Vostro 1500 CPU whine and display buzz/hum

first post here so hello to all! Been lurking for a while and though I'd register and start contributing.

Had my Vostro 1500 for just over a week now but like many others, have encountered certain issues.

1. CPU Whine
2. Display buzz/hum

I'll start with the display hum/buzz issue. If the screen brightness was lowered to anything below maximum brightness with the function keys, a humming or buzzing noise could be heard.

This is due to the inverter that steps up and down the voltage to power the backlight tubes being faulty.

Mine suffers from this problem and a Dell engineer will be round later today to replace the entire display panel.

A short term fix to the issue would be to lower the brightness via the nVidia Control Panel. Great if you're connected to the mains all the time, not so good if you use the battery.

Now, onto the CPU Whine.

At first, this didn't really bother me, but the more time I spend on my laptop the more annoying it has become.

My Vostro is connected to the mains 90% of the time so I have my Vista Power Plan on High Performance.

Here comes the strange bit.

If I select the Power Saver Power Plan, the CPU whine completely disappears, gone, nothing.

Select High Performance and it returns.

Is there an explanation as to why this is happening? Can anyone else replicate it on their laptop/Vista installation?

 

Anyone care to add an input?

 

Is this how your screen contrast change whine sound like? It was normal before I sent it into repair....I had the screen replaced. If you want, you can just ask for a replacement laptop. But chances are, u'll get a faulty screen or another laptop with a CPU whine. I've gotten used to the CPU whine...it seems like it's in most of the vostros. The replacement that I have now also has a CPU whine, but not as loud as my previous Vostro.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TpEtEAOXue0

 

Yup, the screen brightness buzz/hum sounded exactly like that.

With regards to your CPU whine, what happens when you select the Power Saver power mode?

Mines on Power Saver and I can't hear a thing. Select high performance and it starts back up again.

 

Why not run the computer on "Dell Recommended" or "Power Saver" mode all the time with the brightness setting all the way in the Mobility Center? I have resorted to running on these two modes because I have a whine on High Performance with my Vostro 1400 too.

Do these two modes tone down processor speed compared to High Performance?

 

How do you run the "power saver"? Is it just the sleep mode? Even as I'm typing, I don't hear a CPU whine.

 

Left click on the battery/AC adapter icon in the system tray and select it from there.

 

I don't have the Dell software installed as I carried out a clean install of Vista.

If you look at the advanced power settings for Power Saver, the maximum processor state is set at 50%. I assume this means that the CPU clock speed is locked to half.

What I might do is just leave it on Power Saver, and then select High Performance when playing a game for example.

 

Oh ok, I will take a look at how the Dell Recommended settings to see what the processor is at. In my original Vostro and even in the replacement I received, I hear a high-pitched beep sound on High Performance, so I don't know if that is the whine or not. However, setting it to a different (and lower) power setting seems to get rid of the noise.

 

According to CPU-Z, Power Saver locks the multiplier to x8. So my Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz is running at 1.6GHz. More importantly, it locks the CPU voltage to 0.85v.

In Performance mode, the multiplier goes from x6 up to x9 (1.1GHz to 1.8GHz), but this time the voltage is not locked. It fluctuates between 1.175v and 1.275v.

 

bumpy, in case anyone else experiences this issue.

 

Im getting the CPU Whine issue on a vostro 1500 I got yesterday. Was there ever a fix for this?