Buzz/high pitch sound in headphone output

Well, I finally found this sound. It seems to be coming from the processor. I just so happened to get close enough to my keyboard when on battery to hear the sound. If you put your ear next to the S or D key on your keyboard while running on battery, you may hear it. It disappears on A/C.

 

That could be a marginal capacitor. They make noise when they charge/discharge quickly and are marginal capacity. You may also just have noisy power, which causes many more fluctuations in a capacitor than normal (the capacitor "cleans" the power by limiting spikes and troughs in the waveform, and there are many of them around a processor)

Could also be a problem with the battery. But that's what it sounds like to me at least.

 

I'd agree with this. I've had homes in the past where I had to use power filtering machines to run a stable system (Oklahoma had alot of problems with brown outs), sometimes it would make speakers pop and whatnot. Since the power I'd had here in Oregon seems much cleaner, I just have a good surge supressor that cleans some line noise(50db).

If anyone wants to test a line filter..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812106005

Or just make sure your surge suppressor has a decent amount of filtering... yes.. surge supressor.. not powerstrip with a fuse =P

 

Thanks for the input Pita & Pyro.

The "dirty" power idea sounds like there may be some truth to it as I don't have the best wiring system in my house.

But the sound I just described only comes when running on battery--not even loud enough to be audible--and is not there when on A/C. I only mentioned it because it had been discussed before by a few people.

I do have a Panamax--but it's reserved for my Home Theater equipment--and it doesn't like the power coming through my outlet either .

You guys really know your stuff. We're lucky to have you around .

 

Yes. The only problem with the notion of dirty power is that the sound is most audible on battery, and minor or nonexistent on AC.

(Interesting read though.)

 

It could still be a marginal capacitor, or trouble with the battery itself. Does it happen when you're plugged in but the battery isn't plugged into the machine?

 

/me wonders if it sounds like alot of switching power supplies? Might be an internal regulator for the battery...you know.. the one that kicks up and down the power when you are on battery mode and the proc is scaling back and forth? A/C wouldn't do this normally since it would run at max...

Could test this by going into your bios and telling it to force lowest processor speed, then run it on battery..

 

So if the capacitors are all good, there would be no noise. That makes sense.

But if it's the battery's power regulator, the noise might be a normal part of it's functioning?

I'll test out the A/C & no battery setup--but the ringing is only there on battery.

 

Just my two cents...

This is an integrated audio chipset. That means that it is in close proximity with many other components, especially noisy ones like DC-DC converters, etc. I really doubt Compal went through all the trouble to isolate the sound chipset and related parts from the rest of the That would certainly jack up the manufacturing costs. This is a common problem with many integrated audio chipsets.

I have the same problem with my HEL80. I have headphones, that when I have nothing playing, etc, I can hear noise from the DC-DC converter when I switch to battery. There is even a noise still when I switch back to the power adapter. Does that mean the audio on the HEL80 is bad? No, not at all. Could it have been engineered better to get rid of that noise? Possibly. If you are really so worried about this, or are that much of an audiophile, then you really should be using a nice external audio device. I use an Audiotrak EX7 USB for some DJ stuff and I have never had problems with noise on it. Just my opinion on the subject.

 

This is definitely a very valid point and has been raised by some others. It makes a lot of sense.

I couldn't agree with you more. It is a good audio system. The external audio suggestion is worthy of noting.

 

I really disagree with you there. I'm not a big audiophile or anything, but I find the noise distracting and annoying, as I spend a fair amount of time with the laptop unplugged and on headphones (or, I would be on headphones if the noise wasn't there). It's a significant defect.

 

Capacitors can still make noise if they are working at 100%... (+/- 5% to +/-20% as with any electronics component depending on the manufactoring requirements.) The more juice you cram into the pathways of any electrical device, the more EMI/heat/noise you will produce. Noise is generally associated to resistence, and your computer is nothing but a bunch of calculated resistences. /bad Trekky pun "Resistence is futile!" /cheezy example 'The crazy sound system from the beginning of back to the future.. all those layered amps kept humming louder and louder.. '

