Notebook buzz at idle

[hailstreak]

I have a brand new Pavilion laptop (14-AB166US) that is generating a faint, but noticeable buzzing/electrical sound only when the CPU and hard drive are idle. I replaced the HDD with an SSD, so this may be the reason I am hearing something that would otherwise be drowned out with a louder HDD, but the sound is noticeable when sitting in a quiet room and it bothers me quite a bit.

When I am actively working on the computer (opening programs, etc.), the noise disappears; but once it sits idle for a few seconds, the noise starts up again. It is difficult to determine if the noise is coming from the CPU or the speakers; however, the sound corresponds directly to CPU and hard drive activity.

I thought perhaps it could be interference, so I disabled a variety of components, including the speakers, one by one in device manager, but no luck. 

I'm now thinking it could be related to a CPU idle/power saving setting because it does not happen at other times. Unfortunately, it does not look like it is possible to change CPU power settings in BIOS.

I am fairly certain that this is not fan noise, and the SSD I am using has been previously used in another laptop without any noise. I'm stumped and a bit disappointed that my brand new laptop is doing this! Any ideas?

[hailstreak]

Well it turns out that it is being caused by the Intel 5500 graphics. When I disable it in Device Manager, the noise completely disappears, but returns immediately when I re-enable it. The generic Microsoft display driver does not generate this noise. I have updated to the latest Intel driver with no change.

[SDF15]

Hello @hailstreak,

Thank you for visiting the HP Forums! A great place where you can find solutions for your issues, with help from the community!

I came across your post about the Graphics Card issue, and wanted to assist you!

Did you update the drivers, using the Intel Drivers from the HP site?  You can find drivers for your product here: Drivers - HP Pavilion Notebook - 14-ab166us (ENERGY STAR)

Please post back with the results.

Please let me know if this information helps you resolve the issue by marking this post as  "Accept as Solution" , this will help others easily find the information they may be looking for.  Also, clicking the Thumbs up below is a great way to say thanks!

Have a great day!

[hailstreak]

Yes, I installed the latest driver from HP's site. The problem persists.

[SDF15]

Hello @hailstreak,

Thank you for the quick reply!

You should not hear buzzing sounds from the Graphics Card.  I do not believe the issue to be driver related.  However, you can try uninstalling the Graphics Driver, then restart the notebook.  This way, your system will search for a compatible driver.  Please let me know how it goes.  If you are still having trouble, the issue may be hardware related.  I hope this helps.

Regards!

[hailstreak]

Well, being that the laptop was within the return period at my place of purchase, I exchanged it for a new one. The exact same problem occurs with the new laptop. It may very well be a hardware issue, but it seems unlikely that it would be faulty on two laptops. It must be a design/engineering flaw or a driver issue yet to be resolved. I imagine that not many users with these laptops will install a SSD, and therefore most people will not notice the noise because it will blend with the sound of the mechanical hard drive. The noise does, by the way, sound very similar to that of a mechanical hard drive. Seems like HP should look into this. When I removed my SSD from the original laptop to return it to the store, I was able to verify that it is indeed coming from the CPU/GPU area.

[SDF15]

Hello @hailstreak,

Thank you for the quick reply!
 

Based on the information that you provided, you may consider contacting HP Phone Support for additional options.  Please use the following http://www.hp.com/contacthp and create a case for your issue and contact HP. If you live outside the US/Canada, please click the link below to get the contact information for your region.
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-phone-assist.html

I hope this helps.

Have a great weekend!

[hailstreak · Accepted solution]

Well, after much online research, I came across another thread on the HP forums with many users describing the exact same issue with another HP model:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Spectre-x360-Noise/td-p/5107394...

This led me to a solution:

1. Execute: "regedit"
2 .Locate: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Power \ PowerSettings \ 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b¬740d00 \ 5d76a2ca-e8c0-402f-a133-215849¬2d58ad
3. Change Attributes from 1 to 0.
4. Then, through the control panel - power - in the settings mode select power management processor. There will be an option disabling idle processor and high pitched noise immediately disappears.

Alas, disabling CPU idle completely eliminates the buzzing noise for me.

Of course, this will likely drain my battery a little faster, but at least it eliminates the noise. It would be nice if HP could work toward a fix for this so that I can use the CPU idle feature again for better energy savings.

Hopefully, this will help others with similar issues.