T43 Strange sound

[mpcook]

Most of the time my T43 has the sound turned off. Over this weekend, I had the sound on, and I was using it this weekend and I have noticed 3 -4 times that it emitted a brief tone, lasting about one second. I have been using MS Office and Google Chrome, no other software. There is no apparent cause for the sound. The most recent "event" on the T43 has been installation of Google Chrome but I don't see any relation to a mechanical tone.

Has anyone run across something like this before? I have had PC's since 1983 and Thinkpads since 1995; I have never had an unsolicited sound like this coming from the machine??

Any ideas?

Thanks!
Mike

[hhmcsv]

Strangely enough, I have noticed a strange sound in the last couple of days. Running no SW as mentioned, WinXP, mostly browsing with Firefox. I suspected it could be a noise from my new HDD, a short whine of sorts, not very loud. But everything is running smoothly, so what it was or what it is I have no idea.

[mpcook]

Unfortunately I will be traveling for the next few weeks (with my HP) so I won't get to troubleshoot this until I get back. I also thought hard drive or CDRW was a possibility. Hopefully it will become apparent soon, I am under warranty for another month.

Mike

[jamerslong]

that could possibly indicate a ground loop, the sound would be emmited durring drive usage. I noticed it with my T23 once.

[mpcook]

Well I heard the sound again, a very constant high tone, lasting just about 1 second. I had speakers/sound OFF so this is not related to the speakers. Now I am worried, am running drive test from System Toolbox. My warranty runs out soon, so I may go ahead and extend just in case. I don't want to send it in based on a very intermittent sound that the tech won't hear.

[ajkula66]

If it's somewhat of a whining sound, it may be your CPU.

[mpcook]

I wouldn't describe it as a whining - it is a constant tone, constant frequency. It does sound electronic rather than mechanical (drive). I have never heard of cpu noise! I also realized I recently replaced both simms to upgrade the ram. I am now testing everything with PC Doctor and so far ram, cpu, hard drive and all check out ok. Since I only have heard the sound maybe once a day or less, it's hard to troubleshoot. I only use this machine for an hour or two a day at most, it's my home machine.

[Mike Blake]

I also realized I recently replaced both simms to upgrade the ram.

Since this was something done before the problem started, why not check it out? Stranger things have happened. Try removing first one then placing it back if nothing changes and then take out the other and see what develops. I think it's worth a shot.

[mpcook]

Since this was something done before the problem started, why not check it out? Stranger things have happened. Try removing first one then placing it back if nothing changes and then take out the other and see what develops. I think it's worth a shot.

Yes I thought about that, my problem is that the noise happens so infrequently that I would have to use it for a few weeks to see if each ram swap makes a difference. I have only heard this tone about 3 times in the past 3 weeks. If I can't figure it out any other way, this would be another option, although the ram checks out in tests.

Thanks
Mike