Thinkpads Forum

Anyone else have an intermittent high-pitched noise
from their T60? I have started noticing the noise the
last few days (because I've been trying to pay attention
to such noises) and have found that I get occasional
moments of high pitched noise. I'm not sure if it's
the hard drive or the fan. If this is a defect, I would
like to know so I can get the machine either fixed or
replaced. If it's normal, I can probably live with it.

Anoop

Yes but mine was the AC adapter. I got a new one and the noise is gone.

I had this problem on my T43p which is sitting in RTP getting checked out. No answers yet.

When I received my T60p I was really upset to hear the same type of noise from this machine as well...only to find out that in this case it's coming from the power brick not the machine.

Is this the case with yours? The brick for my docking station doesn't do it, but the one that came with the machine does. Verry high pitched intermittent whining/chirping sound.

The brick for my T43p has a slight buzz as you would expect, but this T60 brick is driving me mad. Time for a return i guess.

Scratch wrote: When I received my T60p I was really upset to hear the same type of noise from this machine as well...only to find out that in this case it's coming from the power brick not the machine.

Is this the case with yours? The brick for my docking station doesn't do it, but the one that came with the machine does. Verry high pitched intermittent whining/chirping sound.

Mine happens even when it's not plugged in, so it may be a different
problem than yours. It's not too bad. But I remember seeing a post
from someone that said to pay attention to any high-pitched noises
as things to look out for when you get a new machine. Since I can
hear this noise, I want to find out if it's a defect or if it's something
I can live with. It's not too bad, although it would be better if I
didn't have to hear it.

Anoop

I had service in to look at my T43p for the same type of thing. After 3 visits and various component swapouts they gave up and sent it in to level 2 support in NC. It's been there for a week with no answers as yet.

I wish now that I had just exchanged it for a new machine immediately when I found the problem, but I was in a bind and couldn't pull it off.

The T43p only made the noise when running on batteries and was especially bad when a USB mouse, tablet or 3D controller was attached.

Good luck and let us know what you find out.

I'm surprised that IBM even attempted to fix this kind of problem. At least 30% of the T43's I've tried have made high pitched noises (there are NUMEROUS posts on this issue in the T4x forum), so I just assumed it was something we have to live with. Even a powerbook I briefly owned made the same sound when scrolling within a document or web site.

My current T43 only makes the noise when running on battery power, which seems to be the case with many others.

Scratch - if there is a fix, I would greatly appreciate if you could post the conclusion of your RMA on this thread. thanks in advance.

- John

ghanwani

What model number/type do you have?

I'll post the results.

archer6 wrote: What model number/type do you have?

It's a 200768U.

Anoop

Do you mean the sound comes out from the right side of the keyboard? I can hear sound from there but it is a little bit quieter than the fan noise. It sounds like a small high speed fan and it is on all the time. Do you guys think it is a defect? Do you think the computer should be totally silent when the fan is off?

ghanwani wrote:

archer6 wrote: What model number/type do you have?

It's a 200768U.

Anoop

Did this noise occur from the very beginning or after you used the computer for awhile. If so, how long did you use it before it made the noise?

archer6 wrote: Did this noise occur from the very beginning or after you used the computer for awhile. If so, how long did you use it before it made the noise?

I have had the machine for about 4 weeks now. I didn't pay
attention to the noise in the beginning. It's only after I read
one of the posts that said to check for the noise that I tried
to pay attention and then found that I have this high pitched
whistle/whine that's intermittent. It can only be heard in a
very quiet environment. If the heater fan in my apartment
kicks in, I can't hear it anymore, but the heater fan is louder
than average.

Anoop

ghanwani wrote:
I have had the machine for about 4 weeks now. I didn't pay
attention to the noise in the beginning. It's only after I read
one of the posts that said to check for the noise that I tried
to pay attention and then found that I have this high pitched
whistle/whine that's intermittent. It can only be heard in a
very quiet environment. If the heater fan in my apartment
kicks in, I can't hear it anymore, but the heater fan is louder
than average.

Anoop

My computer had a similar (perhaps same) noise at the beginning for the first 3-4 days and then it went away. I've not heard in in the last 3 weeks, and I have been using it constantly.

Thanks to everyone for the replies. It looks like a little high pitched
noise is something to be expected, so I won't bother trying to get
it fixed for now...if it gets out of hand, I'll have to think about
shipping it back for service but returning it would be out of the
question by then.

Anoop

Hoya,

Noticed your signature about your T43 - my T60 has a loose
fitting battery as well. I find it a bit strange. Everything is pretty
snug in my T20.

Anoop

ghanwani wrote:Hoya,

Noticed your signature about your T43 - my T60 has a loose
fitting battery as well. I find it a bit strange. Everything is pretty
snug in my T20.

Anoop

the Sony batteries on the T4x series had the best fit, but I'm not sure that's the case any longer.

I've just bought a T60 2007-49G. And I've also the problems with a intermittent high-pitched noise. Thats really bad, because I've bought this expensive notebook to have no such noises.
Now, this noise is louder, when I move the pointer with the trackpoint, or even if I touch the touchpad (although it's disabled). (sounds like: " krkrkrrkkrkrk" and is very loud right under the touchpad).
I hear the noise only, if I use the battery. If I use the adapter, there is no noise (just the fan). And if the hdd is working, the noise is away.
The battery is also badly fitting in the case!!! Notebooks which cost half of the t60 are better made.

So, I don't know if the t60 is a well made notebook. I often work alone in a room or in the evening, where even no loud noises seem to be very loud. I think, for 2000 € you can expect a notebook without this noise. The fan is also loud, but that noise is not so annoying.

