Penryn CPU Whine

So, I did my searches and googled, but seems like there is no fix for the CPU whine that comes from the Penryn processors. I have a T9300 and I started to notice my whine this past Saturday after over a week's use. I don't know why I started to notice. Maybe cause my apartment has been quieter and I've been studying in my room, but I take practice tests on my laptop and the whine drives me nuts.

RM Clock seems to not recognize the T9300, so anyone with the whine and a penryn chip figure out a solution?

 

Just a wild guess, but disable the C4 state within the BIOS? (I think it's CPU Power Management)

 

This problem is not exclusive to the Penryn, but it has also occurred in the Yonah, Merom, and AMD's Turion X2.

The solutions are hit and miss. Either you can try disabling the processors C3 sleep state (thereby increasing power consumption marginally), or you can download a program like Notebook Hardware Control or RMClock to adjust CPU voltages and settings.

 

RMClock does not support Penyrn.

I saw nothing in the BIOS about disabling C4.

If I go to power save mode, sometimes the whine isn't there. That's dumb cause there's a reason why I got a 2.5ghz machine...

 

Do you have this problem? Or did you? I don't see anything about C4 state. I can basically disable speedstep technology and that's about it.

 

No, I don't. Sorry for not being much of a help here.

 

I turned mine off for AC powered use and on for battery use.

I haven't heard any whining on mine though.

 

How did you disable C4 in the bios? RMClock does not work with Penryn chips. Does anyone with a Penryn have this whining noise?

 

I just ordered one with a Penryn, so I hope I don't get the whine.

So what's this whine sound like? Is it high or low pitched? Is it constant? And how loud is it?

I've never had a laptop so I don't want to have this problem and think that's just how laptops are.

 

It's high pitched and in terms of intensity, it fluctuates, but constant. It's not as loud as the M1330 youtube clips, but it's enough to bother me when I'm trying to take a practice test on my computer or solve problems. I used to have a Dell 700m that only had this problem when I was in battery power without anything plugged in the USB.

I am about to call Lenovo.

 

CPU's do not whine. What is probably causing the sound is the coils on the toroidal inductors on the motherboard vibrating at ultra-high speed. They are supposed to come with a layer of lacquer on them so they don't move, but in some cases the lacquer is too thin or fails. I have had the same problem on several of my desktop systems and inside several power supplies, and this is easily fixed by putting a dab of hot glue on the inductor.

The reason this appears to be cpu specific is because the inductors are in the vcore voltage regulation circuit, which means that depending on the cpu and power draw, they will vibrate at different frequencies.

This is what they look like



I almost guarantee you that is the culprit, not the CPU which has no parts which can move or emit noise. The only time I've ever heard a cpu make noise was when I popped the heatspreader on an old Pentium 4 off because I had it at -64 degrees celsius under a custom built phase change cooling system!

 

Yeah, I read like 200 different speculations as I tried to search for the problem. I really just want my t61p that I spent a nice amount of money on to just run without any sound coming from it. If Lenovo didnt put enough lacquer, then I guess I better call them.

 

It's not Lenovo, it's whoever made the inductor. Furthermore, the motherboard OEM company should have chosen higher quality parts. Unfortunately I've never seen a motherboard of any brand that has been immune to this.

 

Well, don't some computers have no whine and others do?

 

maybe the mobos come from different suppliers??

 

I just got an R61 with the Penryn. I too get the whine! Comes out of what seems to be the back left vents. When I use Vista to switch between High Performance, to Power Saver, the whine goes away. When I use Balanced, its hit or miss. So that "throttling" has something to do with it. Overall though for me, its not a HUGE deal, but would be nice if there was a fix out there...

 

Yeah, that's how one of my roommates solves his problem, but that does not work for me it seems.

 

I called Lenovo and they had no fix for it. They offered to send a box and send in my computer but I would have to wait 5-7 business days. I can't go that long without a laptop so I declined. I won't need my laptop everyday after the end of April so I will send it in then. But I am really disappointed at this point.

 

Some computers have no whine and others do because the quality is variable from part to part on the torodials. It just so happens that some may get a more even coat of lacquer than others. These torodials are likely made in China and one may measure different than another.

When I said I have never seen a motherboard brand immune to the squeal, I didn't mean that al have it. I just meant that I have seen the squeal on almost every brand of board out there. My motherboard,a $220 Asus P5k Deluxe, used to have it but a dab of hot glue on the inductor solved the problem. It's nothing to really be concerned about, it's just annoying.

The change in the whine when changing between different power modes is because the chip is using more or less voltage, which affects the inductors in the vcore circuit.

 

So, there is no fix that I can do without opening up my computer?

