My notebook makes weird sounds...

Okay, so I have been hearing this high pitched noises that periodicially come from my notebook for a while now, but I have never been able to pin point the problem. Well last night, I turned on my notebook and it was set to power saver mode. So I changed it to High Performance and these noises started. So, to I changed it bad to power saver and these noises went away. I went back and forth a few times to test it out and sure enough it kept happening this way.

Does this happen to anyone else? The only I can describe them is high pitched like noises, kind of beeping type.

 

[takes the notebook to the side]
Ok show me on the doll where he touched you

seriously though
Were you able to locate the source (or at least general area) the noises were coming from when you were switching it from power saver to preformance mode?

Also did it sound like a BIOS "beep code" or just high pitched squealing?

 

It seems to be more from the left side (I dont really know what parts are on the left side of the notebook. I think the CPU is towards the left-middle, and the HDD on the bottom-left), but I can't 100% confirm that. The noise happens at arbitrary times while I am using my computer but it starting to be more frequent as time goes on. It wasnt always like this tho, just started recently, I would say last month or so. Its more like a squeal then a BIOS beep.

 

Could it be your fan? If its been improperly set it could get a "wobble" and cause a kind of squeal. Or if the thing is dying it would definatly squeal is the bearings or spin mechanism is going bad.

I know its going to be boring, but have you tried turning the notebook over and watching the fan to see if anythign happens when the noise happens?

 

You cant see the fan from the bottom of my notebook =(

I dont think its the fan tho. It just doesnt seem...right I dont know, I can't explain it. Plus changing from Power Saver -> Performance should not active a fan cause I did not do anything on the computer besides change the power settings, I dont think.

 

oh... well that sucks, i guess my bright idea isnt going to work to well with out being able to see the fans.


As to the power setting. Well in high preformance your CPU and everything get "unlocked" and get to work at their full capability, usually that means a higher clock and more power pull, that could cause the fans to have to run at a higher RPM to keep the system cooled off.

Other than that i'm at a loss.

Sure you dont have gremlins living in it... i saw a horrible cartoon with bugs buny once...they are nasty critters

 

True, but just changing the power settings from Power Saver -> High Performance does not make the CPU or anything work any harder does it? I dont see why the fan would turn on just by changing the setting, and not doing anything else.

Iunno whats up with my laptop. I dont see anything wrong with it, performance wise, just that odd sound. It might be a sign that something will go wrong in the future. Oh well, good thing im covered by Squaretrade.

 

It's probably the fan. When I switch the power settings on my computer, the fan speed change is noticeable after a while.

 

Yes, it made me laugh. Lakjin's OP did have a certain traumatized flavor to it.

Is it a capacitor (or whatever) squeal? I'm reading more squealing complaints here and there lately. If it happens with raised clock, then maybe.

 

In fact, it is your fan (sorry to say that). It is because Windows Vista takes more resources and the CPU will work harder more likely than u think.

 

I dont understand where people are coming to the conclusion that windows all of a sudden starts working harder then I change it from power saver -> high performance. I didnt launch any apps or had anything else running

But thx for the ideas. If I have it sent into gateway, I will have them check out the fan.

 

What could this possibly mean?????

 

I think your talking about the "cpu whine" issue

 

That actually sounds like the perfect way to describe the sound

Thx for the heads up, I read about CPU Whine a little while back but never paid any attention to it since I was not having the issue.

Well now I am going to make sure to check to see if the sound is occurring when my cpu is at a low frequency to see whether or not it is infact CPU Whine or maybe another issue. Just preliminary analysis shows that it is in fact happening when my cpu is at ~600 mhz. I will have to see if it happens when the cpu is at full throttle. The only problem with that if the sound does occur at the higher frequency, it might be drowned out by the fan o_o. Such a headache, but so far, I think you are right it is CPU Whine.

From what I read, manufacturers really have not come up with a fix for it yet (nor are they trying?). But it seems it is not harmful in any way but to your ears, am I correct?

It seems the only known fix is disabling C4 stage but then your notebook eats up power more