Should I send it back to lenovo. How do you think about? Even Acer-notebooks seem to be more silent. Do you have the same problem? Do you know how to solve this, or have I to live with it?

thanks,
robin

All laptops do that to some extent, a good way to get rid of it is to toggle the pwer scheme settings in the Power Manager.

And, no, it is not worth returning a brand new T60 for an...an...Acer.

Even if I set the power manager to low level, it doesn't matter to the noise. It's still there. Or when I set the power to the highest level, it's still there. Only if I get the power from the power outlet I get rid of it.
I'm only wondering, that even notebooks in this price class are not as good as I expected. And I know notebooks, which are more silent, in lower price classes.

thank you for the post.

robin

Really? Even if you toggle the power scheme back and forth (Not just switching into another scheme)? That has gotten rid of that noise on my Thinkpad, and it also works on my Dell M60...Which is far worse when it comes to tiny electrical noises.

The high pitched noise on my machine comes from the power brick. It is becoming less loud and frequent as the transformer is getting use (now daily since 3/28). Most of the time it's quiet now. At least for my power brick, it's getting better as it's getting older, unlike the author of this memo.

i have the exact same problem as rbd. funny thing is the noise gets higher if i touch the the touchpad !!??!! when im on AC i cant hear anything but when running on battery it is cleary noticeable.

i have asked for a replacement. if the replacement comes with the same problem i will return it and this will the last thinkpad for me. considering the amount of money i paid, i feel like an idiot.

i bought an Acer 5672 yesterday. i have been testing it since then. it costs less than half the price of T60, comes with the same config except for a slightly slower CPU. the built quality is not comparable to IBM but hey, I save about $1400.

so far my think pad experience is not what i hoped it would be...

rbd wrote:I've just bought a T60 2007-49G. And I've also the problems with a intermittent high-pitched noise. Thats really bad, because I've bought this expensive notebook to have no such noises.
Now, this noise is louder, when I move the pointer with the trackpoint, or even if I touch the touchpad (although it's disabled). (sounds like: " krkrkrrkkrkrk" and is very loud right under the touchpad).
I hear the noise only, if I use the battery. If I use the adapter, there is no noise (just the fan). And if the hdd is working, the noise is away.
The battery is also badly fitting in the case!!! Notebooks which cost half of the t60 are better made.

So, I don't know if the t60 is a well made notebook. I often work alone in a room or in the evening, where even no loud noises seem to be very loud. I think, for 2000 € you can expect a notebook without this noise. The fan is also loud, but that noise is not so annoying.

Should I send it back to lenovo. How do you think about? Even Acer-notebooks seem to be more silent. Do you have the same problem? Do you know how to solve this, or have I to live with it?

thanks,
robin

i think this is a virus.

i just hate viruses that aim at ibm thinkpad computers

they fake hardware malfunctioning. it seems so.... but upgrade your drivers, and you will realize that something else was causing the noise


in my case, the audio seemed to not work properly. i reinstalled the audio

and it worked perfectly.

regarding the noise: I had none, but after the "Horrific situation" (see samename thread), when the computer was on battery it made such a noise.

I suspected that the power manager would take care of the problem and after a while, I installed everything driverwise and downloadwise and the pitched sound is gone.

I have the exact same problem as rbd and ghanwani. That noise is there when im running on battery and goes away on AC. It gets louder when I touch the touchpad. It is really wierd... I don't know what it is...

I also do have these high pitched noises, but only if I run on battery and have a device connected to my USB-socket.

there has been a simular issue with the X60s... but for this model Lenovo already has provided a BIOS updas (X60s BIOS 1.06) which removed this annoying sound.

I contacted Lenovo, but they told me, that there was nothing like that planned for the T60 ... but maybe they gave me a wrong information, as there is a new bios (also 1.06) announced for the T60.

Cu
Mika

bonehead & scratch - did IBM ever fix the high-pitched noise problem on your machines? I'm debating taking mine to a local authorized repair facility, but if you didn't have any luck I probably won't bother.

hoya,

my machine specific high pitched noise problem was on my T43p. the noise on my T60p was emitted from the power brick, which I promptly swapped out...no problem with the replacement.

my T43p spent a couple of weeks at IBM support camp and came back with the same problem and a printout from a battery of acoustic tests. end result "IN SPEC".

it is electrical noise (noisy capacitors?) it's not related to speakers, audio drivers, fans, etc. it only occurs when on battery and it is noticeably worse when either built-in or external pointing devices are actuated for some reason. it seems to come from the left front quadrant of the base half. i don't know whether software changes as described back up this thread will effect any change for you, but nothing worked for me.

i have several (~10) T43p's in use by my group; some exhibit this behavior so slightly as to be imperceptible others are somewhat louder, but none as bad as the beauty that i got saddled with.

i returned the machine to the it group as unusable, suggested that it be assigned to one of the programmers on the shop floor and purchased my own T60p...it shows up with a shrieking power brick that spiked my blood pressure, but other than that all is going relatively well.

i still have power management problems that i find inexcuseable at this stage...i've had the machine for 14 weeks with no fix in sight, but i won't pirate this thread to rant on the apparent shortcomings of the TP PM interface.

Scratch - thank you very much for sharing that info. You just saved me a trip to Virginia and an afternoon of frustration (perhaps a few xanax as well

I, too, have had numerous issues on my T60, such as this strange when I'm resuming from standby or hibernate while on battery:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LiKG3NPlAec

EZServ had me update the power manager, to no avail.

however, as you said, this thread is about noise so I'll leave it at that.

thanks again,
john

I just got my T60 hours ago and I guess I have one with the whining noise problem. It only occurs when on battery power and adding a USB mouse makes it worse. It became horrible whenever I booted into a live CD for linux (ubuntu). Should I ask for an exchange?
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T60 (2007-72U)