Thinkpads Forum

On battery power, my T61 is emitting a really high-pitched, intermittent (like a beeping alarm) squeal. When I plug in the power adapter, it stops immediately (and resumes immediately if I unplug the adapter).


It's coming from near the Windows Vista label on the bottom (if you're looking at it inverted, the noise is coming from the center of the right side). Anyone know what this could be or have a similar experience? Thanks.

nearly all of us, do a search and you will find many good responses.

exlax wrote:nearly all of us, do a search and you will find many good responses.

Thanks. This is all I found: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... =t61+noise

I think it's similar to what the original poster described (the HD), but I didn't see any solutions for this particular issue. This is definitely not a normal noise. My T42 has the "whining" small fan, but this is not like that. It really sounds like a beeping alarm with a low volume high-pitched squeal noise.

I had a similar noise coming from my T61 when I received it. I seem to recall it not making much of a difference to the noise between AC and battery power.

It was really irritating, and I was concerned that I might have to return it... Anyway, as soon as I wiped Vista a few hours later (I run Linux on this T61), the noise went away. So, something software-related in my case....?

go to BIOS and disable the Automatic Power or BUS management.
It will be quiet as a man in a coffin
But the battery won't last as long..

sokos wrote:go to BIOS and disable the Automatic Power or BUS management.
It will be quiet as a man in a coffin
But the battery won't last as long..

That worked! Thanks. Seems like you have all the answers


Any chance you know how to fix the terrible glittery/sparklely screen I have to look at? I've read that this can be fixed with a driver or bios update and is not necessarily due to a bad screen (but I don't know much about it)

Here's a Mac thread on the subject:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread. ... 352&page=3

this is slightly off-topic... but I still can't believe how common this issue is. It seems like nearly all new laptops the past two generations have had this noise issue with the C3 C4 lower power states, and yet nothing is ever done. I guess we're all just learning to live with it? or we're accepting the lower battery life we can expect with disabling the lower cpu power states?

I guess we can't really blame the manufacturers since it seems to be an Intel issue.. but still, man it can get annoying.

It is a piezoelectric effect caused by the clock generator. As you reduces the processor to C3 state or lower, the clock generated gets within audible range, causing squeaking sound.
So yeah, nothing can be done about it unless you want to machine to consume battery faster.

maybe someday soon, a "low power state" will mean 2ghz, and the noise will remain outside human hearing.. : )