M45-351 high pitch noise, PLEASE HELP

Hello, I recently bought my m45-351 3 days ago. I recently noticed a high pitch whinning noise. The noise is constant. It sounds like it is coming from the left side of my laptop near the fan/hard drive. Does anyone know what it is or has experienced a similiar problem? It is really annoying, especially in a quiet room. Thank you all for your time. peace.

 

I haven't noticed such a whining noise on the M45 that I'm using, but it sounds like there might be a problem with the fan on your particular machine my friend. I recommend a call to Toshiba tech support unfortunately.

BargainPDA.com | SpotStop.com | TabletPCReviewSpot.com

 

i too have that noise, it sure isn't from the fan, its comming from the processor (right under the keyboard). i called the Toshiba tech support, and as usual they were useless... they can never answer any questions... i wonder why Toshiba pays them??
i'll call the customer relations tomorrow... and see if i can get anywhere with them. sadly this laptop is a couple days old, and its M45-S351 number 4. i replaced it 4 times from circuit city, and it still got that same exact high pitched noise.
if you guys have any solutions PLEASE let me know

 

I too purchased a Toshiba M45 - S351 a couple of weeks ago and discovered immediately that it had a high pitched squeel exactly as previously discussed. However mine is evident only when I am plugged into the AC adapter (I use mine primarily on battery). In the setup I elected to have the processor at high speed all the time. The squeel is most prominent when I touch a key or move the mouse with the touch pad.

Otherwise, I love this laptop.

If anyone finds out that this is more than a nusiance, I would appreciate some feedback.

 

It seems like almost every M40 owner has this problem. I have it on mine and its fairly annoying working in a quiet room. Sometimes it goes away for a long time though, I can't quite figure out whats causing it. It definitely comes from the top left of the laptop. It seems to have something to do with CPU speed?

 

So i was tinkering around with my m40 i have a feeling it might be the hardrive...... cause isn't the harddrive placed on the left side....... zIs there any program out there that can measure the speed the harddrive is in use and the speed???

 

Lavalys Everest can measure anything in your computer as long as its connected.

 

Greetings.
I think that this sound is a feature (read FLAW) of the new toshiba models.
My M200 does it too, my friends M30X does that too. Really annoying. Sometimes the sound is cleary hearable, other times it is a small whinney. SO bad toshiba didn't solve this yet.

 

With my M40, I can say that I'm pretty sure the hard drive is placed on the lower right spot, contrary to many other laptops. And the annoying sound problem seems to be related somehow to the power draw of the system, because as someone also said, hard drive access reduce the whine when it happens AND reducing your CPU speed (through the Power Saving panel) will also reduce the whine, just like when you unplug it (it reduces the speed automatically).

I guess it's take it (with the whine) or leave it (and choose a lesser notebook option, because this M40 clearly is a good choice.)

-- Edit --

Oh, yeah, and I must say that the whine can annoy me at times, but it is in no way worst than my desktop computer, whose hard drives produce a very loud high pitched metallic spinning noise (damn 7200rpm WD and Maxtor hard drives). So it's not that bad

 

Has anyone been able to solve this problem cause its rather quite annoying.... Its seems like there is some signale being sent in that area..... and it not reading it or something...... Does anyone have any solutions that will help me get rid of this sound beside lowering the processor speed

 

The squealing sound in my M40 has basically disapeared, haven't noticed it in over a week. I didn't change anything.

 

This problem should be related to a capacitor or resistor used in Pentium M notebooks (some). HP's solution was to put some glue over the offending part. I'd recommend contacting Toshiba's support and see if you can get in contact with their upper level support to have them address this.

-Vb-

 

I just bought my M45-S331 laptop last week at Circuit City. The laptop has the sound problem too whether I'm plugged in or not. It seems to make the noise more often when I'm plugged in. The noise usually stops when I use the scrollbar but comes back again when I stop scrolling.

I had problems installing certain security updates when I use Windows Updates. Has anyone of you experienced this problem? You can however get by this problem by downloading SP2 to your laptop and install it yourself instead of using Windows Updates.

Other than these two problems this laptop is really good for the price you pay. For those of you who plan to buy this laptop, put it on your visa card; they'll extend the warranty with one year so you're covered in a total of two years (Toshiba 1 year + Visa 1 year). No need to purchase those expensive service plans.

 

i also have this whining sound...more apparent at night though when it is more quiet.....however, when i plugged in usb key in the usb port on the left side....the sound disappeared...until i pulled the key out of course...

