Thinkpads Forum

Problem with my T410s. Makes this high frequensy noise that drives me crazy

It becomes mega massive when the turbo kickes in. This was supposed to be a super computer, but I am not happy. Am I the only one who has this problem?

Nope, you're not alone.

Every modern Intel-based machine can do this; I had a T510 (in various incarnations, 3 in all) that did that, and the W520 I've got now still does it on battery power. I've also heard a Panasonic Toughbook CF-73 (Dothan) and an Acer Aspire laptop (the generation before the 5749, i3-380M) do it.

I believe it has something to do with power regulation and a particular capacitor.

Turning off power management in the BIOS will kill the whine, but will also kill your battery (and on a T410s which already has sub-par battery life that's really bad).

What I'd try is this program, disable EIST and C1E, then "Turn On" the program- see if the whine disappears. You can also push "Clock Modulation" down to 12.5% but this kills your performance and the whine becomes a chirp.
The program can be set up so that whenever you plug the machine in it de-activates the power-saving, and personally that's what I'd do.

If only the processor didn't poll power-saving so aggressively...

Finally someone with the same problem. I took the laptop to the seller and they changed everything out in it, but with no luck and didnt know what it is.
I am kinda bummed because this computer wasnt cheap when I bought it.
The battery is toast. It only holds 20% and in about 20 min runs out. After 2 years of hard using I am not surprised.
How is the 420s compared to the 410s?
Can I make it even better?
So far I have been happy with it but that noise.....

Here are the specs?

Ah.. I'm waiting for the day that Thinkpads go passive.

So from what I have is that I could get some 4x2 of ram, right?
Anything else that I can do?