Thinkpad T60 Humming Sound

Hi there,

There has been a notable high pitched humming noise coming from my Thinkpad, generally when I turn it on (regardless of whether it's on hibernation or just shut off). It seems to emit from the left palm rest (under it, I assume).

I did some searching and I think the M-PCI slot is there; and Lenovo usually sticks the wifi card in that slot (or a WWAN card I guess). My T60 has an Atheros a/b/g/n card.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? Thanks. Any inputs, opinions, and comments are appreciated.

 

i don't know if this will help you or not. I don't have the Atheros card, though.

I started having a high-pitched humming when I turned off power management for my USB ports. it went away when I re-enabled the shutting down of USB ports. some other people have also said this is inherent in the t60's CPU design, and programs like RMClock have cured it. I don't know if that helps you out.

perhaps try to disable the Atheros card and see if the humming goes away?

 

It's the CPU.

I bet it only happens when you unplug it. It's the CPU dropping in to a lower sleep state.

 

Yeah, I agree with te. Actually I just happened to notice similar noises from my t61 while I was in the lib today. After googling a bit it seems like a common occurrence in laptops. It does appear to disappear after I plug it in thou.

 

Thanks for your comments. You are likely to be right, it is probably the sound.

 

Is this like a high whining / buzzing noise?

Mine makes that noise but from a different location. On mine the noise is right under where the M key is on the keyboard. It gets louder when I unplug the power cord.

 

Yes, it's a high pitched consistent sound - straight consistent tone; no buzzing/changing.

I think it has disappeared or become less noticeable recently. Additionally, anybody notice a T60 has a pretty loud fan sometimes?

 

Hmm well the noise on my t61p is not constant, it changes all the time depending on what the computer is doing, it is a rapidly changing noise like maybe it's the sound of the computer thinking or somehting lol... so I think it's a different issue than yours.

 

It is the CPU. The reason you don't hear it as much is you probably got use to it already

 

You probably just went deaf to those high frequencies because of the constant noise ruining your hearing lol...

The noise mine makes isn't constant at all, it sounds pretty much like the noises a modem makes, only it's coming from under my keyboard :S