Random intermittent beeping?

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eepeep · #1 Post by **eepeep** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:41 am

Picked up an x60s last week and it's a really sweet little box, but every once in a while, sometimes fifteen minutes and sometimes four hours, it lets out a one-second high-pitched loud beep!

I've tried everything I can think of at this point. It beeps when it's left alone, it beeps when it's being used, it beeps whether it's being moved or not, it beeps whether it's on or off battery, on or off AC power, charging, not charging, with or without any given device activated in the BIOS, with or without speedstep, power settings, hard drive spin-down or shock protection/head parking. Neither the keyboard volume controls nor any windows volume controls affect the volume or presence of the beep. And even if something is plugged into the headphone jack, the sound continues to come from inside the machine.

And it beeps about one in ten times during boot, while still on the BIOS screen. And it beeps about one in twenty times during shutdown. So it probably isn't a windows-specific problem. And I upgraded the BIOS and EC but no effect.

I also applied the solution to the keyboard-beeping problem (which I didn't even know it suffered from but it did, X60/s users take note!) at http://www.randyrants.com/2004/02/ibm_thinkpad_t4.html
That beep, once I realized I also had that one, goes out over the headphone jack when something's plugged in. So that's not the issue here either, and indeed it didn't solve the problem.

I'm at wit's end on this one. It's a great little machine, but I feel ridiculous carrying my cool little notebook into a meeting only to have it interrupt everyone by beeping loudly completely out of my control.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Can anyone think of what else it could possibly be? Thanks!

trentblase · #2 Post by **trentblase** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 6:27 pm

This is definitely not normal. I'd suggest sending it back. I know it's a pain, but something must be wrong to cause the beep...

On another note, thanks so much for that "keyboard beep" link! I had noticed that happening but never thought to investigate a fix. It was really annoying because I type certain key combinations without lifting each key individually.

christopher_wolf · #3 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 6:36 pm

eepeep wrote:Picked up an x60s last week and it's a really sweet little box, but every once in a while, sometimes fifteen minutes and sometimes four hours, it lets out a one-second high-pitched loud beep!

I've tried everything I can think of at this point. It beeps when it's left alone, it beeps when it's being used, it beeps whether it's being moved or not, it beeps whether it's on or off battery, on or off AC power, charging, not charging, with or without any given device activated in the BIOS, with or without speedstep, power settings, hard drive spin-down or shock protection/head parking. Neither the keyboard volume controls nor any windows volume controls affect the volume or presence of the beep. And even if something is plugged into the headphone jack, the sound continues to come from inside the machine.

And it beeps about one in ten times during boot, while still on the BIOS screen. And it beeps about one in twenty times during shutdown. So it probably isn't a windows-specific problem. And I upgraded the BIOS and EC but no effect.

I also applied the solution to the keyboard-beeping problem (which I didn't even know it suffered from but it did, X60/s users take note!) at http://www.randyrants.com/2004/02/ibm_thinkpad_t4.html
That beep, once I realized I also had that one, goes out over the headphone jack when something's plugged in. So that's not the issue here either, and indeed it didn't solve the problem.

I'm at wit's end on this one. It's a great little machine, but I feel ridiculous carrying my cool little notebook into a meeting only to have it interrupt everyone by beeping loudly completely out of my control.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Can anyone think of what else it could possibly be? Thanks!

Very strange; it is quite possible that it is trying to indicate that there is a problem with the system board. Yet, if that were the case, you would notice more problems.

Send it in to IBM and see what they say.

phoenixz · #4 Post by **phoenixz** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 6:40 pm

eepeep,

I have exactly the same problem!

I called IBM support but the guy who answered the call obviously didn't know what could be the problem. He then asked me to take it to a local resaler for diagnosis. This was last week.

The resaler asked me to drop off the machine, which I refused because the sheet they asked me to sign states I need to pay a dignosis fee and I had work to finish using the laptop. However they did take a look at my laptop and suggested that I run the system test (the one that comes up when you press the thinkvantage key at boot time) to see if there is a hardware problem. They've never heard of the random beeping problem before. I ran the full test later and didn't find any thing wrong.

Could this be overheating? I seem to have less beeping in my office, which is always below 70F. (I doubt it though. the bottom doesn't even feel warm. and the fan should spin harder when the CPU heats up.)

This is not the only problem I had. Windows failed to recognize the graphics chipset once(fixed after upgrading bios and reinstalling drivers), and I have a very annoying hissing when I'm on battery power for a while(which stops when the hard drive is reading/writing).

I'll try to call IBM again next week when I'm less busy. If you figured out what the problem is, please do post it here.

christopher_wolf · #5 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 6:53 pm

phoenixz wrote:eepeep,

I have exactly the same problem!

I called IBM support but the guy who answered the call obviously didn't know what could be the problem. He then asked me to take it to a local resaler for diagnosis. This was last week.

The resaler asked me to drop off the machine, which I refused because the sheet they asked me to sign states I need to pay a dignosis fee and I had work to finish using the laptop. However they did take a look at my laptop and suggested that I run the system test (the one that comes up when you press the thinkvantage key at boot time) to see if there is a hardware problem. They've never heard of the random beeping problem before. I ran the full test later and didn't find any thing wrong.