Well, what I would test for is the voltage regulator system. It's the part that switches back and forth when your cpu throttles. It probably also does very minimal line filtering like most powersupplies now-a-days. The reason you would "hear" the noise change more prodominently on battery power is because by default the laptop runs on max throttle when on A/C, but kicks up and down when on battery. (this can be modified with tools like RMclock like I've done, but generally this is the case). The simplest test for this would be to go into your bios and set the throttle for minimal speed always, then try listening to see if the sound exists while on battery, or if it is as noticable. If so, I suggest either an external card for all you nuts that want perfect sound from an integrated solution or to get something like RMclock and force the CPU to a single speed for both A/C and battery (A/C = MAX, BATT = MIN) with no auto manegement. )

 

Now, cut that out! It's not unreasonable to not want strange annoying noises, that aren't supposed to be there, coming out of a sound card, integrated or no.

 

I'm definately agree with l33t_c0w. A laptop is also called a portable computer, and with a big box hanging connected to it most of the time, I won't call it that portable anymore....I even have a _cheap_ Packard Bell Easynote which has no noise at all. I paid around 2350 for my HEL80 (15000 norwegian kroners), and I'd expect a large amount of quality, and that does not include a noisy sound output.

I also have a sound stuttering problem when changing resolutions, which I've made a thread about here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=86020

I'm thinking about contacting the store I bought it from..

 

Wish I had a better answer for the group of you that has a problem then the one I already stated. Unfortunately, without having the experience myself I can't really work on fixing it. Maybe its the combo of hardware I ordered, or the driver versions, or how I installed them...
If you could prove the problem was as I described, or some other completely common hardware problem you all have, you might be able to get a recall type deal setup. Or, if it is driver versions, maybe you could reinstall (I know how much fun this is)

Are all you people with the problem using windows? If so, maybe try a Ubuntu liveCD and see if it still happens.

 

To me it's an acceptable inconvenience on excellent system. I'm just trying to gain a sense of how many out there are experiencing it, since it's pretty clear that not every HEL80 owner is. I may not have noticed it myself had I not gone searching for the noises myself. I do, however, understand that this may be more of a problem for others than it is for me.

I want to thank Pita and pyro for sharing their knowledge of hardware with us as it may help to identify the source of the noise(s).

Regarding the ringing from the processor area--I've been able to eliminate it (or at least cut it down to where it's no longer audible) using NHC's CPU Speed Control (undervolting the CPU)--setting it to "Battery Optimized" or "Max Battery" when on battery power. It seems the sound is actually the voltage regulator as pyro suggested. It also seems that I remembered the sound to be louder than it is. It really is hard to hear--even when the processor is at full voltage.

Undervolting the CPU also seems to have mixed results regarding the headphone output sound. If I can nail it down I will post my findings later.

 

Thanks for testing on that for everyone. I'm sorry I wasn't able to do it myself but I've got to hear the sound before I can test for it

Something else I'd like to know, how high to do you have the main volume slider (In reguards to the sound from earphones)? On my personal system I've got it probably near 10% (I dont have the audio software enabled, and using the driver off my CD from powernotebooks, can check version if anyone wants to know) because of the amplifier (Which has noise filtering on it) I'm running the audio to. Does the annoying sound get louder with the system volume?

Has anyone tried activating each slider in the volume control panel for BOTH playback and recording and attempting muting one at a time to see if you can localize the channel its coming through (It it's not just flat out bleeding into the sound controller chipset)?

Dont forget that little "Mic Boost" buggar.. I know on my system I get feedback in the sound of a pulse?(term) if I have that enabled... Atleast on my system the mic seems to be VERY sensitive. (Good thing) Getting this thing tuned just right for teamspeak was blast (on my poor ears), but necessary since I run a 24/7 teamspeak server on another system in my home for several games.

Anyone tried testing the audio while the wireless stuff is disabled (Switch on the front)?

Twisting or wiggling the audio devices connector going into the notebooks port make it worse (more often, more noticable?)

 

I think I already asked this.. but I'm looking for more specific answers that I can't find without replies.. Do you all have the same hardware? One thing I'm curious is that I've got a core 2 duo... do you folks with the original core duo only have this problem?

If this turns out the case, I know some of the guys here at Intel that might be able to get me an answer on that. Maybe not a solution, but atleast an answer. Mobile is a different world then I have here in the server division, these systems tend to be far to loud to notice the things you folks describe.

 

The headphone noise seems to be independent of the volume.

I will try the different sliders and wireless as you mentioned and post back.

