About M40's squealing noise

Hello,
I am just wondering how many people's M40 actually has that squealing noise that has been talked about in previous discussions?
I am really interested in this capable notebook, and would very like to buy one. But I have read that some people atcually find that squealing noise very annoying when working under quiet environment. It's the only thing keeping me from getting this laptop.

 

same here....

 

I did hear the noise some time, but it's so weak that even the slightest ambient noise will cover it up, and it only happens if you set your CPU speed to Always-Maximum, which is useless in my sense, because you can set it to dynamic and it'll adjust itself according to load, and no more noise when everything is silent.

There was another thread about this not long ago, it seems it has something to do with an annoying piece of electronic that is used in some laptops, a capacitor or something. Anyway, the noise seems related to cpu speed and usage.

Toshiba Satellite M40 - Pentium-M Sonoma 1.6ghz - 512mb DDR333 - 60gb 4200rpm - GeForce 6600 128mb - 15.4" BrightView WXGA TFT LCD

 

I had purchased a M45-S331. I used it for about 1 month and a half. I had 3 exchanges on that laptop. First time I bought it, the internet kept on disconnecting every 5 minutes. My next laptop, the Trubrite screen after 5 days got darker, wasn't as shiny as when i bought it (weird), then the last one I got worked ok but with so many exchanges what could I expect next? I sold it because that wasn't what i expected from a Toshiba laptop. The Harman Kardon speakers sounded terrible, the laptop was all plasticky. Everytime I would shut the lid, I was scared of braking it (cheap Materials). Well I bought a Sony VGN-FS570. Perfect laptop, beautiful screen(other Trubrite, High definition etc do not compare to Xbrite), BMW-like materials(extremely hard case). I had to go back to Sony laptops. If you travel a lot and want a laptop that is extremely well built you either go with Sony or IBM, you pay more but you have more chances of keeping your laptop longer. I will never buy a Toshiba again, they use extremely cheap materials like HP and Compaq. In my Sony laptop I recently installed Need for Speed Underground 2 and it works just perfect, and that's a game that supposedly uses a lot of video memory. Let me know if this helped anyone in doubt between the sony and the toshiba.
PS: For the people who hate Sony laptop is because they are broke, want buy a cheap laptop and expect the world of it. ALMOST everything that costs more lasts longer (True Fact), and the FS570 is definately NOT PLASTIC!

SONY VAIO FS570

SONY VAIO FS570
Centrino 1.73 Ghz
60 Hitachi 7200 Hard Drive
1 Ghz RAM

 

thiago, just so you know, the GPU on the Sony FS series is a Geforce 6200 TC (TurboCache), in some reviews that card is actually worse than a 5700... why? Becaues it only has 32mb of "real" memory, hence the wonderful buzzword of "TurboCache", the ability to swap memory really fast from your RAM to your GPU.

Anyways, I'm glad your happy since I was about to buy the FS as well, its a solid system with a beautiful screen, but I switched to Toshiba on the last minute.

about the screeching noise, I think i've finally realized what you guys are talking about. The first week of using the M40, when there are no ambient noises around, I did hear a very weak noise, it sounded kind of like in the meat section of the supermarket when someone is using that electric machine to cut meat and when it starts cutting the bone, I think thats the best way to describe what I heard. When I put my ears closer, it is definitely on the bottom left side, or left of the touchpad. I thought it was the hard drive because it got louder when the HD light is on.

However, its gone now. I just finished a couple rounds of Counterstrike Source, my laptop is always on AC and everything Max, the sound is definitely gone. My guess is maybe brand new hardware give off this sound, like when you start your car in a cold winter morning, once its warm, oiled up and running, its perfect.

 

I think the screeching sound comes from the left speaker of M40. My friend has a Toshiba A30, and when I put my ear real close to the speaker, I seemed to hear a similar noise, although it's very faint. And when I moved the mouse around, the noise seemed to be affected as well.

When I use my desktop, sometimes I can hear a similar noise, and the volume of the noise can definitely be affected by mouse movement. It's almost like you can hear the movement of the mouse through the speaker. For a while, I thought the problem was caused by the integrated sound card of my desktop, which couldn't filter out the static noise. So I am guessing that the screeching noise of M40 could also be a static noise created by some random signals that got amplified through the speaker.

Right now, I am using an independent sound card for my desktop, and I don't hear any noise at all from the speaker. Does anyone know if m40's sound card is integrated with the main board, or independent? If the noise does come from the speaker, maybe by muting the speaker would make the noise disappear.

 

I was just wondering what the date of manufacture was for the "squealers." Perhaps there is a pattern. At first I wondered if it was just the M40 or M45, but read about problems with both. Some people have no issue with squealing. A bad lot of motherboards???

 

I bought an Toshiba Satellite M40-148 and it had the squeeling problem. It comes form both speakers, but does not change it's loudness when you turn up and down the volumer, or even mute it. The squeeling doesn't come through headphones either. It only comes through the build in speakers, no matter what you do.

Changing processor speed does change the loudness of the squeeling. I returned the computer after a week, wanting to buy another one, but after reading all these stories, I think I will look for another brand, since it seems I can expect the same from any Toshiba Satellite.

The reason it doesn't get fixed is probably that too many people use it in noisy surroundings already or don't have good enough hearing to notice it.

 

I don't think there's a specific manufacture date for the units that are squealing. This noise seems to be related to Pentium M notebooks in general. The reason I say this is because this problems has been reported in many areas, Toshiba, HP & Acer and all with Pentium M based notebooks.

The problem is relating to a capacitor that is vibrating probably because there's too much power flowing through it. There have been a few workarounds that have been tested and found to work (most of the time), they are as follows:

1. Connect a USB memory key to one of the USB ports, when connected and powered, the sound disappears (until you remove it)

2. Change power management settings from Always On to Laptop/Notebook

3. In the HP nx8220's specific case, connect AC (only happens when running on batteries) or enable Bluetooth module

4. Goto Device Manager and modify USB Root Hubs (one at a time) under Power Management tab, uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"

These are the only workarounds that I've seen so far without any real solutions. The users that don't hear this squealing is either their ears aren't sensitive enough to hear it or the units aren't setup with the exact same conditions.

Give the above workarounds a try and see if any of them help.

-Vb-

 

have the same problem. i think it is the ac adapter though.

 

It's from th speakers and comes wether it's on ac or battery.

 

It might be the result of the CPU~
Toshiba is using the desktop CPU in its satellite notebooks~

 

Actually, the M40 is a Pentium M chip, nothing near a desktop processor.

Maybe yours used a desktop processor but that doesn't mean every Toshiba Satellite uses a desktop processor

 

Sorry for reviving an ancient thread, but I wanted to say "thank you" for the advice given in that one post.

I turned off the USB hub power mgmt and the squeal that was driving me crazy for days is now gone! I bought a used HP nc6000 off of fleabay and have been fixing one thing after another ("refurbishing").

I'll probably resell the HP anyways, I find the keyboard very difficult to use. Will probably get a used Thinkpad.

Anyways...thanks again, and although this is my first post I've been reading the site/forum for quite a few months now. It's been extremely helpful. Keep up the great work.