XPS 15 9530, WD22TB4 dock, horrendous high pitched noise when connected

I have the same model laptop and docking station for work, it makes exactly the same noise as yours when plugged into the dock.  It doesn't seem to make the noise at the office using their 1080p monitors and docking stations - so I want to try testing swapping the docking station if I get a chance.

As a side note, the fans on both the laptop and dock are regularly coming on, especially when using external 4k monitors, I've been wondering if it's possibly an issue with the integrated graphics and upscaling on the dock.

Getting a second docking station next week, will report back.

Meanwhile - Setting a custom power profile has reduced the whine significantly (at the expense of making the fans louder) - PCI Express->Link State Power Management->Plugged In=moderate/off

@coding_guy​ , such an insightful input made me think that you are more than just an owner of this laptop.

Also your point on the docking station and "PCI Express" power management convinced me to re-test everything more thoroughly:

1. Disconnecting all the monitors from the docking station does not change anything, the noise remains the same.
2. Changing PCI Express power savings to moderate/off indeed immediately eliminates the high pitched noise. However, there is still some minor noise from the circuitry (as if some insects living inside) and as you pointed out the fans operate more. So this workaround will not work as a permanent solution for me.
3. Since my WD22TB4 is mounted under the desk and I didn't pay much attention to that, I decided to listen to that closely as well. Apparently it emits exactly the same high pitched noise when connected to XPS 9530. After this I decided to test XPS 9530 with my old docking station "Dell TB16 Thunderbolt 3 Dock with 240W Adapter" and voila - the noise is gone.

So the conclusion is - either WD22TB4 has a firmware bug or XPS 9530 (possibly only with "Intel Arc A370M" discrete GPU) has some poor circuitry design or even components (which won't be a surprise considering new XPS is now made in Vietnam). 

I have the exact same problem with my XPS 15 and a Dell Dock WDS 19 s. Will need to give back and look for another docking station as this sound is extremely annoying! Dell needs to fix this asap.

Apart from this high pitched noise there is also some occasional ticking/cracking even when the laptop is not connected to anything or connected to the power adapter. Returned the laptop back to Dell.

I have the same problem with the brand-new WD22TB4.  I have tested with WD19TB as well.  The issue persisted only with XPS 15 9530.  Other laptops are working fine. 

I have the same combination of brand new laptop and docking station models. Dell sent out a replacement dock, but it does the same thing. Very frustrating.

@vallaka01​, @frjsignal 

This is most likely a hardware or firmware problem that will not be fixed since this laptop model is more than 1 year old and new version has been released.

As @coding_guy precisely pointed out, which made me think he works for Dell, this problem is related to PCI Express Power Management. So there are 3 options here:

1. Turn off PCI Express power savings as explained above and deal with fan noise
2. Use Dell TB16 Thunderbolt 3 Dock with 240W Adapter that doesn't have this problem for some reason
3. Request a fix from Dell and if not provided demand a return/refund.

Similar issue with XPS 15 9530 and WD22TB4, mine was constantly overheating and getting throttled. I have 3 and only one was having the issue, the one on the dock. Working undocked the laptop was fine. Happen to have a WD19TB dock on hand and switching to that has resolved the issue however it doesnt drive all my monitors.

I have exactly the same noise with docking WD19TB and WD22TB4, both, on the docking and on the laptop, you can hear the same noise, and is really annoying.

@cheerful_man​ Is not related to the ARC graphics, I have the NVIDA version with the same noise

Hi all

I have 9730 last generation i9 and graphic card nvidia 40x version :

Result test :

-Coil whine if i use wd22tb4

-Coil whine if i use wd19

No and nothing coil whine with TB16 !! 

I think power supply 130w or 240w is the main problem for new graphic card, docking seem to be too limit ? I don't know ? Inference ?

Nothing change if i disable c3 state in.bios for wd19 or wd22tb4...

@dell : i don't know if you try alone in a desk, but for me, it's very important to do not disturb by this hate song coil whine...listen "zzzzz" when dock was plug... and nothing problem with TB16 or when i plug power supply.

Hello, 

I have the exact same problem on my XPS 15 9530 and my docking station Dell Dock – WD19S.

Dell advised me to change the motherboard. Nothing changed.

I then changed the machine, and nothing changed. I hade this noise immediately after i got both computers.

Thanks,