Twisting the headphone plug does cause a little bit of static-type noise.

It looks like l33t_c0w and I both have Yonahs. In this thread here was one or two more posts made by HEL80 users with Yonahs as well and one by a Yonah owner without the problem. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of signatures here.

 

Heya. I'm posting from Slackware, and I can't get it to make any noise.

On Windows, the noise doesn't have any relation to how high I've got the volume set. It also seems like it might have a tie to the processor utilization (watching video it was on constantly, on a web page with flash it was fairly strong... doing nothing it wasn't making noise. That's the first I've paid close attention though, so should be taken anecdotally..).

It's very audible for me when it does make noise, but perhaps that's partially because of the volume I listen at: I set the volume slider all the way at the bottom, and then hit the up arrow once, on the keyboard, this in Windows.

I couldn't find any bios setting related to processor speed, or I would have checked that as well.

 

Ok, so I'm going to make the 1 poster that has yonah and no problem the "marginal error" where the user may not have sensitive enough hearing, or not using the same earphones. Whatever reason..

Has anyone tried gold plated plugs for earphones? Or USB earphones? Or BlueTooth?

Is the sound low pitch or high pitch? Maybe less sensitive earphones to one end or the other would help? I know the headphones I borrowed to try were very focused on low end sounds (bass > treble for gaming =P)

 

I've tried four sets of headphones and heard the sound with all of them. If you look a bit back in the thread, you'll see an attachment a guy posted. It's the exact sound I hear.

Also, the connection between the cpu utilization and sound seems weak after all, since Opera was using one core pretty much entirely the whole time it was starting up. I think. Task Manager said it was using 50% of the cpu time, which would work out to one core I think.

I can't get this laptop to make noise in Windows now. Guess I'll have to spend more time in Linux with my headphones in.

edit: hmm... I just suspended and resumed the thing, and the noise is constant at the moment. Maybe that's significant. Ima try rebooting.

edit2: Repeat behavior
I thought I might have heard the noise very faintly after rebooting, but it could have been my imagination. After suspending and resuming though, it's very audible. I guess I'll wait for someone else to try it...

 

If you really want to go on a geeky trip.. why not build a grounding circuit into your headphones and see if this fixes? Very cheap.. pretty darn simple... Its the premise for most noise-cancelling headphones..

Grounding is a major lacking feature from headphones compared to high end audiophile gear... until now..... !!
http://tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy-tutorial/
Build your own portable headphone amplifier cheap! (Ampliers filter out noise if I wasn't clear)

 

Just thought I'd post this here. There was a guy with an HP dv6000t who was experiencing a similar buzz coming from his processor area.

I suggested he use RM clock or NHC to undervolt his CPU when on battery and it worked for him too.

And pyro, he works @ Intel too .

Link to thread

 

I have the problem with Yonah, but it's intermittent...
I think it's weird that the volum slider doesn't affect the noise, since when a signal is amplified, noise is amplified as well (depends on where in the circuit the noise appears that is).
I have a gold plated plug and hear the sounds quite often. I think I also heard it clear in my speakers (4 big ones ) a while ago.

Well, I'm not quite sure about that works by default...(by the way, amplifiers amplifies the sound, it doesn't clear it unless it has a filter). As far as I can make it out, the amplifier set you linked to is normally "just" an amplifier. However, if you modify one circuit:

(I might be wrong, it's just my perception of the text )
I really want to find out what causes this noise and if possible, fix it...It's bad ruining such a good sound card with this noise...

 

Kjetil, do you hear the sound after a reboot, or only after resuming from standby?

I tried using RM Clock, following the instructions from http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?p=31347 but there was no effect.

 

We built amplifiers a few years ago in an electronics class I took, and it was presented to us that almost every amplifier does noise filtering internally for the sake that amplifying the signal would create noise from what otherwise is nothing. I forget the name of any method, but I know in networking you can use the inverse signal of the digital signal to determine noise in repeaters. It's basically high pass/low pass filtering... but I can't find any amplifier that doesn't today have this technology.

 

I'm not sure which "noise" you are addressing to fix here. We are discussing both extra noise coming from the audio output, as well as some audible sounds from near the processor socket. This fix was mainly a "test" for my theory about the second issue in question. Sorry if there was some clarity lacking from that.

