I haven't heard of this particular noise problem before, but many like it are discussed on this board.... so maybe you should do a forum search to see what you can find. That, or hopefully someone else will post with a solution (if it exists). But I know for certain that these sounds should not be happening, so a call to Dell Tech support is definately in order, whether for a solution or replacement part.
It's almost like cricket's on steroids chirping away somewhere in you computer?
I get that when I first turn of my system for about 30 seconds then it goes away. It comes from the CPU heatsink area, so I assume it's coming from the CPU...As for fixing it? Clueless...
I just received a Dell 5100 and I have the same problem. I have done some investigating into it since I tend to be very sensitive to these types of noises. Here are the known facts in my case.
- The sound is a steady squeak with 1 second in between each occurence
- The sound emanates from the right rear of the system (near the fan)
- The sound can also be heard from the power unit itself (hold it against your ear)
this is only when the supply is plugged into the laptop and when the next condition
is present.
- The sound will not happen when in text mode. I'm running linux and I only hear the sound
when X windows is started ( Can anyone verify this on windows? )
Do especially to the last fact I tend to think it has to do with the refresh rates. I can also here the mouse moving and screen scroll only not even close to load enough to be disturbing to me.
I am sending my laptop back to dell for an unrelated repair and am going to label the system and give instructions so the tech can find the issue. I hope dell can do something about this as I will return the system and buy a laptop from someone else if it cannot be fixed.
I will be doing some more tests in a few. Check back for other tests. One thing I just thought of. Does the sound still happen in other resolutions. (640x480?, 800x600?) I currently am using 1024x768.
Peter
Message Edited by pdevries2 on 02-03-2004 05:33 PM
Follow-up: This happens in all resolutions, and all color depths.
I will ask when I send this to dell that they attempt trying a different video chip (if possible) or place my HD in a different laptop or two to determine whether this is a laptop wide issue or isolated to a handful.
I look forward to seeing other peoples responses especially users with windows that may have this problem.
Peter
Also here is my config for comparison:
Dell 5100 15.1 XGA
P4 2.66
512 2 dimms
32M ATI Radeon 7500
40GB ATA HD
24x CD-RW/DVD Combo
Internal 56
Internal NIC ( BCM 4401 )
Truemobile 1300 (side question for dell. Can you take this out and give me credit for it as there is no linux support? )
I'm running Slackware linux with the 2.6.1 kernel. I have also heard the sound with Fedora on 2.6.1 and I believe 2.4.22 kernel
I'll test myself with 2.4.23 and I may go as far as to install the factory software to check for the sound.
I listened to the noise more closely. It comes from the back left corner of the machine (near the CPU fan) and is more like a series of 6 rapid, high-pitched tick sounds every 1.5-2 seconds.
On another thread I saw people mention a "buzzing noise" fix that involved disabling the USB power management. This did nothing at all to remedy the tick/chirp sound.
I notice the tick sound at all resolutions, and even when the display is off. I also notice it regardless of whether the sound is on, so I don't think the graphics or audio have anything to do with the noise.
The tick sound is not present when my laptop is in standby mode.
You others said you have the tick sound when your laptops are on. Do you also have the static electricity discharge sound when your laptops are turned off?
Message Edited by intelligen on 02-03-2004 10:43 PM
I've run the dell diagnostics, no problems detected. But at no point in the video mode screens did the beep start occurring. Also I did not notice the sound at all during the diagnostics. Can anyone else check on this?
When I'm in X windows and I switch to a console (text mode) The beep continues. Which starts to lead me away from the video resolution being the problem. However if anyone at Dell does have the proper refresh rates for this LCD panel it would be greatly appreciated.
At this point I'm starting to look at the processor or memory reading or writing. Not sure if this helps anyone or if it is even correct.
One Dell technician suggest the fan was the problem. I'm sure most people on this thread agree that it can't possibly been the fan do to pitch, frequency, etc.
To answer some of the questions raised in previous messages.
No I do not get a static discharge sound that has been described. The only sound is a common laptop sound where the system seems to get loud as it powers off. I wouldn't classify it as static though.
My beep sound is consistent. beep .. beep .. beep .. beep .. etc
I do not have the beep when the machine is off.
I do have it when the display is closed but my machine does not turn the screen off either (do to a acpi issue I have not resolved)
So to sum it up no progress in debugging just more of a reproducible set of rules I have.
My laptop is going back to dell as I have stated so I may not have any postings over the next week or so, however if the laptop continues to produce the sound when it returns I will continue to post as I track down the issue. Or hopefully when Dell gets to look at it they will have a solution.
I just got out of a meeting where I was able to fix this problem. The issue is the Battery Monitor. More specifically every time I cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state the system makes the beep.
I consider this a fault on the motherboard, however I rank my chances of having dell fix it very low.
Let me know if this fixes the problem for the rest of you and I will try to get a response from dell on the issue.
I have the same kind of problem . I am getting a beeping sound from the system . I have sent my laptop 3 times to the depot ; spent more than 30 hrs on the phone with the support people , but i still get the sound . Whom can i report about this ? I am running on Windows XP .
intelligen
9 Posts
0
January 31st, 2004 03:00
Here are some specs, in case that makes any difference:
Inspiron 8600
Pentium M 1.4 GHz
15.4" WSXGA+
Mobility Radeon 9600 PRO Turbo
60 GB 7200 RPM hard drive
Dell TrueMobile 1300 WLAN miniPCI (802.11b/g)
sakor1
2.2K Posts
0
January 31st, 2004 04:00
I haven't heard of this particular noise problem before, but many like it are discussed on this board.... so maybe you should do a forum search to see what you can find. That, or hopefully someone else will post with a solution (if it exists). But I know for certain that these sounds should not be happening, so a call to Dell Tech support is definately in order, whether for a solution or replacement part.
stu
CatoftheNight
523 Posts
0
January 31st, 2004 05:00
It's almost like cricket's on steroids chirping away somewhere in you computer?