Could this be overheating? I seem to have less beeping in my office, which is always below 70F. (I doubt it though. the bottom doesn't even feel warm. and the fan should spin harder when the CPU heats up.)

This is not the only problem I had. Windows failed to recognize the graphics chipset once(fixed after upgrading bios and reinstalling drivers), and I have a very annoying hissing when I'm on battery power for a while(which stops when the hard drive is reading/writing).

I'll try to call IBM again next week when I'm less busy. If you figured out what the problem is, please do post it here.

Hmmm, that sounds alot like a mobo problem; except for being able to get it to work by updating the BIOS firmware and the drivers.

Far out shot, but it could be a bad firmware flash.

eepeep · #6 Post by **eepeep** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:19 pm

phoenixz:

What model number did you get? My beeping machine is a 1704-3DU. I'm worried that if I send it back for replacement I might get one from the same batch... Does anyone think this isn't worth worrying about? It sounds like most of you have no problems...

phoenixz · #7 Post by **phoenixz** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:40 pm

Mine is an X60, not X60s. Model number 1709-47U.

I've only had about 3 beeps today. Not sure if I should worry about it too much.

eepeep · #8 Post by **eepeep** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:52 pm

Well, unless the techs get back to me tomorrow, I'm going to go ahead and RMA this little guy while I still can. And probably get a replacement from the same batch and just hope for the best.

I probably get about five beeps a day, which isn't the end of the world given how other people's cell phones go off in meetings and stuff. But it's still embarrassing, so it's a nuisance I'd rather do without given the option.

edbern · #9 Post by **edbern** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:06 pm

eepeep wrote:Well, unless the techs get back to me tomorrow, I'm going to go ahead and RMA this little guy while I still can. And probably get a replacement from the same batch and just hope for the best.

I probably get about five beeps a day, which isn't the end of the world given how other people's cell phones go off in meetings and stuff. But it's still embarrassing, so it's a nuisance I'd rather do without given the option.

I'm getting the same thing on my 1704-4DU X60s -- randomly, maybe once or twice a day, sounds almost like that one beep you get on starting up a desktop machine.

Doesn't bother me enough to do anything about it yet...

Do you think support would swap the machine but let you keep the drive? Then there'd be no down time at all...

yasu · #10 Post by **yasu** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:31 am

I got the same problem here, wish to get a patch fix soon

eepeep · #11 Post by **eepeep** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 9:48 am

yasu: What model number is yours?

I suspect more people need to complain about this bug before they address it... Obviously it is a problem in firmware on some device in the system, but it's not clear which device. It's as if they left in a debugging beep or something...

yasu · #12 Post by **yasu** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:31 am

X60 1706-5DH

I hope they can fix the problem soon also, it brother me so much when using headphone

eepeep · #13 Post by **eepeep** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 9:14 am

Well, at this point I've determined that my unit's particular problem is likely to be an interaction with the hard drive. If I boot off a USB device or I boot into a single-user mode that doesn't use the hard drive in the background, it doesn't beep. But when the hard drive is being used, it beeps once in a while. Not saying it's because of the hard drive, it's just as likely to be a flaw in the way the system board is dealing with the hard drive.

Yasu, your issue might be slightly different if it gets output through the headphone jack (although of course I don't know for sure how this flaw behaves). Have you disabled all the alerts in the BIOS configuration and turned off the windows beep device (see my first post in this thread)? Does it beep even when you're not using it while it's on?

Jeech · #14 Post by **Jeech** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 12:01 pm

there is a possibility you may be getting intermittent feedback on the microphone wiring. I've seen this happen with many laptops. Try reducing the input levels on the mic or even muting the mic for awhile. See if the problem goes away.

trentblase · #15 Post by **trentblase** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 12:27 pm

eepeep wrote:Well, at this point I've determined that my unit's particular problem is likely to be an interaction with the hard drive. If I boot off a USB device or I boot into a single-user mode that doesn't use the hard drive in the background, it doesn't beep. But when the hard drive is being used, it beeps once in a while. Not saying it's because of the hard drive, it's just as likely to be a flaw in the way the system board is dealing with the hard drive.

Yasu, your issue might be slightly different if it gets output through the headphone jack (although of course I don't know for sure how this flaw behaves). Have you disabled all the alerts in the BIOS configuration and turned off the windows beep device (see my first post in this thread)? Does it beep even when you're not using it while it's on?

Are you sure it's a beep and not a squeak? Sometimes drives make beeping/squeaking noises (which may or may not indicate a problem).

redburgundy · #16 Post by **redburgundy** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 4:20 pm

I'm getting the beeping at random intervals also.
Type is 1706-5KU

sonne · #17 Post by **sonne** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:29 pm

I have an 1702-3QG (X60s).

I also have those beeps from time to time. They sound exactly like the warning tones you can turn on for low battery and such, but I have turned everything off, and as far as I can see there is nothing related to the beep when it occurs.. and I can't reproduce or control it.

