M17xR2: All DIFFERENT NOISES! FINALLY A RESOLUTION!

Well, I have a technician scheduled for today and he will replace the motherboard and also the fan for the right hand side 5870 wich have been making a "helicopter" sound the latest week. I have 4years left on the warranty so I do think that even DELL will have enough time to find a solution for the problem.

 

Technician were here yesterday. Changed the rear right fan and the MB. Still the same two sounds. He called DELL and they asked him to take the laptop apart again and check every single part again. He finally got fed up and got them to order three new fans and new graphic cards to be exchanged next week! The story continous....... will update next week with outcome.

 

Dude, they may change every single part of your lappy, the story will never end because they (Dell's engineers) have absolutely no clue what's going on here...

I started with an M17Xr1, exchanged for an M17Xr2, exchanged for another M17Xr2, exchanged for third M17Xr2, exchanged for forth M17Xr2, YES, that's FIVE DIFFERENT UNITS TOTAL, and those four noises have always been present on every single one of those M17X !!!

Glad I found how to get rid of the Transistor ON noise, which is, again, in my humble opinion, the worse of them, and glad JJB's tweaks got almost completely rid of the CPU whine; now, I'm stucked with only the GPU's coil and the Transistor OFF.

I am not comfortable enought to apply the GPU's tweak, and I can live with the Transistor OFF noise because I always unplug my lappy when not in use; I pretend it's not good for the battery to leave it plugged while off anyways...

So, good luck with your battle, and keep us posted, as we'd love to see Dell coming out with a solution to fix those noises !

Cheers !

eYe

 

So, the technician were here tday. He exchanged the other two fans and the left 5870. Still the same sounds. The case have now been escalated and I am waiting for the DELL representative to call. Is there even a remote chans that these symptoms is in the range of a "OK" of a high end system!? I do not think so. I will let them work on this problem for as long as my warranty exists! Will update after DELL has called.....

 

Like I said, since I was able to get rid of both the transistor ON, AND the CPU whine, I can live with the transistor OFF and the GPU's coil; but I'd rather use my Alien WITHOUT any of them...

So, I am totally with you on this one, and if you want, think, or feel that my first post of this thread could help them to fix the problem(s), by all means, feel very free to point them there, or you could even copy/paste my post and send them by email. Your call, but you've got my "consent" if you want to do it.

Meanwhile, we'll be silently waiting for the next episode of your alien story...

eYe

 

hmm good thread been away from here some time, glad somebody sorted it out. +rep for the efforts of classification

 

I have had my R2 since the beginning of November, and I know it makes noises from the fans and processor whine, but I have never heard the morse code EEEEE you are describing. I have an ugly feeling that now that I have read about it, I will now hear it lol. The question I have with your fix is, does this effect using the mic? I play alot of online games and online chat where I use a microphone, so does this fix kill the mic? Also, I sometimes get the GPU coil noise, but I just lift the laptop off the desk and it goes away after a few seconds.

 

Hi there !

I am absolutely sorry to tell you that I have no clue at all if it does or not impact in any way the use of the microphone, as I never used it...

However, the good news is that because this trick is totally reversible, you could try and let us know...

And we all thank you in advance for that

Cheers !

eYe

 

Sweet, I get to be the test subject!!!! Will do, I won't be able to post that till tomorrow. I will try that whether or not I hear the morse code just to let you all know.

 

Much appreciated !

 

Does anyone have a pic of what your supposed to apply nail polish to, to solve GPU coil noise. I have this from the right side and it's driving me MADDDDD.

 

I remember I saw that in the forum here, still can't seem to be able to find it back...

Will let you know if I do, and it'd be great if you could do the same !

eYe

 

here's one example of the process UPDATED: Nvidia’s “deadly” flaw and how to fix it – no more squealing! Theo’s Bright Side Of IT

 

Ok, I got home and checked my R2, no morris code noises so that is still good!!! I did try the fix, and if you do the microphone array, it only effects the built in mic, not a mic you plug in. If you do the microphone as well....the jack, you will not hear yourself speak but other people will still hear you. So, it only seems to effect the playback for yourself, not other people. Hope this helps.

 

Cool, Thx !

 

Does anybody know if the 'Transistor Off' issue affects the M15x? I was considering getting this notebook and I would appreciate any help.

 

I do not know as I do not own one, however, the transistor off noise is only audible when the laptop is.... OFF !

So, all in all, this should not prevent you to buy and enjoy it as all you have to do to get rid of it is to unplug the A/C adapter when the laptop is OFF...

Hope this helps !

eYe

 

Just stumbled upon this via your signature link....WOW. Really works for me.

I only had the one issue that was kinda getting on my nerves. No.4 was a right pain with the semi constant eeeeee..eeeeeee.eeeeeee from the right side coming from around the number pad area.

Applied the recommended settings to mic array and bingo. NO MORE morse code beeping and bugging the heck outta me.

Big +rep for such a simple fix to such an annoying sound.

 

Happy it did the trick for you !

 

well now, im using vx nano laser usb cordless mouse with latest driver and there is whirring noise when i drag objects on desktop and browsing filesystem... weird... alien touch continues..everything is ok in device manager, ive done mic and mic array workarounds.

 

What computer do you use ?

