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Weird beeping noise with certain applications on T23

T40/T41/T42/T43 Series
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muellkontrolle
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Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 11:46 am

Weird beeping noise with certain applications on T23

#1 Post by muellkontrolle » Sat Jan 29, 2005 11:53 am

Hi there,

I get weird beeping noises from my T23 - but only when certain applications are loaded. I noticed the beeps from under the left palmrest when Trillian or Skype were loaded (even in the background)

The beeping is related to any activity on the laptop, i.e. moving windows, clicking a link in my browser etc. produced the beeping.

What could that be? It doesn't seem to come from the speakers, attaching headphones or muting them doesnt help.

The beeping is more obvious when running on AC, as the HD seems to be more silent on AC.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Muelli.

PS: Also beeps when Windows Media Player is loaded.

Doesnt happen with Office Applications, Movie Maker, IE, Mozilla

PPS: Just flashed new BIOS and embedded controller - no help
addl info: really loud only when CPU is on fast mode. It's more silent on slow Speedstep mode
Last edited by muellkontrolle on Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

muellkontrolle
Posts: 12
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#2 Post by muellkontrolle » Sat Jan 29, 2005 11:58 am

[edited]
Last edited by muellkontrolle on Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

muellkontrolle
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#3 Post by muellkontrolle » Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:47 pm

[edited]

Eraser212
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Location: Germany

#4 Post by Eraser212 » Sat Jan 29, 2005 4:23 pm

Hi,

I have exactly the same problem. I think the noise comes from
the ICs which supply power to the cpu, on high load they beep.

In a desktop pc they look like this http://www.thunderbolt2000.de/images/ar ... andler.jpg

In desktop pc's it sometimes helps to put some glue on the things with the red wire to stop the beeping but I don't this is possible with the thinkpad.


I wonder if it is possible to send the notebook in for repair :?:

muellkontrolle
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Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 11:46 am

#5 Post by muellkontrolle » Sat Jan 29, 2005 4:35 pm

The strange thing is that it isnt related to high cpu load - even if those programs are completely idle, they produce the beeping.

Seems to be connected to complex user interfaces, i.e. heavily skinned windows...

muellkontrolle
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#6 Post by muellkontrolle » Sun Jan 30, 2005 11:52 pm

Which parts are located under the left palmrest?
From looking at pictures of the system board, I couldnt tell.

http://i6.ebayimg.com/03/i/03/4b/24/81_1_b.JPG
Source: ebay auction #6739358778

I dont think it's the HD, as is isnt related to HD activity, but by presence of certain applications that are not HD intensive.

beeblebrox
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#7 Post by beeblebrox » Mon Jan 31, 2005 4:03 am

Yes, I wondered about exactly the same symptoms on my T20.
usually I notice the (quite silent) beeps when the system is idle (i.e. read a word document or web page).
The beeping comes from the harddisk, which is accessed by Win XP every few hundred milliseconds. I turned off the windows service for the timestamps. Beeping was gone.
After installing SP2 and some hotfixes, the beeping came back.
I was too busy to find out, which Windows service was responsible this time.
(Blame it on Windoze).

migo2137

#8 Post by migo2137 » Mon Jan 31, 2005 8:11 am

After an fresh install of winXP pro and SP2 these beeping signals occured to my T22. I´ve owned it since 2003 and never experienced those beeps. I wonder if they aren´t related to Hdd and fan activity. My T22 beeps when the fan has been on for a while and just after the hdd and the fan stops spinning. Previously I had some Longhorn themes installed but without any beeps. (This starts to sound pathetically...)

muellkontrolle
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#9 Post by muellkontrolle » Mon Jan 31, 2005 9:03 am

I could try to put my hd in sleep mode and see if the beeping continues. is there a util that does that apart from the windows power saving features?

Another app that triggers beeping on my system is any flash-enabled web site.

I spoke to a IBM representative today and he said that there are 3 reasons for beeping
1) HD
2) fan
3) loose LCD connector cable

For now, he'll send my recovery CDs for a clean install and a replacement AC adapter

If it gets too annoying, I'll send the machine in (once more)

migo2137

#10 Post by migo2137 » Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:03 am

How will an AC adapter solve these 3 problems?