Interesting if it turns out to be a warning tone from the system board, because I have a lot of crashes with my X60s due to a non-working video driver.. (see my other thread).

emo · #18 Post by **emo** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 10:06 pm

sonne wrote:I have an 1702-3QG (X60s).

I also have those beeps from time to time. They sound exactly like the warning tones you can turn on for low battery and such, but I have turned everything off, and as far as I can see there is nothing related to the beep when it occurs.. and I can't reproduce or control it.

Interesting if it turns out to be a warning tone from the system board, because I have a lot of crashes with my X60s due to a non-working video driver.. (see my other thread).

Have you done a complete system recovery from the ThinkVantage? Does the problem still persist? If it does, return it to Lenovo for service.

texans.fan · #19 Post by **texans.fan** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 3:17 pm

Could it have anything to do with the power management profile? I know there is a tick box to "Beep" everytime the power settings change.

---EDIT---
Nope because I unchecked the tick box and it still beeps randomly.

eepeep · #20 Post by **eepeep** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 3:53 pm

Alright, so the beeps in my case are tied to the hard drive itself. I swapped the drive with another X60s, and the beep switched computers! So, at least one of the beep issues in this discussion is tied to an interaction between the X60's and a few hard drives that may have been manufactured a certain way.

According to the tech support person I've been in touch with, there have been hard drive-related beep issues in earlier X-series computers as well. Hopefully I'll hear from their engineering staff on the issue in the next week.

So, to answer edbern's comment, you would have to swap the drive, not the machine, if you have the same bug as mine...

As for everyone else's beeps, some of them do sound similar, but it's worth putting down some of the accumulated beep-fixes I've come across so far:

First, make sure your "alerts" are off in the BIOS config.

In your power management setup in Windows, dig around and disable your beep alerts for low-battery and all that.

And, sure, turn your microphone off in the volume control.

If you're a Linux fan, I'll point out that the beep does not occur when I'm in using Linux in graphical mode under Gnome.

Then there are these tips I'll quote from another thinkpad mailing list:

1. Run regedit, go to \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Sound\ . In the entry "beep", replace the "yes" entries with "no" .

*2. The previous solutions (NB: regarding fix for some missing keys) didn't work for me since I do have the correct keys under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents. I found that the data at the root of HKEY_CURRENT_USER had been nulled, instead of "value not set"
there was nothing. The solution is to delete the string - windows will rebuild the correct one instantly and your sounds should be
restored. It worked for my system.
Before: HKEY_CURRENT_USER (Default) REG_SZ
After: HKEY_CURRENT_USER (Default) REG_SZ (value not set)

3. No need to edit the registry. Just open the Device Manager, select View -> Show Hidden Devices, and disable "Beep" under
"Non-Plug and Play Drivers". It works on my Windows XP, and turns off even the speaker on my motherboard, which I cannot just
unplug.

4. If you have PictureShow 2 and your problem with the sound events started after installation go to
http://www.ulead.com/tech/dps/dps_ftp.htm
to download a patch that will fix this issue.

5. Install and run Tweakui (part of Powertoys for Windows XP http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/ ... ertoys.asp ).Under
the General tab, unchecking Beep on Errors should get rid of many system events sounds, and does not restore the default Windows
sounds.

yasu · #21 Post by **yasu** » Mon May 01, 2006 8:01 pm

Thanks eepeep, it's work for me.

javellan · #22 Post by **javellan** » Wed May 03, 2006 10:17 am

I had tracked that same problem down to perssing thre keys at the same time! Now I've recently reinstalled XP, actually tried OSX to work nicely on my x60s but that didn't work out

. Now the problem is GONE!!! What gives! but Yes you can disable all windows beeps altogether using this techinique.
-Joaquin

tselling · #23 Post by **tselling** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 2:48 pm

Have we got anything more on the random beeps? The X60s I have is also giving random beeps and has a Hitachi 5400 60gb drive (HTS541060G9SA00) installed.

boofoo · #24 Post by **boofoo** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 4:49 pm

I started getting this when I installed Google Desktop. No idea if there's a connection, but others (not ThinkPad users) have reported beeping associated with the program. Quick question: of people reporting this problem, who has Google Desktop installed?

tselling · #25 Post by **tselling** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:10 pm

I don't have it installed.

tselling · #26 Post by **tselling** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 11:18 am

My random beeping seems to be resolved. I think I did two things. I found that I had both the Intel and the Thinkpad wireless drivers installed so I removed the one I'm not using. I also flashed the bios to 1.10. So far no beeps today.

tselling · #27 Post by **tselling** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 2:19 pm

oops, I spoke to soon it started random beeping again. I guess I will need to see if the new 160 GB hd I have on the way makes a difference.

tselling · #28 Post by **tselling** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 4:27 pm

I confirmed the random intermittent beeps to be due to the HD. I cloned the original Travelstar 60gb drive to a new 5K160 drive and no beeps.

EasyServ just sent me a new drive (I decided to ask for a new drive while I was on the phone for the battery recall). The new drive arrived next day... unfortunately it will be quite awhile on the battery. Anyway I haven't noticed any beeps with the new Fujitsu drive.

Random intermittent beeping?

Random intermittent beeping?

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