Please note that the "MicTrick" gets rid of the Alienware M17X's "Morse-Code-like" noise, not other kind of noise.
For instance, if you read the first post of this thread, is says that there's four different noises out of those AW's lappies.
The MicTrick only fixes one of them, not them all.

Providing you're adding another kind of noise, coming out of your mouse, of which showed up only after you installed your mouse, sadly, you find me clueless...

But you know what? I just came to think of it...
My guess is that the noise that your hear is the #2 one, the GPU's coil one, the one made by graphic cards (a bit like a cricket)...

Just to test it, keep in mind the sound that you're talking about, and then, just visit a webpage that has a lot of flash animations or, just quickly scroll up&down with your mouse's wheel on a webpage...

Is the sound almost the same ?

If so, there you go.
If no, I don't know.

W/Regards,

eYe

 

I was able to get rid of the CPU Whine/Hum noise. The mic trick didn't seem to work. I still get that very high pitch buzzing sound coming out of the right side of the laptop.

It sounds like what you said. EEEEEEEEE-EE-EEEEE then stops for maybe 20-30 seconds then comes back on again.

 

Strange it did not work for you...

But happy the CPU's noise's gone...

I am wondering if the sound you still hear wouldn't be the graphic card's cricket-like high-pitch noise...

Read my post just above yours, and try it...

If the sound seems more proeminent when you either scroll up&down rapidly on a web page, or when you are idle on a webpage that has ALOT of flash animations (like advertizing), then, it's the GPU's coil noise that you hear, not the transistor on one that the MicTrick fixes.

Worth a try !

 

Actually yeah, it does sound like a cricket. I wasn't able to test it by quickly scrolling, seems to come on randomly. At first I thought a wire might be grinding against the fan. I guess this is a good sign that I don't need to take apart my laptop or send it back . But a bad sign that I can't fix it

 

Actually, there's a way to somewhat fix the cricket-like-GPU-coil-noise, but it's a little weird, will void the warranty (at least for the video cards) and requires much care and prcautions...

There's somewhere out there (sorry, no handy link here) where they explain how to remove, repaste and reinstall the cooling parts (radiator) or the graphic cards, and it seems this makes the cricket sound much more acceptable...

I never tried it myself because I can live with this sound, and I'm not too good with manual work and I don't want to brick my rig.

But you may surely find it by searching retention mod here or there over the net.

Good luck !

eYe

 

You mean this thread dontcha?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ll-internal-cooling-mod-huge-improvement.html

I know it, havent done it as im still under warranty but looks good if you got the kahuna's to give it a whirl on your $4k rig lol

 

I was thinking about it, but I lack the patience required. Somewhere in that thread a couple people just cut the metal off, much easier to do but will completely void your warranty, whereas if you did the retention mod you can put it back to it's original state.

 

Bumping an old thread to see if others have a similiar thing going on, and seeing what you may have done to rectify it.

I have the Transistor Off noise discribed in the first post of this thread. Basically when my system is turned off, and there is any power to it, be the power cord, or the battery, I get a high pitched whine out of the left side.

Does anyone else have this going on? Anyone who has, what was your fix? I know in an earlier post, 5150Joker said he replaced the GPU's and that worked out for him. I may try and swap the Master/Slave cards and see if that helps, since the sound appears to be coming from the left side, it may be the GPU.

Just looking for others experiences. Just got my system put pack together and don't want to send it to the Depot again. Takes to long to put it to stock and back to where I want it each time I ship it

 

Hey DR, i have it too, since day one actually.

Mine does it only if i let the power cord plugged and the laptop is switched off. Not on battery. It came from the left side, it is not loud.

 

Yea, not loud, but I'm picky about that stuff. Never noticed it on my last two motherboards. At least not the last one. May have had it on the first one. With the battery it's pretty faint. Does yours do it with both the 5870 and 6970 GPUs? If so then it is probably motherboard related. I may just not even bother with calling dell. I think getting a new motherboard may be more hassle than it's worth, plus could be hit or miss. Maybe tear down the system, find the transister and then coat it in clear nail polish may help.

 

Yes it does it with both cards. Now that you mention it, at first i was thinking that the main card was the culprit. This becouse one day i had my keyboard flipped open (but connected) while adjusting cpu screws, and i took the opportunity to verify from were this sound was coming from. So i switched off, and i can swear that i heard it coming from the card. But when i replaced the cards for my actual 6970's i've got the same little noise, so maybe it is MoBo related. Even so i'm not that sure yet, could still be the card if the MoBo is in someway supplying some power to the vrm on the cards?

 

My cards are the 4870s, and as described in my first post, this Transistor Off noise is only present when the system is Off, BUT connected to his A/C adapter pluggued in; not on battery.

As a matter of fact, the system being powered off, you can hear the noise from the left side and, about 10 seconds after disconnecting it, the noise shuts.

If yours still emits the noise 10 seconds after being outta power by A/C, I would start to think about something else...

By all means, if you ever find the faulty transistor, and if you nail polish trick works, please post it here !!!

Best,

eYe

 

Hello all, especially eye cause his or her post about noises was starting point of my experience with this machine. I coldnt get warranty transferred from US so i ve done mods cosidering cooling matter and it worked like wonder, personally i chopped heatsinks and applied mx 3 both gpu die and memory, BUT i havent solved this awful noise, when plugged in after hour use it starts emitting noise right side and yes i think it is primary gpu it stops immediately when i unplug it...