Thinkpads Forum

Hi all. I've had my X61s for almost 2 years now. She's doing fine, but ever since I got her there's be an intermittent electronic squeaking noise coming from around the HD area of the machine. At first I removed the WiFi daughterboard with the idea that it was causing the during transmission. However, even with the WiFi removed the noise still persisted. I eventually got Lenovo to replace the machine with a new one -- but it had the same problem.

I've lived with it these two years but it has been very annoying. My T60 had the same problem. My T42 never did. Does anyone know what exactly is causing the problem? is it simply a result of Lenovo cutting corners on PCB manufacturing to drive prices down and profits up? I have not heard any other manufacturer's machines make this noise before.

I have a thinkpad x61 tablet that makes a whining high pitch squeal noise whenever I drag a window / scroll window / and some random times.

I noticed some noise when I enter screen saver mode when I have rotating text message on the screen.

Today, I just found out that when you visit this sie, it sound like the maximum noise produced from my thinkpad.

http://kiasoul.com/
Then click 'gallery' on the left menu. The noise will be there even with the internet explorer windows minimized.


The amount of the noise comming from the motherboard is unbearable.


I know it's from a electronic part because I tried my thinkpad with the keyboard and palmrest taken off, with USB keyboard connected to it. I also have a SSD that is noiseless. I tried giving some pressure on the place a little right from the right click button. That's where the noise is comming from.


I also have another same model CTO7764 thinkpad x61 tablet, it still produces this same type of noise but is much quiet.


I'm sending mine in to the depot next week for a repair.


x61 tablet 7764 / MT-MV screen / 4GB RAM / 100GB 7200rpm HDD / 80GB intel x25-m SSD / Bluetooth / intel 4965AGN.

I don't know that is can be repaired. As I said I had my original X61s replaced and the noise was still present.

Let me know if the repair guys can fix the noise - if the can I would love to get mine fixed as well. Unfortunately I don't trust the repair depot as they destroyed my original T42 -- and that's why I bought on-site repair for my X61s. But even so I don't know that the noise can be fixed.

Please keep me posted!

Have you tried experimenting with changing the Power Plans used in the Power Options? I once heard some high frequency noise/squeaks when running on the High Performance power plan, when I changed it to Balanced, it went away completely.

Try experimenting with them.

There are two ways to shutdown the cpu whining (sound that comes when changing from energy saving cpu c3 state to more energy saving cpu c4 state) with the program rmclock:

1. rmclock > Advanced CPU settings > Chipset > disable both "Enable Popup Mode" and "Enable Popdown Mode".
2. Alternatively rmclock > Advanced CPU settings > Chipset > enable "Disable C4 Mode"

Well, when I run in Windows I set my machine to "Energy Star" mode. However, I more frequently use Linux and set the CPU scaling to "on demand." I don't think that a proper solution would be to leave the CPU at maximum frequency. This would create more heat and use more battery than necessary. Besides, you'll still hear the squeaking noise during bootup.

Ugh. Lenovo's quality is really upsetting. They overcharge for shoddy LCDs and poorly manufactured PCBs. Shame on them. Shame on us as well.

ssd_thinkpad wrote:There are two ways to shutdown the cpu whining (sound that comes when changing from energy saving cpu c3 state to more energy saving cpu c4 state) with the program rmclock:

1. rmclock > Advanced CPU settings > Chipset > disable both "Enable Popup Mode" and "Enable Popdown Mode".
2. Alternatively rmclock > Advanced CPU settings > Chipset > enable "Disable C4 Mode"

I wish I'd seen your post earlier. When I received my X61s a month or two back, the squealing was killing me. It took a long time to find a solution through Google because I wasn't sure how to describe it. Lenovo customer service was no help when I called them. I thought there was a hardware problem and the machine is under warranty for another 2.5 years. The customer service person basically said to take to a local service center. He wasn't willing to send me a box because he couldn't hear the sound over the phone.

I used solutions #1 and it works very well. I haven't noticed any difference in battery life.

If you have a Core 2 Duo processor, well... there's your problem.

There is an article on thinkwiki.org, but it's down right now, so I can't hunt it down.

if you turn off low power modes, etc. in the bios, it will stop the squealing. Pretty much cuts battery life by 25%-50% though. It's a really horrible problem. My x61 does the same thing. There is a bios update for the x61 that fixes the problem IN WINDOWS with extra software installed. Not helpful, to me at least.

linko wrote:There is a bios update for the x61 that fixes the problem IN WINDOWS with extra software installed.

Great news (I hope). I'll have to try this out when I get home and see how well it works. Still good to know that Lenovo is thinking of X61 owners.

With my x61 (7675-cto) bios revision 2.17 fixes the buzzing under windows. Good luck. I hope your machine has the same update.

I got my x61t fixed. The noise comes from a component soldered on the motherboard. I don't know what it is called, but it was like black 1cm diameter 3mm thick plastic thingy with probably copper coil inside it. There are couple of these, but anyhow it got fixed by replacing the motherboard. Now it's been a long time since I heard that whining noise. It's not because it is a Penryn. I have a intel SSD now, and the only thing making noise is the fan and the squeeky left mouse button.

By the way my wife has x61s. Her's does make some noise, but not bad enough to send it to the depot. Oh, and it is out of warranty anyway (1 year). I'm glad I got 3 year warranty.

Mine occasionally makes the C2D squeak, but yesterday I noticed it coming out of the headphone jack. If I hear that again, it's off to the depot.