Spectre x360 Noise

[10010101]

I am experiencing the same noise and I suspect that it is an issue on all x360s. I sent my first one (ordered from Amazon Germany) back because of this noise, and ordered a new one directly at HP, which is making the same bothering noise.

It is a very low noise but once I notice it in a silent room I cannot 'unhear' it anymore and it is incredibly annoying. I can imagine though that some people aren't sensitive for this noise and do not notice it, or that technicians can't hear it in a loud office, but it is definitely there and if you put your ear on the left upper part of the keyboard you can surely hear it - sounds like electric noise, or as somebody put it, a HDD that is constantly reading and writing.

I fear this is a hardware problem that can only be fixed by improving the hardware design, but I am gladly proven wrong. Either way, this needs to be acknowledged by HP.

[jlonomo]

So doing some more digging,  it appears that my laptop has two different noises/sounds.

1. A crackle/buzz/pop/static noise.

2. A 'constant frequency' hum.

I have ascertained the following:

Noise 1 appears to be very similar to what some Sony users reported last year. It changes with processor load, occasionally stopping, but starting again as the processor idles.

This forum post deals with the Sony: https://community.sony.com/t5/VAIO-Hardware-Networking/Noise-coming-from-Vaio-Pro-13/td-p/152651/pag...

Their workaround to stop the noise was to disable the Intel HD4400 graphics in Device Manager.

I can confirm that this same workaround stops the crackling/buzzing/humming noise on my Spectre (obviously disabling the HD5500 hardware device, since it is a newer processor).

Disabling this device is not a suitable workaround, as the laptop is now no longer functioning as designed.

Noise 2 is a set of three hums of 'constant frequency', emanating from the grille underneath, towards the charging port, audible even when the laptop is shut down and unplugged (and probably there for regular use, though not as loud as Noise 1).

There are three different pitched sounds, depending on whether the charger is plugged in or unplugged, and whether the screen is open or closed.

Plugged in: constant low frequency hum regardless of screen open or closed.

Unplugged: high pitch hum when the laptop is closed. Low pitch hum that lasts a few seconds when the screen is opened that returns to the original high pitch while the screen remains open. Closing the screen results in the low pitch hum again, for a few seconds, then the high pitch 'lid closed' sound.

These constant frequency hums are not loud enough for me to hear on regular use, unless i put my ear right up against the base of the laptop, over the grille.

I have further issues now, either with the battery or charger, and wonder whether the two problems are linked, since the noises are electrical in nature. I'm looking at getting a replacement, and will see whether a different copy of the laptop makes the same noise.

Rather disappointed with my purchase at this stage, since I love the design and feel of the laptop; turns plenty of heads too.

[cynicist]

Interesting thread, thanks for sharing. Would you mind testing the other two solutions in that thread? (They seem to conclude that power saving settings are responsible, that may explain why the tech didn't run into it) I'll copy them below.

1) "So whilst racking my brain trying to find a solution and reading all of these posts, I found that when I switch my power plan from either balanced or high performance, to powersaver, the sound goes away!!!"

2) "Thanks to the sleuths at Notebookreview.com, the solution to this buzzing, aka "high pitch noise" over there, does NOT require you to disable the Intel HD Graphics (although that does work).

Simply go to your Control Panel --> Power Options --> Change Plan Settings --> Change Advance Plan Settings --> USB Settings --> USB Selective Suspend Settings --> DISABLE

the second you hit 'apply', you'll be in buzz-free bliss. if you press your ear to the computer you can still hear it ever-so-slightly, but it's waaaaaay attenuated now and not noticeable."

I hope this is the same issue and is as easily fixable, or I might have to find a new laptop, which I really don't want to do. 😞

[jlonomo]

I did read those other posts, and switched power plans from "HP Recommended" to "Power Saver", but no effect for me.

Also no effect by changing the "USB Selective Suspend" setting, neither plugged in, nor on battery.

But reading the very last post in that thread, where the user mentions "the noise is still slightly audible if you TRY to hear it" and "Disabling the Intel HD Graphics Drivers eliminates the buzzing noise completely", I didn't bother to mention the other suggested 'fixes' in my previous post.

Further testing, it is most definitely related to the processor/graphics chip. I just fired up Civilization V; noise vanished. Similarly, rotating a 3D object in Autodesk Fusion 360 makes the noise vanish. If I stop rotating the object, I hear the clicking/buzzing/popping almost immediately. Watching 1080p Youtube videos with sound muted, the noise changes to more of a hiss, replaced by clicking/popping when paused. 480p videos, it is a hiss with occasional pops.