As for a fix for the other sound issue, we are still trying to create test cases for this.. which unfortunatly is hard for me since I dont have either of these issues in my system.

The link you provided seems to suggest you NOT use performance on demand, which kinda kills the whole concept of using RMclock. Also, only using pop-down mode is essentially pointless since its tied directly to pop-up. See the documentation that came with your rightmark installation for more information.

 

Here's a thread from a Toshiba owner who's having the headphone noise issue through an amp she's using. Sounds pretty similar to the one we're looking into now.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=86667

She has a Celeron-M processor according to her sig.

 

Very Cool!

Noise has been a number one concern for a long time when it comes to floating power modes because the more power you drive through a circuit the more noise is generated. Also, the more components of the circuit where signals are bounced (pathways) the more noise will be generated and amplified. Creating these power states in the circuitry essentially create more surfaces for this noise to be created and/or amplified. Think of whispering in a good theatre... sometimes someone across the room can hear you better then the person you are talking to.

There are several techniques used to filter it out, but its tricky to do when there are so many states and so little area to work in. When the engineers designed these noise cancelling methods, the chips you and I have in our home systems normally didn't exist, so its hard to determine. I can tell you for a fact that there are systems I have access to that have technology that will never make the market (atleast in its current state) so my tests I run are only valid for so much. Unfortunatly for hardware engineers they can't just write a patch and everyone is happy.

 

Ah. I'm referring to the highish pitched sound from the audio output. I did set the profiles to performance on demand, since in the post the guy said that was ok, and it seemed the easiest thing to do. (I was only playing with RM clock because I was under the impression that it was related to the electrical whine coming from the headphone jack). My link, btw, is just a link from the thread chrisyano linked to earlier.

Please feel free to use me as a guinea pig as far as trying to isolate the cause of the headphone jack noise. I'm interested in finding out what is causing it.

 

Mwahaha!!!

erm.. wait.. hehe

Well, just for clarity.. what specs did you order? and roughly when (maybe just week/month would be enough accuracy) What driver version do you have for your Realtek High Definition Audio in control panel? (Please look and dont trust the name of the installer) If you feel ambitious, click 'details' while in the properties getting the version number, select Compatible ID's from the drop down box, and find the VEN/DEV/REV numbers (first line)

*****SAMPLE OF WHAT I WANT TO SEE*******(My Data)
XP PRO SP2
Core 2 Duo
5400 rpm HD
Week 4 September
driver version 5.10.0.5247
VEN 10EC DEV 0883 REV 1000

Anyone else with this issue please feel free to pop these bits of info on here as well to help. I'm also looking into if this is only a windows issue, so if you can claim otherwise, please speak up.

l33t_Cow: Have you tried the suggestion I gave to chrisyano earlier with going into the big volume app in windows, turning on all of the options for playback and recording, and go through changing volume/muting one at a time to see if you can isolate the channel effected if possible? Also try turning off the azMixer or whatever its called... it really doesn't do anything you can't do with just windows. (if you want instructions, just ask) Again, I have to ask, have you tried usb or bluetooth headphones? *This helps eliminate port noise*

 

OK, I've got some data here:

Using Windows' volume control (Sounds and Audio Devices Properties) in the Control Panel, If I raise the volume to max, the buzz--kind of like a minor radio static--does seem to get a little louder. Oddly enough, it doesn't seem to happen every time. The same goes for the Master Volume.

In Master Volume Control Panel:
Mic Volume definitely has an effect on the background noise. Putting Mic volume up to max makes it noticeable. It even makes "scrolling" noise a little louder. PC beep also has a similar effect, but not to the same degree as the Mic Volume (maybe 30-40% as loud). It should be noted that turning the Master volume off or using its mute will override the noise difference from either Mic Volume or PC beep at max.

It seems that nothing in the RealTek control panel has any real effect on anything.

 

Hmm, it looks like I have the same noise on my sound output when running on A/C. I'm not quite sure if it's just as loud, but it's definately there ...

The realtek app just changes the volume sliders in windows (does have some features like sound effect though

 

Just to make sure we are on the same topic, there are two sound "issues" we are addressing, yours seems to be the audio port which we are still investigating. The other problem is heard coming from the left side of the laptop and seemingly part of the voltage regulation for the processor scaling.

