Noise from t42 driving me nuts!!

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mrxle3 · #1 Post by **mrxle3** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:26 pm

There is an electrical current type noise coming from my laptop everytime I play games or when I resize windows or when I right click on the desktop. It's actually quite annoying, and was wondering if anyone else experiences this problem (it's very noticeable on my laptop). If no one else is having such a problem, I'm going to return the laptop =(

raabjerg · #2 Post by **raabjerg** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:14 am

I have experienced some similar issues on my T42.

You might want to try the following: In device manager, go to the properties window for all USB hubs, and disable power management. That has done the trick for some people.

However, I still have some noise issues occuring when running certain programs. (But in my experience, these noises are not an IBM issue, but a more general Intel issue)

dvorak · #3 Post by **dvorak** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 12:06 pm

I wouldn't suggest disabling power-options, as far as I remember, some reported an extra 2-3w of power-usage.

If it constantly buzzes, you should call IBM, mine does that very seldom for a couple of seconds, it doesn't bother although otherwise I would report it.

raabjerg · #4 Post by **raabjerg** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 12:42 pm

I agree that disabling power management is generally not a good option, but this is only on the USB hubs.

And although it would be better if this issue wasn't present, it has proven helpful for some users to disable USB power management, to resolve noise issues.

Anyways, I would suggest you at least give it a try!

(And as for returning computers, I've returned maybe 2-3 different laptops because of noise issues, and have come to the conclusion that centrino systems generally have a habit of emitting some noise)

dvorak · #5 Post by **dvorak** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 1:14 pm

I don't consider gaining an extra 3w of power consumption a good work-around. Or is the consumption gain actually less, I haven't tried it myself? None the less, mine doesn't do it constantly, I don't see why he should settle if his does.

raabjerg · #6 Post by **raabjerg** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 2:03 pm

In my experience, people have different sensitivity to exactly this buzzing noise.

One of my friends has a laptop, which in my ears emit an unbearable buzzing. So when I borrow it, I turn off power management on the USB hubs, and the noise goes away. However, he hardly notices this sound, while to me, it's noise hell

Just to be clear, I don't consider this a good work-around, but never the less, a work-around... (I have tried contacting the manufacturers several times about this, but noone wants to admit they have a problem)

mrxle3 · #7 Post by **mrxle3** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 1:33 am

Unfortunately, disabling the power management on the USB Root Hub made no difference =(

sugo · #8 Post by **sugo** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 7:11 am

I have read this problem in older threads, but it seems no one actually figured out what caused it. Not every T42 owner has the problem, well at least mine doesn't.

Have you tried calling thinkpad support?

mrxle3 · #9 Post by **mrxle3** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 12:13 pm

I've called Thinkpad support, but they didn't help me one bit =(. As I speak, I've burned recovery CD's and I'm going to do a factory install for my t42. If that doesn't fix the problem, I'm going to call support again and ask for a repair. I've actually only had the laptop for 2 weeks now; should I just return the laptop? Also, I added a 512 mb stick of Crucial RAM...this wouldn't be causing the noises right?

dvorak · #10 Post by **dvorak** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:15 am

mrxle3 wrote:I've called Thinkpad support, but they didn't help me one bit =(. As I speak, I've burned recovery CD's and I'm going to do a factory install for my t42. If that doesn't fix the problem, I'm going to call support again and ask for a repair. I've actually only had the laptop for 2 weeks now; should I just return the laptop? Also, I added a 512 mb stick of Crucial RAM...this wouldn't be causing the noises right?

I doubt RAM is the cause.

IBM's answer to everthing unknown seems to be reinstall windows, they even said that to me once when I was complaining about my slow-red-pixels :)

On a side note, I was trying a first-person-shooter (Battlefield 2) yesterday, and noticed that it buzzed while I was going through the menus (I was using an external display). I'm thinking it perhaps had something to do with refresh rates, choosing the in-game 60Hz removed mouse and keyboard lag I had (although it still was at 85Hz in reality), I'll see if it removed the buzzing too.

mrxle3 · #11 Post by **mrxle3** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:36 pm

Well, tech support said they would send a box to me tomorrow to send into the repair depot so they can replace the system board (to cure the buzzing sound) and the hard drive (to cure the clicking sound)...will update when that is done.

Noise from t42 driving me nuts!!

Noise from t42 driving me nuts!!

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