High pitch sound coming from my Dell Latitude E4310

SinovenatoR · May 19, 2014

There is a high pitch sound produced from my Latitude E4310, it sounds like that one produced from TV.

Its sources are the two speakers at the front at anytime even when I set windows to sleep.

Also, at the left bottom corner of screen when the battery is being plugged in as well as the power supply and increases as I remove the power supply and run on battery only, it seems to be like: sssssssss silent sssssssss silent sssssssss...

I have two questions:

1- Is it normal for the laptop to produce that sound ?

2- If it is not normal, is it okay to keep using the laptop without any problems except getting used to that sound ?

Here are the solutions I tried so far:

1- Tried windows 7/8 also pirated/original.
2- Muting the mic
3- Turning the wifi off
4- Increasing/Decreasing brightness
5- Turning off the screen but setting brightness to 0
6- Using external monitor with laptop screen on/off
7- Removing keyboard to clearly hear the sound, it appears to be more loud coming from the center of motherboard with some rrrrrrr mixed with zzzzz sound.

Monitoring temperatures shows 46-50C on idle, the laptop is a little hot from the bottom but I suppose that it is normal for a metallic bottom to quickly and effectively conduct heat.

Here is one of the sound: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8b6LZuxzffteTFoaU1BNFFsTGs/edit
Another sound: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8b6LZuxzfftY2pkTW14VkdOSUE/edit?usp=sharing

C12Friedman · May 19, 2014

1) No, that does not describe any "normal" sound I am aware of
2) Depends upon the root cause - I'm going to go with fans here and, if I am correct, you will want to address this sooner than later.

To start with, I'll suggest you download and run a temperature monitoring program (SpeedFan, CoreTemp, RealTemp, whatever) report back on what your temperatures show

Pondering · May 19, 2014

This might not be your situation but the high pitch sound sounds familiar.

We had a one of laptops serviced and they installed a pirated version of Chinese Windows XP and every time that lid was about to be closed, it would be emit a really really high grinding sound from the speakers. After they got new laptops with windows 7, I reinstalled a legitimate copy English Windows XP and the sound was gone.

SinovenatoR · May 19, 2014

Here are the solutions I tried so far:

1- Tried windows 7/8 also pirated/original.
2- Muting the mic
3- Turning the wifi off
4- Increasing/Decreasing brightness
5- Turning off the screen but setting brightness to 0
6- Using external monitor with laptop screen on/off
7- Removing keyboard to clearly hear the sound, it appears to be more loud coming from the center of motherboard with some rrrrrrr mixed with zzzzz sound.

Monitoring temperatures shows 46-50C on idle, the laptop is a little hot from the bottom but I suppose that it is normal for a metallic bottom to quickly and effectively conduct heat.

C12Friedman · May 19, 2014

Your temps seem to be okay. I'm considering two things here; 1) The high pitch noise could be coil whine from an inductor or coil and, 2) something has come loose inside (piece of tape seems likely) and is interfering with a fan (the intermittent noise).
Not much can be done about coil whine - it usually isn't detrimental though
On the other hand, what ever is making the intermittent noise I'm thinking you'll want to address. I'll suggest disassembling and cleaning the vents and checking the area around the fans for anything loose (wire or tape or...). You shouldn't need to remove the heatsink(s) although on some models that can't be avoided. If heat sinks are removed, care should be taken with any thermal pads and you will need to clean off the old and apply fresh thermal compound

SinovenatoR · May 20, 2014

I have disassembled it, cleaned it and replaced heatsink paste.
It is not the fan though because the sound does not change whenever the fan is on/off.
Is coil whine dangerous or it is okay ?

Here is one of the sound: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8b6LZuxzffteTFoaU1BNFFsTGs/edit
Another sound: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8b6LZuxzfftY2pkTW14VkdOSUE/edit?usp=sharing

By the way, the sound turns to be the most high coming from the center of motherboard specially the first sound.