I have tried toggling most other power management settings, with no effect.

Can any others confirm this relationship between graphics use and noise level?

Searching for other examples of the same sound is proving futile, need some better descriptors... I've been using words like crackle, buzz, hiss, pop, static, but not getting any useful hits on Google.

[cynicist]

Thanks to your hint I did more research and found numerous threads, some dating back years, that mention the exact sound that we are talking about. (I searched for "ultrabook electrical noise", you'll also get a few hits using the word " whine") One thing I realized is that it could be a high frequency sound that some people with less sensitive hearing just don't pick up at all

Many of those threads mentioned it having to do with the CPU going into the C4 (low power) state. This one (linked below) in particular was quite helpful and I recommend reading it. Could you check if turning off c-states is allowed in the BIOS? If not it looks like there are a few alternatives, including editing the Windows registry, but I'm happy to take the risk of messing with Windows internals when mine gets back.

http://superuser.com/questions/121883/any-way-to-disable-specific-cpu-idle-cx-states

[jlonomo]

That sounds like the culprit. Just did some more testing here, and it does appear to be CPU rather than GPU related (I suppose just the processor in general). The noise is gone when running Superpi and Orthos Prime to stress the CPU. I wonder how disabling the GPU affects the power usage of the processor, wouldn't think it would affect the state of the CPU, but perhaps their power states are both controlled in the same way?

Could not find any BIOS settings for C-States, Speedstep or anything processor power related. Only option available relating to processor is Virtualization.

Briefly looked into registry settings, but have not tried making any changes.

[cynicist]

Excellent, now we're getting somewhere. I'm not sure what disabling the gpu has to do with cpu power states unfortunately. Maybe there is a link between them, as you suggest.

Just to confirm this is indeed the problem, could you run this program I am linking below? There should be a button that looks like "C7", and you should be able to set that to " C0" to temporarily prevent it from going into the deeper states.

If that solves it then on Windows you would just need to limit it to maybe C3 and automate that on boot. I use Linux and messing around with this stuff is much easier there. I'm not familiar with the best way to do this under Windows besides looking up the appropriate registry values (nightmare) or adding this program to your startup.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-throttlestop-guide.531329/

As a sidenote, this problem is ridiculous. I simply can't believe that it affects all processors and that we are the only ones able to hear it. If that were the case it would be much more widespread. I'm thinking there may be a defect relating to the voltage regulators.

This may be a decent work-around but to lose battery life in exchange for maintaining sanity while using our computers should not be a choice we have to make. I'm considering pushing for a replacement.

[jlonomo]

Good idea, but the C-State options are not accessible. C7 is set and cannot be modified, no other states are selectable.

Tried some of the other options, tried running as administrator, but no differences. It appears to be hard set, probably one of the things HP did to increase battery life. Not sure if any registry settings would override this.

I am sure we aren't the only users capable of hearing the noise, perhaps we're the ones **bleep** enough to care... I'm going to take mine back to the store and see if they can hear it, then compare it to any they have on show. Will have to wait until next week to do that though.

So you were hearing the noise while running Linux? How would you modify the C-State settings there?

[cynicist]

Yeah I had this issue under Linux (as well as an audio one) but at the time I did not know what was causing it. In Linux, I can easily modify what parameters my kernel boots up with by adding something like 'intel_idle.max_cstate=0'. I found a work-around for the audio issue so when my laptop comes back I'm switching to using Linux permanently. 

I know this doesn't really help you if you need/want to use Windows, but I'm just not as familiar with that operating system as I used to be, so I'm not up to date on what software to use for this stuff there. I found throttlestop through a quick google search and was hoping it would work but perhaps it's not yet compatible with broadwell processors. 

It may be that the registry is the only way to change it right now in Windows. I can test it later before I switch.

[jlonomo]

No worries, not expecting you to solve my problems for me! Thanks for your investigations, though!

I have thought about dual booting Linux with Windows, but then saw that people were having issues with audio, so left it on hold until/if that gets sorted.

Likewise, I'm going to put this processor noise issue on hold until I have been back to the shop. Really don't want to have to decrease battery life if I can get a replacement without the noise. Will post an update some time next week.