 

Hello !
I have the similiar problem with my M40 - the high pitch sound. It is very annoying. I have contacted Toshiba's customer relations and they said to contact technical support to let them know if there is anything weird going with the laptop. They also told me that the laptop is made in China, hm.., and they have to know if there is a problem with the built of the laptop. The high pitch sound on my laptop seem to be the loudest when I start the laptop and when is idling - laptop is on and no program is running. Moving the mouse changes the tone of the pitch. We have to keep on calling Toshiba until they will get tired of it do something about it. How about recall - just like with cars Would be nice to know what is causing that high pitch sound. This is my second M40. The first one had wireless card problem and the pitch sound on my first M40 was more obvious than on second. I have noticed also that after few hours of using M40 the sound is either gone or barely noticable. Have you guys noticed the same?

One more question - Does any one know how to unistall programs which I have installed myself - like Photoshop. Autocad etc. When I went to "Add/Remove Programs" on my M40 - none of the programs I installed were there to uninstall. Does Toshiba created certain way to uninstall the programs?

 

Every software can be uninstalled through standard means, i.e. Add/Remove Programs from the control panel. There must be something weird going on in your Windows installation Even every single Toshiba utility can be uninstalled.

I also hope there'll be a solution to this annoying noise. However, I don't bug myself too much with it, as I know that when I'll be subject to hearing it (silent environment), I'll also have a mouse plugged in, which is told to alleviate the problem.

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

 

As for the annoying sound - I think I found half solution - connect external speakers and disable the built in speakers. Turn the volume all the way down and test for the high pitch sound. I think is gone. That in turn means that the culprit is set of built in speakers. Does this help in finding solution for getting rid off that annoying sound? Let me know if that helps.

 

with regards to the hitch pitch noise has anyone had success eliminating this noise by plugging a usb memory key into the usb drive on the left side of the laptop.

 

Had this problem on a new M45 as well. Took it back. Unfortunately, it's the best notebook I can find! Has anyone heard any feedback from Toshiba yet? Maybe I'll try another one/or live with it.
-RS

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Bluemax43

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Bluemax43

I have noticed also that after few hours of using M40 the sound is
either gone or barely noticable. Have you guys noticed the same?

<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Maybe you just got used to it? I too noticed the high-pitched noise and it doesn't go away.

 

Plugging something in to the USB ports doesn't work?

 

plugging a usb memory key into the left side port gets rid of the sound...but take the key out...noise again...but its kinda something i can get used to now...

 

Plugging a device into the left port actually makes the noise louder on this machine! Something is very wrong here.
-RS

 

I have noticed that high pitch sound comes and goes on my laptop. If I have laptop on for a long time than the sound is not present. Maybe this sound disapears with use. Have you noticed that on yours? Have you guys contacted Toshiba about it?

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by tdl

 

Until Toshiba admits there is something malfunctioning, it seems we're all stuck with "the noise" :| However, may I add, it's a small price to pay for such a complete notebook at such a price

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

 

I am not sure this will work for all of you, but it has
worked for me.

One way to get rid of that noise is to have your laptop
go into STDBY MODE and come back from it.

Once your laptop comes back from the STDBY MODE, it will
stop making that noise.

Please try it and let me know how it goes.

regards....

 

I think this was mentioned somewhere already, but you can simply use the Toshiba power-saving program to turn the CPU speed down to 1, which gets rid of the noise as far as I can tell. This is very nice when you need quiet for writing papers and whatnot. When I need the CPU power for games and such, I always have music so it drowns out the high-pitch noise anyway...

 

I am so glad to know that I am not the only one suffering from this incredibly annoying problem - i thought i was going crazy or hearing things!

I first bought an M45 331 at CompUSA, suffered with the noise for a couple days and returned it, got another, and it did the same thing. Took it back, went to CircuitCity and tried the M45 351 - it too is doing the same thing. This is obviously a problem that Toshiba MUST be aware of. I am going to call Toshiba support and add my name to the list of people complaining of the problem.

I must admit that putting the machine into 'Standby' mode then coming out of it, like someone else suggested, worked for me in getting rid of the noise. It also seems to disappear when the system is running multiple programs. It seems it must be a processor issue.

I agree that it totally sucks, since other than this maddening high pitch whine, the computer is great. Hopefully we can get something done to correct it. Until then, try going into 'Standby' and coming out.

I may return this one as well and try another on the off-chance that I'll find one that won't do this. I'd like to move over to a Sony, but CircuitCity charges you 15% 'restocking' fee unless you swap for the exact same product.

Good luck everyone!

 

Now that people are talking about it, if going in and out of standby can get rid of the noise, there must be a software solution to this. Any competent hackers with an M40 who'd like to tinker with his computer to see what instructions are called that make the noise disappear?

It's just an idea, because if going in and out of standby can get rid of it, it must not be only hardware related.

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

 

Yeah - there's got to be some way to fix it through software.

Anybody know what the computer does waking up from standby that would change how the processor runs?

 

remove the battery and only operate with AC. it is a (dis)charging matter so it related with the battery operation.... i have tecra series and does the very same thing omg

 

Hi, all.