 

Hmm, this could very well be the culprit, however it is possible for a CPU to 'whine.' Capacitors have always had whines to them. Look at a camera flash as an example. CPU's are surrounded by capacitors to solve all the power distribution problems involved with them. So it's possible. You could very well be correct however, I've never personally investigated the matter.

 

As far as I am aware, CPU's do not have your typical capacitors on them. Why would they? The capacitors are all on the motherboard to filter the power before it hits the socket. Perhaps you are thinking of resistors?

It is possible that the electrolytic capacitors around the cpu socket on the motherboard are responsible from the noise (from their plates vibrating rapidly), but in my experience inductor whine is much more common than capacitor whine. It is certainly a possibility though as they are also obviously involved in the vcore regulation circuit, and would be affected by a change in the cpu power state.

This is why I love Asus motherboards - their top of the line ones use pure solid state capacitors instead of cheapo brand electrolytics.

By the way, you can test out if it's the inductor by taking a pencil eraser and pressing it gently against the inductor while the machine is running. Make sure the metal part of the eraser doesn't touch anything. If the sound stops, you've found your culprit.

 

You're correct, I guess I meant surrounding the CPU, I stated that in my response but alluded as well to the CPU itself whining. Sorry for the confusion. I've never investigated so I don't know the problem myself. I'm fortunate that my laptop doesn't have a noticeable whine unless under certain conditions (I forget what, but something like wireless off, on a certain power plan, etc, etc...). I very rarely hear the whine from mine. My older HP however had the whine pretty good any time the wireless was off.

I'd be very interested if one of you tried computerpro3's proposed test to see if it was the inductor. Would be nice to finally be able to conclusively say that was it. I've always just speculated.

 

When my x300 comes in if it has the problem I will crack it open and figure it out.

 

You know, I have to take back something I said..... I've been out of school for a bit and thinking back on my EE classes I'm slowly remembering. The capacitors in a camera flash don't whine.... it's the oscillating transistor in the flash which amplifies the voltage of the battery that whines. I suppose it could be the plates in the cap's like you said still but the more I think of it....... Hmmmmm..... might have to crack out one of my books.

 

If we could get a more accurate description of the sound it might help

http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/smpsfaq.htm#smpsstsm]

 

If you search in youtube for CPU whine, there are videos of guys recording the whine sound. So, sorry to be redundant, there is no software or setting I can change in my BIOS to remove this high pitched sound?

 

Can you control CPU voltage with the lenovo bios? If so, try lowering the voltage one notch. If not, try changing the power state settings and play around with them; basically anything that would change the amount of voltage going to the cpu. You may end up losing some battery life in order to get the sound to go away if you have to turn of speedstep or something.

I don't know how much tweakability the stock bios gives you. Probably not much.

 

Yeah, stock BIOS doesn't let you adjust that. I read somewhere about disabling C4 mode, but that is through RM Clock which does not support Penryn yet.

 

I too have this whine problem with my R61 T9300. It sporadic. I never know when I'm going to get it. At first I thought I could deal with it, but afer a few days I decided I can't. I'll call Lenovo and hopefully send it in after my road trip.

 

does Lenovo replace the motherboard (or the little inductor) when you send your computer in? I'd consider sending mine in too (a T61 with T7500 processor and whine) if I were sure that they will get rid of the whine. Even if they change the inductor/motherboard, we might very well end up with another poorly coated inductor...

 

They will probably just change out the motherboard as your average low level customer servie rep or tech will have no idea what causes the whine. You are correct in that there is a chance you could end up with the same problem.

 

I have this problem too on my T60 but only working on battery. Investigating the reason of the high pitch sound shows that it occurs only when the CPU enters C3 state in battery mode. When it works in C3 state but on AC there is no problem.

Could someone confirm what is the difference between working in C3 on battery and working in C3 on AC.

My notebook is coming with three years warranty service but I doubt that the problem will be solved by them so I'm ready to try different solutions even if I need to open the laptop.

Any suggestions are highly appreciated.

 

Nice, so that's the constant whine I heard from my T9300-equipped Macbook Pro when I had it. For some reason it only happened in Windows - not OS X. Strange. I hope my T61p won't have it.

 

Dell officially has the problem in its knowledge base.

http://support.dell.com/support/top...d=0A7D5CD2E17F5125E0401E0A55176204&doclang=en

Sorry guys the problem couldn't be resolved. It's the CPU emitting. We are all fcked up.

 

It seems somewhat inconsistent, like it doesn't happen with all people, even on battery.

So far, my new T61 is THE quietest notebook I've ever owned or used. It's almost a little eerie sometimes, as I haven't ever heard the fan operate (although I do have headphones on some of the time, perhaps it chooses to ramp up then ) let alone noise from the mainboard or CPU.