I get that when I first turn of my system for about 30 seconds then it goes away. It comes from the CPU heatsink area, so I assume it's coming from the CPU...As for fixing it? Clueless...
pdevries2
4 Posts
0
February 3rd, 2004 21:00
- The sound is a steady squeak with 1 second in between each occurence
- The sound emanates from the right rear of the system (near the fan)
- The sound can also be heard from the power unit itself (hold it against your ear)
this is only when the supply is plugged into the laptop and when the next condition
is present.
- The sound will not happen when in text mode. I'm running linux and I only hear the sound
when X windows is started ( Can anyone verify this on windows? )
Do especially to the last fact I tend to think it has to do with the refresh rates. I can also here the mouse moving and screen scroll only not even close to load enough to be disturbing to me.
I am sending my laptop back to dell for an unrelated repair and am going to label the system and give instructions so the tech can find the issue. I hope dell can do something about this as I will return the system and buy a laptop from someone else if it cannot be fixed.
I will be doing some more tests in a few. Check back for other tests. One thing I just thought of. Does the sound still happen in other resolutions. (640x480?, 800x600?) I currently am using 1024x768.
Peter
Message Edited by pdevries2 on 02-03-2004 05:33 PM
pdevries2
4 Posts
0
February 3rd, 2004 22:00
I will ask when I send this to dell that they attempt trying a different video chip (if possible) or place my HD in a different laptop or two to determine whether this is a laptop wide issue or isolated to a handful.
I look forward to seeing other peoples responses especially users with windows that may have this problem.
Peter
Also here is my config for comparison:
Dell 5100 15.1 XGA
P4 2.66
512 2 dimms
32M ATI Radeon 7500
40GB ATA HD
24x CD-RW/DVD Combo
Internal 56
Internal NIC ( BCM 4401 )
Truemobile 1300 (side question for dell. Can you take this out and give me credit for it as there is no linux support? )
I'm running Slackware linux with the 2.6.1 kernel. I have also heard the sound with Fedora on 2.6.1 and I believe 2.4.22 kernel
I'll test myself with 2.4.23 and I may go as far as to install the factory software to check for the sound.
Peter
intelligen
9 Posts
0
February 4th, 2004 02:00
I listened to the noise more closely. It comes from the back left corner of the machine (near the CPU fan) and is more like a series of 6 rapid, high-pitched tick sounds every 1.5-2 seconds.
On another thread I saw people mention a "buzzing noise" fix that involved disabling the USB power management. This did nothing at all to remedy the tick/chirp sound.
I notice the tick sound at all resolutions, and even when the display is off. I also notice it regardless of whether the sound is on, so I don't think the graphics or audio have anything to do with the noise.
The tick sound is not present when my laptop is in standby mode.
You others said you have the tick sound when your laptops are on. Do you also have the static electricity discharge sound when your laptops are turned off?
Message Edited by intelligen on 02-03-2004 10:43 PM
pdevries2
4 Posts
0
February 5th, 2004 00:00
I've run the dell diagnostics, no problems detected. But at no point in the video mode screens did the beep start occurring. Also I did not notice the sound at all during the diagnostics. Can anyone else check on this?
When I'm in X windows and I switch to a console (text mode) The beep continues. Which starts to lead me away from the video resolution being the problem. However if anyone at Dell does have the proper refresh rates for this LCD panel it would be greatly appreciated.
At this point I'm starting to look at the processor or memory reading or writing. Not sure if this helps anyone or if it is even correct.
One Dell technician suggest the fan was the problem. I'm sure most people on this thread agree that it can't possibly been the fan do to pitch, frequency, etc.
To answer some of the questions raised in previous messages.
No I do not get a static discharge sound that has been described. The only sound is a common laptop sound where the system seems to get loud as it powers off. I wouldn't classify it as static though.
My beep sound is consistent. beep .. beep .. beep .. beep .. etc
I do not have the beep when the machine is off.
I do have it when the display is closed but my machine does not turn the screen off either (do to a acpi issue I have not resolved)
So to sum it up no progress in debugging just more of a reproducible set of rules I have.
My laptop is going back to dell as I have stated so I may not have any postings over the next week or so, however if the laptop continues to produce the sound when it returns I will continue to post as I track down the issue. Or hopefully when Dell gets to look at it they will have a solution.
Good luck all.
Peter
pdevries2
4 Posts
0
February 5th, 2004 15:00
I consider this a fault on the motherboard, however I rank my chances of having dell fix it very low.
Let me know if this fixes the problem for the rest of you and I will try to get a response from dell on the issue.
Good Luck again,
Peter
funduguy
5 Posts
0
February 14th, 2005 20:00
I have the same kind of problem . I am getting a beeping sound from the system . I have sent my laptop 3 times to the depot ; spent more than 30 hrs on the phone with the support people , but i still get the sound . Whom can i report about this ? I am running on Windows XP .
thanks
Andy