M17x R2 high pitch whine

My M17x R2 has a high pitch whine/buzz/chirping noise. The sound is there whether I'm running on battery or plugged in. I don't hear it when playing games because the fans are so loud, but when the system is idle, I can clearly hear it.

My system has a ssd drive, so it's not the hard drive. This sound is there when the fans are off, so it's not that. Briefly searching online, it seems like people who have similar issues with other laptops have attributed this to possibly the cpu or graphics card.

Has anyone else experienced this on their M17x. It sounds like it's coming from the power button. It's not crazy loud or anything, but in a quiet room, you can clearly hear it. Just curious if this is normal. Thanks.

 

My gpu makes a high pitch squeal. From what I hear it is normal.

 

@SofiDog I have the same problem. I have talked to a Alienware rep and he recommended replacing the motherboard.

 

I just received my M17x R2 this past week and I also have the same high pitch whine & chirp.

 

Its normal and replacing the motherboard won't do anything. Just deal with it is all I can say.

 

I get it once and a while too when I'm gaming. Doesn't seem to hurt anything and like everyone else says, it shouldn't hurt anything

 

this is caused by physics and the design of complex circuitry in microprocessors. there is nothing you can do about it.

replacing your motherboard, either via a tech or yourself, will likely be a headache. the two parts that will never be the same again, especially after being repeatedly removed and put back on are: the touchpanel across the top and the touchpad/palmrest along the bottom. i honestly wish these two segments were machined aluminum, and not cheap plastic, oh well.

 

It's called GPU coil noise, and it's normal. My R1 did it. It can also be CPU whine which is harder to hear, but there. Especially when doing things like wheel scrolling with a mouse. Those things are normal.

 

This. It's perfectly normal, what's happening is the coils are oscillating at a frequency that's audible to the human ear. You can attempt to insulate the coils if you so wish, I have heard of people having limited success in doing so with non-conductive materials in desktop cards.

 

It happens to my ssytem to. There were a few pages with the eeeeeeeee LOL

 

Glad to hear this is not abnormal, but its sure hard to block out the sounds once you know its there at times. Guess we could start wearing ear muffs

 

good old cpu whine. either live with it or not.

 

ive still got the anoyance of one of my gpus going frm 150 to 500 then back down its kinda suble but its anoying when im browsing the net or drawing in photoshop! its strange it doesnt do it when turbo is disabled! anyone else experienced it?

 

from my experience, the noise is from the GPUs in the M17x rather than the cpu. I actually ran the computer with the keyboard off at one point to identify the noise location.

 

What exactly is the coil noise? I had an XPS M170 that used to do that when scrolling with the mouse button.

 

Thanks for all the responses. Good to know that the sound is not something I need to be concerned about.

 

Coil noise, or Coil Whine, is a noise from the capcitors of most high end cards. I havn't seen any good explainations on it, but alot of times you can hear it when cards clock up or are under load. Sometimes it's where there isn't much load. I have yet to find a solid answer on why it occurs.

 

Nearly all caps are solid these days, you almost have to go out of your way to find them(non solid caps). Besides that, a capacitor is not a coil. This is a coil

they vary in shape size and design, but the name essentially explains what it is. It's a coil of copper tubing. When the oscillation of voltage reaches certain frequencies, it manifests itself in a physical noise. Basically it means when loaded they vibrate, which is why I suggested you can attempt to insulate them to prevent the noise, nail polish, epoxy all have been used successfully. Although the noise should change or even go away over time as heat changes the materials.

 

Nice, there you go, found my answer.

 

Great explanation... +1