 

If you run windows I'm sure that the problem doesn't exist because Lenovo are using some trick to limit the processor. Try running some linux (ubuntu live cd is a good start)

 

I’ve had the whine on three HP laptops – thankfully, my ThinkPad is cool and quiet and I’m very happy. If you never had a laptop with this noise, it’s complete torture. I’d send the laptop back at the first sign of this noise and make Lenovo deal with it. Go get the $499 special at Best buy to tide you over if you need something for work that bad.

I think computerpro3 is right on the mark that the problem isn’t caused by the CPU. I’m not an electrical engineer or a computer pro, but I obsessed over this noise and talked to a lot of people I respect. I brought up the ‘CPU whine’ theory that has been going around the forums and was quickly dismissed. I’ve been told that many electronics make noise and it’s the job of an engineer to reduce that factor. They also said that type of problem is usually a resonance caused by a combination of electronic components and poor design/choice of components. You experts can correct me I’m off base here.

Some of the early complaints of this noise came from MacBook owners. Eventually, Apple replaced the motherboard with a different revision and all was well – they did the right thing. I strongly suggest you have it sent back and don’t give up until it’s fixed (if you’re not up to poking around inside and solving the problem on your own). I personally wouldn’t settle for little tricks, third party applications, or messing around with the setting to get a laptop to work like it should. You’ll usually end up compromising something.

 

I've had this problem in my sister's Toshiba Satellite(core duo) and my Gateway m285(core 2 duo) tablet. Both issues were resolved after about 30 minutes in my school's Electrical Computer Engineering lab. Just crack it open and see whether you can isolate the component and attempt to resolve it physically(i.e. glue). It really isn't hard, just make sure you don't use any magnets or metallic instruments while it's running. Ask someone to help you if you're unsure, playing with running electric devices is dangerous.

 

Yeah, the sound is a little more irritating today than other days. Not sure why....I can't believe there haven't been more complaints.

 

Its on my R61, and I will be sending it in with my latch issue if i can't resolve the latch issue on my own.

 

Using VISTA there is an easy and bulletproof solution for CPU whine without any additional tools.
1) Control Panel
2) Power Options
3) Change plan settings (of the plan you are using of course
4) Change advanced power settings
5) Processor Power Management
6) Minimum Processor State
On Battery just put: 100 %

When you push 'Apply' the noise is immediately gone...

Have a nice and silent day !

 

What type of battery hit does this give?

Jeff

 

Hey,
I don't have a Penryn, but it still whines so annoyingly working with this thing has become torture for my ears...

I can only make it stop if i switch the power plan to "powersave". Not sure, why it helps, but the noise stops instantly.

Also, I did not have this issue when I got the T61p in January.. it only started like 3 or 4 weeks ago. Maybe the newest power manager software is f'd up?

Jo

 

I have the same problem. Maximum performance (full cpu clock speed) = annoying etching sound.

Battery save (minimal cpu clock speed) = no annoying sound.

Hasn't any body cracked their laptop open to apply glue yet? Or has any one successfully gotten lenovo warranty service to fix it?

I'm leaning towards fixing it physically rather than using a bios or cpu process tweak; paying for extra performance (speed and battery life) so I don't want to do anything to counter it.

In terms of variation in build quality, this is common place at least for lenovo. The fact there are 3 lenovo keyboards (where one is the best) and 2 different screens (one is vastly superior). Before Lenovos were made more often from Taiwan (not sure, could be singapore), now they are shipping more from China.

 

My HP 6510B has this problem, too.
Under win xp I've solved the problem disabling the "popup mode" but under linux the problem is still present and I don't know how configure libcpufreq or powernowd to clean the whine.

 

I am having this same issue. Under Vista/XP the system is very quiet. However, under Ubuntu it whines like crazy and I'm not sure why (the fan is effectively spun down and inaudible in all environments) or how to stop it.

On a possibly related note I am unable to achieve the same degree of power savings in Linux as I can in Windows. On Vista I can get my x200 Tablet down to 6 watts, however I have been unable to break 10 watts with Ubuntu.

Any help in correcting the whine and/or power usage would be appreciated.

 

I registered just to reply to this thread because I know what a pain this sound is. I too was able to solve the problem in Windows XP by disabling "popup mode" in RMClock.

In linux I found the following website that helped. I'm currently running Ubuntu 8.10. Since 8.04 there has been a new method of doing this which I have included below. The website details the old method as well. http://www.inliniac.net/blog/2008/07/25/fixing-noise-on-ubuntu-hardy-804-aka-setting-max_cstate.html

I hope this helps.

 

the whine problem still exists?

T7100 , asus s96s whine. I currently use RM clock

 

amazing-boy was still having problems with linux. It looks like we now have fixes for vista, xp, and linux. Hopefully people find this thread, I know it took me a lot of searching to find a fix.

Oh and by the way, I have a Merom chipset. T7600 in a Dell. The chirp drove me nuts just like everyone else.