Did IBM mention anything about Hdd? If I replace my hard drive, will the beeping stop? Should I replace the fan?

raabjerg
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#11 Post by raabjerg » Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:07 am

This is a problem I've been trying to have corrected for quite some time now. My findings thus far are the following:
  • Some programs (like flash and windows media player) trigger this behaviour. It occurs independently of whether these programs are active - as long as they're running in the background you get a high-pitch noise
  • I've experienced this on a Dell Latitude D600, Toshiba Tecra M2, IBM T40, and IBM T42 (all the centrino models I've been near). It would seem that it is in some way related to the Intel chipset
  • This problem is very hard to have supported, simply because it also happens on replacement machines. After battling Dell for half a year, they sent me a brand new machine, but it had the same problems.
  • Intel denies all knowledge of this problem (believe me, I've tried!)
  • The problem you are describing is not the harddisk. That would be a different issue.
  • For some people, it reportedly helps to disable power management on the first USB root hub. For me, it only removes the noise in some instances, in other, it still appears.
  • The problem is most apparent when the CPU is on highest level. My D600 had an option for setting CPU speed down to 251Mhz. When doing this, the noise was gone.
  • Some people hardly notice this noise, and others find it very annoying. So statements like "mine doesn't do that" might not be correct. Half my friends thinks it's very annoying, and the other half can hardly hear it.
  • I contacted my IBM dealer about this issue, as my T42 also has it, to my disappointment. They had experienced another customer having his T41p replaced twice, and this did not solve the problem. Eventually the customer ended up buying another laptop. So I didn't even bother to go through the same rounds with IBM, that I did with Dell.
Hope this clears some things up, although I unfortunately don't have a solution. One can only hope this issue is not present in Intel's new centrino chipset.

Regards,
raabjerg

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#12 Post by raabjerg » Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:12 am

migo2137 wrote:After an fresh install of winXP pro and SP2 these beeping signals occured to my T22. I´ve owned it since 2003 and never experienced those beeps. I wonder if they aren´t related to Hdd and fan activity. My T22 beeps when the fan has been on for a while and just after the hdd and the fan stops spinning. Previously I had some Longhorn themes installed but without any beeps. (This starts to sound pathetically...)
You might check whether any new programs are running in your tray, generating these noises. In my experience, some versions of MSN messenger (specifically 6.1) can also trigger this noise (and this program has a habit of placing itself in the system tray at logon).

AbsoluteRaleigh
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Re: Weird beeping noise with certain applications on T23

#13 Post by AbsoluteRaleigh » Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:18 am

muellkontrolle wrote:Hi there,

I get weird beeping noises from my T23 - but only when certain applications are loaded. I noticed the beeps from under the left palmrest when Trillian or Skype were loaded (even in the background)

The beeping is related to any activity on the laptop, i.e. moving windows, clicking a link in my browser etc. produced the beeping.

What could that be? It doesn't seem to come from the speakers, attaching headphones or muting them doesnt help.

The beeping is more obvious when running on AC, as the HD seems to be more silent on AC.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Muelli.

PS: Also beeps when Windows Media Player is loaded.

Doesnt happen with Office Applications, Movie Maker, IE, Mozilla

PPS: Just flashed new BIOS and embedded controller - no help
addl info: really loud only when CPU is on fast mode. It's more silent on slow Speedstep mode
Many notebook hard drives make a "beep" type of noise.

If it gets real annoying I would replace the drive which will probably cure it.
Len
AbsoluteRaleigh

raabjerg
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#14 Post by raabjerg » Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:30 am

AbsoluteRaleigh wrote:Many notebook hard drives make a "beep" type of noise.

If it gets real annoying I would replace the drive which will probably cure it.
Again, I know this problem quite well, and IMHO, it does not have to do with the HDD (I've tried swapping several times).

AbsoluteRaleigh
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#15 Post by AbsoluteRaleigh » Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:34 am

raabjerg wrote:
AbsoluteRaleigh wrote:Many notebook hard drives make a "beep" type of noise.

