Often it hangs (permanently) when I use Google Chrome. I tried updating Intel driver but it didn't help much. I also tested RAM and it gave no errors.

But ~4 days ago XPS 13 started to suddenly shut down. On reboot I saw BIOS message that it can be related to overheating but the unit is cold. Now I can't use it at all. It shuts down after 5-20 seconds of operation. When it loads the system orange LED is constantly rapidly flashing. Unfortunately it happened in the middle of my travels thus I couldn't work. Also I'm not sure if I can use warranty because I purchased it in the US and currently I'm out of country.

As former DELL US employee and DELL user for last 8 years I'm *** off beyond repair. I spent almost $2K for top model that doesn't function well. It's my only tool for software engineering work and I'm constantly worried that it shuts down or hangs in the middle of some important computation or network operation.

What should I do, DELL ?

Service tag is < >

@Barton George

@DELL-Justin C

This really is ludicrous information coming from your sales team - I think i should just buy an HP Spectre  instead.

This is straight up lies coming from your online sales chat.

1:56:22 PM   Agent Michael_Paul

when did you place the order ?

1:57:05 PM   Customer James

07/07/17

1:57:20 PM   Customer James

11 days ago

1:58:32 PM   Agent Michael_Paul

Ok , after you did place the order we had a few other customer having the same issue , so the remaining machine were checked and tested for any such issues

1:58:42 PM   Agent Michael_Paul

So the machines we have now does not have that issue

1:58:57 PM   Agent Michael_Paul

You will not be getting the same machine , but a different one

1:59:14 PM   Customer James

Really? 11 days? This issue has been present since the 9350's

1:59:52 PM   Agent Michael_Paul

The machine did have but not any more

I had this, went through 4 different ones and 5 different motherboards and was the same with all of them.

at the end of it all i was told it was "operating within the design specifications" or something like that.

interestingly, Windows 10 XPS 13 9360 has quietened up somewhat. It would only squeek seemingly under load, e.g. intermittently when playing Minecraft. Now when it squeaks, it seems quieter. I wonder if it's the graphics driver update or BIOS update perhaps?

@Community,

Jared had previously mentioned here that there would potentially be a firmware update release in order to reduce noise. We’re now pleased to inform you that BIOS version 1.3.7 for XPS 13 9360 contains adjustments meant to reduce the noise level of the system. I’ve already seen 2 owners give me feedback that this update has helped quite a bit.

-If a significant level of noise still remains after 1.3.7 update and you have a system that was manufactured before January 1st 2017, you can call Dell technical support and mention SLN305206

-Any remaining electrical noise after BIOS version 1.3.7 and/or a motherboard replacement will likely be deemed by Dell as: working within specification. We can investigate any potential exceptions however.

@Community,

1.3.7  is no longer available. You'll now use 2.1.0.

Thanks. This worked fine for my 9360 running Linux. Just need to format a USB stick FAT32, copy the BIOS "exe" file to the stick, reboot, press F12, and select BIOS Update.

I haven't tested 1.3.7. I went from 1.3.5 to 2.1.0. I can confirm this update mostly eliminated coil whine for me (but I'll report more after a week of work). Previously it was very easy to test. I had coil whine only when unit worked under load ON BATTERY. It rarely had coil whine on AC power.

So after this bios update I unplugged the laptop and recompiled my project (Scala/IntelliJ IDEA). I can hear occasional coil whine only if I put my ear on keyword.

I'm on Linux Mint 18.2 with all updates.

So, everybody with the noise issue, how is it with the BIOS update?

A trustworthy Gentoo engineer I know says the noise is significantly less now blog.flameeyes.eu/.../

How's your experience? Is it now time to finally ditch the E7440? :)

I'm still without a laptop after returning my 9360 due to coil whine, because it appears that a lot of other brand laptops out there are also having the coil whine issue.

I don't remember coil whine being this extensive of a problem for laptops in all the years I've owned a laptop.

Here is a link of people suspecting that the issue is with Intel's Kaby lake.  Either the issue is with Kaby lake or it is just very hard to design a system with Kaby lake that will not result in coil whine.

If that is the case, does that mean for prospective buyers to wait for coffee lake?  That would be a very long wait.

I think it's whining one of the cheap elements around processor. I guess that they just decided to save a dollar on the components of the processor's wiring.

I bought zenbook ux430 instead of whining 9360. Guess what? it's whining too!

Not as loud as xps of course, but (in performance mode only) I can hear it. Unbelievable!l

Semmy777, what you said makes no sense whatsoever.  What wiring in the processor?  A CPU has no wiring.  Please watch a youtube video on how CPUs are made on silicon wafer.  Coil whine issues are caused by the underlying design of combination of power that it draws and the frequency that it operates.  Often times there are recommended design of the computer (layout of components and subsystems, combination of components used, etc.) for a specific CPU; such recommendation if not followed can cause coil whine.  Nothing to do with trying to save a dollar on wiring, just bad design.

But if you are saying your Zenbook is also having coil whine, it's adding evidence that the underlying issue is with Kaby Lake (assuming your Zenbook uses Kaby Lake).

I know what is processor :-)

English is not my native language, sorry.

By wiring I meant layout, and different components around processor.

And I still think it is whining one or several cheap components.