Core2Duo CPU "whine noise" has been resolved!!

Just giving everyone a heads up that the CPU "whine noise" as some call it (actually has nothing to do with the CPU) has been resolved. No need to ruin your battery life by disabling C stepping in speedstep either. The solution will work on ANY model laptop.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=389686

 

Thanks for the notice, iGrim, I will keep this article nearby.

 

Thank you for the heads up, Hehehehe Im going to fix a lappy from a friend!.

Btw you should make more accurate guide like idiot-proof .

 

I am not sure if that is the right thing to do. You may prevent the noise temporarily but if those power components are getting hot, insulating them with silicon will just make everything worse. I hope you don't open a new topic soon saying that you fried your motherboard...



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If a laptop has an improperly designed power supply *or* uses cheap capacitors, you'll get this vibrating noise. All the silicone is doing is to muffle the piezo vibrations, it doesn't solve it. Piezo whine in caps and coils is a component killer.

Piezo whine is generally caused by a DC/DC power supply that generates loads of power harmonics inside of the nominally square-wave pattern. This is almost a textbook definition of improper and cheap.

It would be interesting to know if the laptop in question whines when attached to the power brick and if the whining stops when running from battery. If the whine is isolated to the power brick, then go out and buy a decent quality power brick. Your laptop (and by definition all of the internal components) and wallet will thank you.

 

I guess that this "Whine Noise" issue will have to be looked into by the Computer Manufacturers, it seems that many different laptops from many manufacters are having this issue.

Thanks for posting the information.

Another link related to the "CPU Whine" found in mainly Dell Laptops:

Ideastorm | Fix CPU Whine On Intel Systems

 

Im sorry but it is quite clear you are new to this. What you posted was completely off topic. This has nothing to do with the power brick and NO the effect is not a component killer. I would recommend researching this issue as it is very common with recent laptops.

 

Please do us a favor: if your solution does somehow encounter problems in the near future, can you notify us with a follow-up post ASAP?

 

iGrim is right.
I have mentioned doing similar stunts with a few members. I personally have never had a whining laptop, but a friend of mine had. After experimenting, I found that non abrasive silly putty like clay works great. It is non conductive and it is removable.
I would recommend this method over a silicone gel, because if you do as iGrim mentioned, you will not be able to undo what you have done.

Good stuff though, it works good.

K-TRON

 

Grim, it's very clear that you yourself are new to this. Anything that causes component vibration including piezo vibration is bad. And yes, it can be caused by a sub-par power brick as well as sub-par internal components.

There is nothing about piezo vibrations that is specific to laptops. It's a consequence of poor design or poor components. Happens all the time in other electronics.

Just because it's a 'common' issue with recent laptops does not mean it's normal, acceptible, or desireable.

 

iGrim,
how did you identify the components which produce wine noise?

 

Hmm lets fix some noise by overheating the laptop components, cake some on the cpu while your at it

 

Please stop making silly comments about people's education here. I am doing a Ph.D. in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University... And you called me "Uneducated" in one of your previous posts..


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No identification is necessary. Just cover your entire motherboard with silicon as shown in the pics. You will cover the noisy component eventually...


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It`s a pity the fix requires you to remove your motherboard.

 

I agree, removing the motherboard is a hassle sometimes, re-connecting every component to the motherboard... nightmares...

 

The irony is I do lol I was trained by the marines as a 2844, sorry to disappoint.

I never really actually looked at what parts your covering but it would be easy for somebody to cover the wrong thing(s)

 

Okay let's get back on topic and stop with the insults. It is against forum rules.

 

I bring this up again!
I would like to try the silicone trick!!
Heat,Heat that is the problem, by covering w/ silicone, it actually counteracts against the resonance, i think..
ANyone has tried it?

 

you'd be better off getting some of the 'real' encapsulating epoxy mix designed for coating components and circuit boards.

 

No, Heat is not an issue. The components (coils and capacitors) simply do not generate heat....thats just like saying you're going to have a heat issue if you coat one of the screws...

 

This is pretty extreme for trying to silence a faint noise. lol

I highly recommend NOT to do this procedure......IMO, of course.

 

Awesome solution iGrim, I will use it if I ever have that problem. It's hilarious how paranoid people are about stuff like this (OMG it's going to overheat and blow up!) there will always be people who are so scared of something bad happening that they won't let anything good happen, but in their defense those components DO produce heat, it's just an insignificant amount of heat.

Also I doubt that ALL the components you covered up contribute to the noise, it would be nice to pinpoint it exactly, but maybe you... did?

 

I could not pinpoint where exactly the noise was coming from. I had to cover it all just in case.

 

Faint noise??? It was loud and annoying. Would drive a man MAD.

Just imagine...

EEERRRRRRRR EEEERRRRRRR SHHHHHHHH EEERRRRR SHSHHHHHH EEEERRRRR

All while you are trying to read something an article on the internt or something. Will drive anyone MAD.

 

as opposed to searching for a quieter fan?

 

FAN??? Whos talking about a fan????

 

This is not a solution, it is a messy and dubious workaround for accomodating poor quality components. The solution is to buy decent quality hardware to begin with in order to prevent the problem.

 

and we're assuming that you did the correct research on whatever potting compound you use on the mobo.

You are aware that most silicone rubber goops release significant amounts of peroxides and acetic acid vapors. Just the kind of stuff that slowly eats the seals on caps and non-ceramic IC packaging. It will also infiltrate the edges of circuit boards that were not factory sealed and coated. Once inside a multilayer board the acids will start to eat the circuit traces.

Why did I mention a fan? Because a cheap or nearly dead fan will throw all kinds of dc transients back along the sense and Vcc- lines. This in turn can cause a lot of hetrodyne noise, some of which manifests in sympathetic/physical vibration in FET, coil, and capacitor components that may already be barely good enough for the job.

It's not just your mobo, it's every electronic component inside of the closed space known as a laptop case. Your hard drive and LCD screen components are in there too. Just because you think you can't smell anything or oven-roasted the silicone doesn't mean you'll have no problem. Oven-roasting most silicone formulations does nothing more than to cure a hard skim coat on the surface. The outgassing can and will contine through the backside of the silicone, against the electronic components you have coated.

This is why there is a whole class of electronic potting compounds available and why they cost so damned much. These compounds are designed for enhanced rate heat-curing, minimal outgassing and what they do outgas is not corrosive.

And unless you have a personal pipeline into some wonderous source of superconducting consumer-grade components, every electronic part that has resistance or capacitance (pretty much all of them, no?) generates heat. Every one. It may only be a degree or three above ambient but the heat is there. Without convection cooling (air), the only place the heat will have to go (and accumulate) is down into the board the component is mounted on.

But it's your (non-cheap) mobo.