high-pitched, whining sound in all programs

If the sound is barely perceptable, its probably the GPU.  This is a relatively common and normal condition.

JK

Unfortunately, the high-pitched whining is not barely perceptible. It's very noticeable and annoying. I've had the laptop for 2+ years, and it just started doing this. (And for some reason it always kicks in, though it kicks in at other times as well, after my kids have played some CD-ROM games that they've played on this computer for two years, again with no problems until recently. It doesnt make the sound while they're playing the games, but it does when I return to working in Word.)

i had a very similar thing with my gateway laptop.....i had broken the screen and about a year later i got one off ebay... i dont know if mabey it was something on the lcd driver making the noise but whatever it was it got rid of it.  then about a week of use after that there is now an extremely high pitch noise coming from the gateway laptop all the time....im starting to think it is mabey the hard disk making a sound...thinking its the same effect as a crystal wine glass makes with your finger. some kind of harmonic thing with the metal disk(s) in the HD....  but with my 5100 i do notice a very faint noise when i move the mouse, when the HD is working, or when windows are popping up and down.

Sounds pretty similar to my experience (though I didn't purchase anything off E-bay, and it took about two years before this noise started happening). It's very odd. And almost impossible to work with. It's not there all the time, thankfully, but I'd like to figure out what it is so I could fix the problem. Have you been able to fix yours?

With mine, I'm positive that its the GPU, its only noticeable when you are in a VERY quiet location, even then its almost inperceptible.  Took off the keyboard to further localize the sound, defineately not the fan or harddrive.  Almost like a very faint cricket chirp when drawing some windows.  (Classic movie computer noise, only much softer). Looked it up on some other boards, and found that some GPU's will make faint audible noises, but its usually obscured by other system noises.

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/21226/

JK  

Message Edited by jk79 on 02-29-2004 10:05 PM

You sure it's not the CPU fans, CD Rom or hard drive making the noise? Out of the 1000s of laptops I've worked on, I've never heard sound comming from a GPU or LCD.

The 2600 and 2650 had an odd component that would make noise. I think I personally replaced a few hundred MBs to fix that problem.

Hey, I could be wrong. It's been known to happen.  I just haven't seen it and believe me when I tell you I've seen alot. Maybe it is one of the other components very near your GPU.

Which laptop do you have jk79?

I edited the message and posted a relevant link, I believe that is what I'm hearing, although it could very well be another component, the sound is most defineately electrical (I know that theoretically this isn't possible, but you get the idea),rather than mechanical.

JK

I5150 3.06 non HT, 512 MB, NVidia GeForce FX Go5200 32MB, fujitsu 60 GB, SXGA+, TM 1300 wireless

 

Message Edited by jk79 on 02-29-2004 10:19 PM