C12Friedman · May 20, 2014

Interesting sounds there, the first was a little hard to figure but it may be hard drive related - the second sounds more (to me) like feedback than a coil and may be from the HDD or... ? Are these noises seemingly related at all?
I think running SeaTools may be a good start http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/seatools-win-master/ it'll check on the health of your hard drive

SinovenatoR · May 20, 2014

I tried with HDD out of laptop.

C12Friedman · May 20, 2014

I'll suggest pulling the optical drive then, see if any change with it gone

SinovenatoR · May 20, 2014

Removed it as well, sound still there.

C12Friedman · May 20, 2014

Okay, now we're getting into the bizarre (and I'm almost out of ideas). Thing is, there are only three items in the laptop with moving parts; fan, optical drive and hard drive. Everything else is solid state.
Here are my last ditch efforts...
First, in regards to the high pitch noise. Two possibilities (again it's not really sounding to me like coil whine which would be a single frequency, that sounds like multiple frequencies)... 1) Possibly a cooling fin or two on the heat sink's vent got squished together and are creating a whistle effect (that's really stretching) or, 2) (more likely if the sound started after the lappy was disassembled) one of the speaker wires is reversed or pinched and grounded. I'm thinking perhaps disconnecting the speakers completely or just one at a time (if possible) to see if that isn't the source and/or does that noise go away if headphones are plugged in or does the noise transfer to the headphones?
The other noise, I'm fully stumped if it isn't mechanical (which limit it's cause to fan(s) or drives)
Outside of those, I'd be inclined to say your sound chip IC is failing (but I don't want to say that yet)
See where you get with the speakers physically unplugged here and/or try headphones (or ear buds, external speaker...)

SinovenatoR · May 20, 2014

Okey, at last, I have just disassembled the laptop and plugged in the power cord with only screen connected, both sounds come mixed together from the non-blur area in those images:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8b6LZuxzfftQ05aUXkyb2tJdlk/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8b6LZuxzfftRzNjUk5OV2ZJX28/edit?usp=sharing

C12Friedman · May 21, 2014

Okay, now you're scaring me... I got (mostly) nothing there capable (in my experience) of making that noise. Okay there is one thing but I can't fully make it out - in this picture https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8b6LZuxzfftQ05aUXkyb2tJdlk/edit there is a part right next to the ram that I can barely make out 526X or E26X printed on it... what are the full numbers (or a picture focused there)

SinovenatoR · May 21, 2014

It is 526X or S26X, the number itself is badly printed. Is not it an inductor ?

C12Friedman · May 21, 2014

I can't really make it out but it appeared to me to be an inductor and if so (which is why I was asking about it in particular), that would be the only possible source that I could see in either pic.

SinovenatoR · May 21, 2014

"Bad inductors?

Inductors vibrate during system operation due to magnetostriction, producing audible noise. On a motherboard, inductors typically look like donuts with wire wrapped around them, or small coils of wire encased in a plastic square. While there is usually glue on the inductors to suppress this vibration, poorly applied, damaged, or otherwise failing glue on one or more inductors can cause this noise.

Applying glue from a glue gun may help solve this problem.

Note that you may want to pinpoint the source of the noise before attempting to repair it. Capacitors are often (incorrectly) blamed for this behavior."

Is that my case ?

C12Friedman · May 21, 2014

It sure seems to fit - and beyond that, I'm empty. Often the glue used dries out over time allowing the resonant vibrations to occur. You could try some hot glue to see if it helps (shouldn't hurt anything). I'm thinking some carefully applied medium or thin cyanoacrylate (CA) glue may also be effective (be very careful if using thin CA since it does run but coverage should be better). If using a CA glue, wait 24 hours for the glue to fully cure before powering up.

SinovenatoR · May 21, 2014

In case I leave it, will it damage/harm any component ?

C12Friedman · May 21, 2014

It shouldn't have any effect on the laptop's operation (other than the annoyance factor) - if you can live with the noise, it should be okay

SinovenatoR · May 21, 2014

Okey, thank you so much for your efforts, I appreciate your help.

High pitch sound coming from my Dell Latitude E4310

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