If it gets real annoying I would replace the drive which will probably cure it.
Again, I know this problem quite well, and IMHO, it does not have to do with the HDD (I've tried swapping several times).
This sugggestion is for muellkontrolle and his T23.
Len
AbsoluteRaleigh

migo2137

#16 Post by migo2137 » Mon Jan 31, 2005 12:36 pm

The only app I installed with my latest fresh install of WinXPpro is Norton SystemWorks Premier 2005. My previous virus app was NAV 2003. No beeps then - random beeping now. Further on, my hard drive is clicking now, it didn´t do that before.

beeblebrox
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#17 Post by beeblebrox » Tue Feb 01, 2005 3:28 am

The beeping results from Windows, which is accessing the HDD all the time. So it doesn't matter which HDD you use.

There are so many services running in the background, which check the integrity/availability of the HDD all the time. One of them was the timestamp service.

If you run Linux, the T2x is absolutely silent.
On WinXP Sp1 it is also absolutely silent. Maybe you could check with some Microsoft forums to identify the new SP2 service that is responsible for it.

raabjerg
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#18 Post by raabjerg » Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:45 am

migo2137, does the random beeping you describe seem to come from the Harddisk?

migo2137

#19 Post by migo2137 » Tue Feb 01, 2005 2:15 pm

It´s coming from inside the laptop, NOT the speakers. It´s related to fan activity and hard drive, especially when the drive is getting a bit warmer.

It seems to me the beeping is coming from the fan.

raabjerg
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#20 Post by raabjerg » Tue Feb 01, 2005 4:26 pm

Sounds a lot like the troubles I'm having...

muellkontrolle
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#21 Post by muellkontrolle » Wed Feb 02, 2005 7:54 am

I could trigger this under Linux with the Flash plugin, too, although its very silent, even under full cpu speed. This makes me think that it is some software problem and might be solved with an alternate setting or driver up/downgrade.

I'm waiting for my recovery CDs to do a clean WinXP/IBM-install. (Now, it's clean XP install plus a load of IBM drivers pulled from the website)

Whats common to the PIIIM chipset and the Centrinos? Which components are under the left palmrest? The image above suggests that there are no larger chips located there. What are those blue rectangles?

Thanks, all.

raabjerg
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#22 Post by raabjerg » Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:47 am

muellkontrolle wrote:Whats common to the PIIIM chipset and the Centrinos?
I'd say the speedstep feature of the CPU...

muellkontrolle
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#23 Post by muellkontrolle » Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:44 am

OK, I was wrong in one point: the noise doesn't come from under the left palmrest, but from the area where the CPU is located, i.e. from under the QWERTY/12345-Section of the keyboard...

The IBM techie told me something about loose LCD connectors - that's in that area, too, isn't it?

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#24 Post by raabjerg » Thu Feb 03, 2005 10:32 am

You might try attaching an external monitor and not use the LCD. In my experience, the problem persists, and has led me to conclude that it's not the LCD, although I have had this thought myself.

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#25 Post by raabjerg » Thu Feb 03, 2005 10:35 am

By the way, does the noise sound anything like the following: Recording of D600 high-pitch noise? (You might need to turn up the volume a bit)

muellkontrolle
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#26 Post by muellkontrolle » Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:23 pm

Turning off the internal LCD doesnt change anything

Also tried this: connected to the laptop through Remote Desktop, Notebook displays logon screen, and as soon as one of the critical apps launches, beeping begins. This suggests it isnt directly connected to the LCD.

I found an old MS Knowledge Base article on beeping under Win98, they suggest disabling USB - that didnt help me.

And, yes, thats the same beeping we're talking about. Exactly the same here on my T23.

raabjerg
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#27 Post by raabjerg » Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:52 pm

Yes, I know, disabling the USB resolves a noise issue that sounds very alike, but it's not the same, as it doesn't fix this one. Terrible having to listen to this while browsing any flash-enabled web-site... I still believe it's an Intel issue, but good luck convincing them :-)

muellkontrolle
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#28 Post by muellkontrolle » Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:40 am

Could reproduce under Linux now - booting Auditor / Knoppix Linux from CD creates the same beeping, the standard Knoppix doesnt...

muellkontrolle
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#29 Post by muellkontrolle » Tue Feb 08, 2005 7:11 pm

Did a fresh Win XP install - still the same. Seems to be not SP2's fault

raabjerg
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#30 Post by raabjerg » Wed Feb 09, 2005 9:36 am

So basically, you've that it's a hardware issue. Possibly triggered by software, but software shouldn't be able to cause hardware to emit arbitrary noise...

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