Buzzing noise when using touchpad (depends on power scheme?)

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jbrams · #1 Post by **jbrams** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 3:50 am

When using the touchpad I hear a buzzing noise if the CPU is in regulated "automatically" (as in "High System Performance" setting) but not when in batter preserving settings (low CPU speed, low brightness, etc).

Buzzing comes and goes with me touching the touchpad or trackpoint and varies with intensity of my finger pressure.

Seems to come from under the front left (basically under my left palm, around the CPU/fan).

I'm totally lost on this one, any suggestions? Time to sent it it?

Thanks,
Abe

#2 Post by **Shimodax** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 8:49 am

I've heard some sizzling noise recently. It may be the speaker catching some radio like signals from some of the chips

Markus

a_d_y_a · #3 Post by **a_d_y_a** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:01 am

make it three for me

i also experience the buzzing
dont know what that is...

some say the audio module requires a LPF which is not installed when u do a reinstall. did any of u guys reinstall the OS,

#4 Post by **Shimodax** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:06 am

adya

I did (clean install of an XP Pro)

Markus

jbrams · #5 Post by **jbrams** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 2:11 pm

Shimodax wrote: I did (clean install of an XP Pro)
Markus

I did not perform any reinstall. Buzzing gone during low battery use power scheme, back on during high system performance (or presentation, etc).

Any other ideas folks?

jbrams · #6 Post by **jbrams** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 4:00 am

Bumping this up for any other suggestions ... buzzes when I type or move the trackpoint or touchpad while in high CPU use power use modes (like "disable shut-off timers" or "high system performance" BUT not while in low CPU use modes (like "super power saver" or "thinkpad default").

Please help me out with any suggestions, even if it's just how to explain the problem to IBM SERV customer support.

thanks!

christopher_wolf · #7 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 4:14 am

Well, the few times that have happened; I just switched power profiles and it went away.

Kenn · #8 Post by **Kenn** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 11:52 am

This is "normal" and happens pretty regularly on any T. From my scientific ear-to-keyboard tests, it's actually coming from the video chipset. You probably notice it more when you're moving windows around or scrolling (esp. in high-CPU-usage apps like itunes), right?

christopher_wolf · #9 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:01 pm

I have also noticed that it sometimes goes up alot when I move my mouse or rotate a molecule in PyMol; or any rendering for that matter. Just sounds interesting to me...

a_d_y_a · #10 Post by **a_d_y_a** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:45 am

cant be normal
has to be a bug

christopher_wolf · #11 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:13 am

Not really a bug (I would like to see you say that to an EECS Engineer

), all processors are like this at some point. I have had many laptops and, at some point and some slightly louder than others, you would hear the chip ocsillators as a little buzz; especially if the system was in some sort of suspend/sleep/hibernate state of similar.

Perhaps this is another good idea for an auto-power configurator for the GPU as a utility; but this does indeed seem to be power scheme dependent so it might be system setting somewhere. Well, the more and more the fan turns off, the more one can hear the other noises coming from the Thinkpad. Interesting how one affects the other.

a_d_y_a · #12 Post by **a_d_y_a** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:19 am

i thought it was coming thru the speakers. will check and tell.

it is really irritating sometimes when the room is quiet

BoomAM · #13 Post by **BoomAM** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 7:46 am

Hi.
I have a similar problem on my new Z60M.
The problem only occurs when im scrolling on the touch pad, copying data off a USB Drive or transfering large files across the network.
Out of 3 people, im the only one who can hear it.
I asume that it the same problem as this: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... ng+buzzing.

As its a common problem (i asume) is it safe to say that my Z60M is worth keeping rarther than sending back to get another?

BoomAM · #14 Post by **BoomAM** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 1:55 pm

Ive done some testing on my Z60M. And it appears that regardless of power sceme, if the AC adaptor is plugged in, the noise happens with the touchpad. But if its on batterys, regardless of if its on full performance or maximum battery life, it goes away.
Which, to me, would seem to imply that the AC adaptor is the cause of the problem. Its probably either insufficiently sheilded or its picking up interference off one of the many devices on the same ring main that the power adaptor is on.

own6volvos · #15 Post by **own6volvos** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 3:59 am

BoomAM wrote:Ive done some testing on my Z60M. And it appears that regardless of power sceme, if the AC adaptor is plugged in, the noise happens with the touchpad. But if its on batterys, regardless of if its on full performance or maximum battery life, it goes away.
Which, to me, would seem to imply that the AC adaptor is the cause of the problem. Its probably either insufficiently sheilded or its picking up interference off one of the many devices on the same ring main that the power adaptor is on.

Perhaps you might steel a ferrite off another devices power or interface cord, and install it on the AC adapter outlet?

own6volvos · #16 Post by **own6volvos** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 4:00 am

BoomAM wrote:Ive done some testing on my Z60M. And it appears that regardless of power sceme, if the AC adaptor is plugged in, the noise happens with the touchpad. But if its on batterys, regardless of if its on full performance or maximum battery life, it goes away.
Which, to me, would seem to imply that the AC adaptor is the cause of the problem. Its probably either insufficiently sheilded or its picking up interference off one of the many devices on the same ring main that the power adaptor is on.

Perhaps you might steel a ferrite off another devices power or interface cord, and install it on the AC adapter outlet?

Bols · #17 Post by **Bols** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 7:10 am

I have also experienced similar buzzing on most laptops I've used, and it always seem to be related to the power scheme/CPU frequency, and CPU use. (So far, 4 different laptops from 1999 till now). I've heard several different explanations, but my guess is that it is related to the processor and/or fsb, not to crosstalk with the audio system or similar.

I had not experienced the buzzing on my T43 yet, until I installed RMClock yesterday. When enabling the "Enter C4 on C3 command" (which does something like forcing the processor into a deeper hibernate), the laptop would buzz rather loudly whenever it was hitting 2Ghz, like when scrolling windows or similar. When unchecking the option, everything became silent again.

Just a hint, in case any of you are using RMClock to optimize battery life

Buzzing noise when using touchpad (depends on power scheme?)

Buzzing noise when using touchpad (depends on power scheme?)

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