It has some software algorithms for noise cancelling and a couple other things that I'm trying to remove from the possible list of issues. I'd personally hope nobody is using this audio panel, just because its a waste of resources and doesn't really do anything to benefit.

 

OK, lets try re-testing because I think I didn't make clear instructions last time. No harm done.

Control Panel> Sounds and Audio > Click on ADVANCED (device volume)

Options > Properties > Playback > Check all boxes and hit OK
Test each slider one at a time, and each associated mute button..(

Options > Properties > Recording > Check all boxes and hit OK
Test each slider one at a time, (make sure 'SELECT' is checked for the source before testing the slider)..

Report back on where noticable changes occured please.

As for Playback's Microphone volume, this normally should be muted, because you dont want the microphone to playback audio out your speakers. This can cause feedback and wierd audio oddities in itself. PC Beep I'd say to mute anyways, because there shouldn't be any windows based apps that beep at you as a home user should care about. These volume changes only exist within windows, so it will still beep when you startup the machine if its supposed to.

When you stated that muting master volume overrides the other settings, does that mean the sound goes away when the output is fully muted? Or it just returns to the minimal volumes?

 

Another thing I'd like to try and isolate is the "sound" itself.

I've seen:
High Pitched
Static Radio
Buzz

I'm trying to identify if these are actually related, or if they are seperate issues. Interpretation of sound is fun! =P

 

If you look at post #6 of this thread, that guy linked to two wavs. That is precisely the sound I hear. I don't hear anything besides that.

 

Ok, that sound is normally Hard drive generated noise, which makes sense since the HD is literally right there beside the ports. It's caused by an interrupt controller (which also exists for your touchpad and CD-ROM and anything else that gets hardware priority to either your ram or CPU).

Possible fixes I'll investigate are shielding and/or grounding:
Audio plugs / wiring for them.
Hard Drive and wiring.

If the noise is literally from the chipsets, there will be no fix.

What speed HD do you have? If we can confirm this sound is the same for all, I'll work on finding a solution, and retest my machine to see if I can get the sound...

Anyone else confirm that the sound from post #6 is what they have?

 

Somehow this post slipped past me... But I think you are right, its probably the same. Unfortunatly this is a VERY common issue in notebooks because there is tons of EMI just waiting to leak into either undershielding wiring or unshielded wiring. Not much developers can do about it when they have to cram an entire PC into a small form factor.

Try taking a hard drive and proping it up underneith (basically against) your desktops sound card.. see what happens :] (Don't Do this!)
If you really want to test, hold a cheap pair of headphones wire against a drive and listen.

Wonder why most towers place the "spindle" devices at the front of the case, and the cards at the rear? The motors generate EMI fields like mad since they are essentially electro-magnets running at 12V. Faster it spins, more EMI you create. Now, take a look at your sound card... see all those solder points? No shielding lives here!

 

Specs: xp pro sp2
core duo t2400
5400 rpm drive
arrived end of juneish
driver version 5.10.0.5247
ven 10ec dev 0883 rev 1000

that whine is absent if i reboot windows. if i then close and open the lid, suspending and resuming in the process, it comes back. eyeballing filemon, hdd activity seems the same in both cases.

the sound is completely unaffected by changing/muting any and all of the volume controls i played with, including the master control. i also toggled all the echo suppression / effects / whathaveyou. none of them had any effect either.

 

I wonder if others only have the sound when resuming... I personally dont let my machine sleep or hibernate or anything other then LCD off... Maybe this is why I dont have this issue?


Using RMClock.. try playing with the different advanced and platform checkboxes... See what you come up with.. I am not at my machine right now so I can't really walk you through them, but any and all halt states would be a good place to start.

 

These are the results I got earlier.

Oddly enough, they don't seem to have any effect when I've isolated the Audio controls to input only (vs. when they're also on the Master Volume Control board).

It takes away the amplified interence/buzz/static and returns it to its muted volume.

The high pitched sound I'd say pretty much relates only to the CPU voltage regulator issue.

There is a bit of a high-pitched sound (sort of like squealing but it changes depending on the drive's activity) that comes when the HD is accessed--and this is heard through the headphone jack. I'm thinking this one is just electro-magnetic interference from the HD spinning.