Another solution that I have found is to boot your system in
SAFE MODE. This is not very practical. But this tells
us somthing about why M45 is making such noise. (Since XP
only loads certain number of selected drivers in SAFE MODE)
Try it let me know how it goes. Maybe some of us can figure
out which exact loaded driver is causing that noise.

REGARDS.

 

As previously stated, my M45-S351 noise disappears after the battery is completely charged. Removing the battery will accomplished the same result. I tried a new battery but it to causes the noise when charging.

 

it's just my theory, but base on the observations that I made and the comments from other people on this forum, I think the high pitch nose is caused by the sound card. When the virutal sound is changed to SRS WOW XT or SRS TruSurround XT the high pitch sound is gone. It's possible that it's caused by something from the sound card driver? If someone can turn WOW XT or TruSurround XT mode to always on, the high pitch sound maybe gone.

As I said this is all only my theory ^_^, if someone does prove my theory right/wrong, please post your results Thanks!

 

for me, the sound only goes away when the computer is put into stand-by and brought out again. having srs wow sound on or off doesnt matter, nor does having a charged or charging battery. i find it interesting that so many of us have found different ways to get it to go away. it seems to indicate to me that it's probably more of a complicated bug than we think. argh.

 

I use to have an M40 but because of that noise I had to return it.

Although before I returned it, I did stumble upon something interesting.
If you boot into windows, and open up the voice record application (not sure of the name exactly) and start recording (again not sure if has to be recording or not, been a long time) the squeeling noise does seem to disappear. I thought of just writing a script that will open up the application on startup and position it in the very bottom corner of the screen so you cant see it but that just seemed such a waste of time when already you spend so much money on a laptop.

Good luck figuring it out guys.

 

Here's a work-around that seems to have eliminated the noise on my HP NX8220.

1. Goto Device Manager -> USB Controllers
2. Goto each of the USB Root Hubs -> Power Management Tab
3. Uncheck "Allow The Computer To Turn Off This Device To Save Power"

After I did this, the sound disappeared completely even when I change the system Power Management setting to Always On.

Give is a try and let me know what happens.

-Vb-

 

I had the same issue. Turned out to be the power supply. I was using a non-Toshiba power supply and when disconnected (running only on battery) the sound went away...hope that helps.

 

I believe it's a software issue as well. My m40 does all the same stuff as mentioned previously, plugging something into the USB and lowering the CPU will lower the squeal, but it can still be heard. However it seems that if any application plays a sound, the squeal goes away. If I get really annoyed, I just let Winamp play in the background with its volume turned all the way down. Even though it doesn't emit any music, the squeal goes away. This makes me believe that a software solution can be found...

 

My toshiba is about 5 years old! a 2065CDS. It just keeps on going, until yesterday when "the squeel" began! So it's not just the new M40 or M45's. I poked around a while: 1. it's not the monitor - it changes pitch when the monitor turns off. 2. it's not the hard drive - the squeel continues when it turns off. 3. I was able to control the volume with the volume dial! Now what could it be!???

 

I've acutally had this happen in my dad's Qosmio a few times - its like a high-pitched, loud buzzing noise. I tried playing around the problem a bit, and found that the screen causes the noise. When you shift the screen's position (up and down), the buzzing stops if you find the "sweet spot" for the screen. Try it and see if this helps any.

 

Hello all,

I'm a new member here. Has anyone found the solution to this problem? I too am experiencing a high-pitch coming from the left-side of my laptop. It's only 2 weeks old, and the second system that has this problem (I exchanged the first because of the same problem). Please, any help would be great.

I discovered one way around it. Let the battery charged. During charge, the noise is gone. After charge, the noise is non-existent, even when removing the battery. But if you restart the computer, the annoying sound returns.

Please, if anyone has an absolute solution to this problem, please let me know. Thank you.

 

Hi, I just bought the Tecra M4 and have the same exact problem. The noise actualy goes away if on battery, and comes right back when on AC. Any power drain flux like scrolling, screen changes, USB devices, etc... all cause dips in the noise. It almost sounds like when a high frequency device is not adequetly mounted in a secured fashion. Maybe the CPU heat sink or something. I'm half tempted to looking for the problem, except the unit is brand new, and I should not have to fix it.

 

Wow! I bought a M400 and the first one made the noise right out of the box. My replacement started making the noise a few days ago. I think I'm doing a full refund. I don't want to go near Toshiba laptops anymore. The sound is incredibly distracting.

 

New discovery:

Don't know why I didn't check this sooner...

The problem is very repeatable when not running on battery.
I have always used my Targus travel power supply that I bought with the laptop from Toshiba.
Today I plugged in the standard factory power supply that comes with the laptop and the noise stops!
It comes right back again with the Targus supply, but not with the factory supply unit.

I put a volt meter on both supplies, and they were exactly the same to within 1/100th of a volt. I put an old oscilloscope on the outputs of the supplies, and there was a very slight but measurable ripple on the Targus unit output.

Just thought this was interesting.