The others (buzz/static) are the main constant sounds coming out of the headphone jack regardless of what's going on. I personally very rarely hear this as it's quite soft. Also, when scrolling pages/documents this buzz-like sound is more pronounced--perhaps related to the CPU as CPU usage goes up when scrolling.

Kind of figured this all along. Interesting how not everybody hears it though. I will admit that I had to really search for it before I noticed it the first time. And then I guess once you know what to look for it's easier to find it and let it bother you. Luckily I'm thick-headed enough to not have it bother me.

Question: EMI means electro-magnetic interference?

 

EMI is electro-magnetic interference. Motors are just two sets of magnets that have voltage applied and push/pull. The spinning is controlled by the chassis the motor is in. (So the magnets make it spin, rather then bounce around inside the chassis) EMI is created flow away from the motor parallel to the axis of the motor... so an hd looks like this:
() = EMI wave

( ( ( (([=======])) ) ) )

Thats why you can stack HD's without much trouble. EMI from the top and bottom are almost null.

As I said in another post about HD and touchpad noise.. That is caused by the interrupt controllers. Basically.. when something is being done with your computer its because you have applied voltage to it.. (Or more voltage) The voltage pops the gates and does the function of the device. Moving your cursor across the screen is causing an interrupt request to the CPU (so your mouse moves slow and in "real-time") When you stop moving the mouse, the interrupt request goes away... Anyone ever had a computer when you had to set your "IRQ" on your soundcard by hand... this is why.. Shared IRQ's cause noise across lines. So if your soundcard and touchpad share an IRQ (virtually of course) you will get noise. IRQ's are virtual, and repeated (tricksy hardware engineers!) with different values. You can find a table of this if you are truly interrested. When you look at a motherboard guide for your desktop, there should be an IRQ mapping table so builders can go "Dont put video cards and sound cards on the same IRQ." "Dont put Network cards on the same IRQ as the hard drives".

/end hardware lesson

 

As i said earlier, this issue is related with hardware and maybe(optimistic), or never(realistic) be resolved in our machines..

So my optimistic part asks if any of you people using other operating systems(Linux, MACos, Vista, etc) notice this issue.. I have Vista RC2 and will try later.

If yes, then i rest my case and resign to the noise..

 

What was the point of this post? What do you mean resign to the noise?

 

We all realize this. I think it's a case of curiosity that's driving this investigation more than anything. This thread is getting a lot of attention though, so I think it's worth it to keep looking into the matter.

Even the best walkman or portable CD players used to have interference and their main function was audio playback. A notebook is far more complex with more moving electronic parts and chances for interference to leak into the output.

If not for poking around with it, we never would have discovered underclocking the CPU on battery would eliminate the regulator ringing.

BTW pyro--My earphones plug is gold-plated and it hasn't made noise when moving it around since that one time I said it did. Go figure .

 

Figures huh?

I'm still trying to hear the noise myself here so I can work on isolating the source.. Dont suppose any of you people with the problem live in northern Oregon or southern Washington eh?

UPDATE:
I can get the noise now... but only if I set both the master volume output and my amp to nearly 100%, and at that point its fairly washed because there is a general quiet hiss no matter what I plug the speakers into.

Just to go back to something I mentioned earlier... on my personal system the master volume doesn't change ever... its set for what I'm going to call 15% (unless I mute it) and I use the amp's volume to adjust for listening... For that device I normally range from about 10-30% depending on what I'm trying to hear. At 30% I can shake just about everything in this room from the base while explosions are happening in games. (Hense why I dont try and go higher, because more and more starts to shake and apartment living people dont like that )

Where do you guys typically have your volume level (since it sounds like you are going straight port to earphones, which I dont own a pair)

 

I'll stop when people stop looking for the solution or when people stop wanting one

 

I have my volume set at as-low-as-I-can-possibly-set-it. I click the volume control in the taskbar, scroll all the way down until there is no sound, and then hit the up arrow on the keyboard, once. That gets it about where I like it. Obviously, that's for listening in a fairly quiet environment.

I think you probably won't hear it outside such quiet environments, or without some good isolating type earphones, as it is a faint sound, and does not vary with volume settings.

edit: Actually, I guess it'd make sense for you to hear it with your speakers if you turned the volume down all the way... I can hear it with the sound muted in Windows. This is, again, only after I resume from standby (to the best of my knowledge).