Question Laptop making constant noise when Idle

[ComputersOftenIrritateMe]

When idle (as in just sitting on the desktop with no software open), my laptop seems to make a constant electric 'chirping' sound that happens in second-long intervals (stopping for a brief moment between intervals). It is hard to describe the sound, but it's like an electric scraping(?) that happens over and over in intervals.

The device's drive is solid state, so it's not like it's a noisy hard disk that I'm hearing. According to task manager, disk utilization is at around 0 percent, so I don't think anything is being read or written.

It is usually fairly constant, but sometimes when I open something (for example, the web browser) it will either stop or change its duration for a second or two.

Would this be coil whine? I know what my GPUs whine sounds like as I do 3d rendering frequently, and this is a different noise. I assume it is the cpu, but honestly have no reason for that assumption.

The timing of the intervals seems to line up fairly well with the default rate at which task manager updates, for what it's worth, but it isn't always perfect.

 

[Lutfij]

Sounds like coil whine. You might want to relocate to another wall outlet and see if the issue persists. You forgot to mention the make, model and SKU of your laptop. Might want to also check and see if the laptop is pending any BIOS updates.

Try and see if closing other unnecessary tasks helps alleviate the sound you speak of. Speaking of sound, might want to record a video with audio to help illustrate what you're hearing. To add, you should also try and narrow down the source/location of the noise. Take a sheet of A4 paper, roll it up into a cylinder then hold one end to your ear, using the other end to probe for the source of the sound.

Moved thread to Laptop General Discussion section from Systems section

 

[ComputersOftenIrritateMe]

Sounds like coil whine. You might want to relocate to another wall outlet and see if the issue persists. You forgot to mention the make, model and SKU of your laptop. Might want to also check and see if the laptop is pending any BIOS updates.

Try and see if closing other unnecessary tasks helps alleviate the sound you speak of. Speaking of sound, might want to record a video with audio to help illustrate what you're hearing. To add, you should also try and narrow down the source/location of the noise. Take a sheet of A4 paper, roll it up into a cylinder then hold one end to your ear, using the other end to probe for the source of the sound.

Moved thread to Laptop General Discussion section from Systems section

My setup is:

Alienware Area51m R2 laptop with:
-Intel Core i7-10700 @ 2.90GHz
-Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (possibly mobile version since laptop, though windows won't specify)
-Windows 10 Home version 22H2

I'll need to dig a little deeper for more specific answers on the ram, motherboard, etc.

At least as far as the Dell software that is installed says, there are no pending BIOS updates. In the past, it has been pretty consistent on notifying me when they are available.

I do have a recording I took of the noise, but you need the volume up pretty far to hear it. I have found that using headphones makes it much easier to hear clearly.

Granted, I was having some difficulty actually capturing the noise, and am not sure how well this will come out on your end. It sounds fairly similar, but not exactly like IRL:

https://imgur.com/a/laptop

View: https://imgur.com/a/laptop-idle-noise-8so4xey



My laptop makes this noise constantly.

Edit: I should mention that the frequency of the noise seems to typically match up pretty well with the rate at which the task manager, resource manager, and alienware command center application (which also provides an updating page showing component statistics) update, though this could be purely coincidental and isn't always a perfect match.

 

[Lutfij]

Honestly, I cant hear anything except for what seems, to me, like the whirring of the fan in said laptop.

 

[ComputersOftenIrritateMe]

Honestly, I cant hear anything except for what seems, to me, like the whirring of the fan in said laptop.

Yeah, it's a bit difficult without headphones, though definitely present in the recording.

What I'm hearing sounds kind of like the sounds the computer makes when loading something, a series of chirping sort of electric scratch noises.

 

[ComputersOftenIrritateMe]

Sounds like coil whine. You might want to relocate to another wall outlet and see if the issue persists. You forgot to mention the make, model and SKU of your laptop. Might want to also check and see if the laptop is pending any BIOS updates.

Try and see if closing other unnecessary tasks helps alleviate the sound you speak of. Speaking of sound, might want to record a video with audio to help illustrate what you're hearing. To add, you should also try and narrow down the source/location of the noise. Take a sheet of A4 paper, roll it up into a cylinder then hold one end to your ear, using the other end to probe for the source of the sound.

Moved thread to Laptop General Discussion section from Systems section

Alrighty, so a quick update:

As a test, I booted my PC in safe mode and noticed that the sound that I am describing was no longer present until I rebooted back into normal mode. This would seem to imply that some software is resulting in the noise, rather than a hardware issue such as coil whine.

Now, Windows notified me that search indexing was disabled in safe mode, which makes me wonder if, in addition to potentially being caused by the many 3rd party software that run, search indexing could be responsible.

I should mention that the laptop comes with an included power management application called Alienware Command Center, which should have been disabled in safe mode.

 

[mikemid]

Clean the fan and also check for loose parts need a screw driver, also the fan can be the best thing if you cleaned it with alcohol 96% and cotton buds; the cpu fan usually can be pulled out when you assemble it, there is an iron part hold the fan from the opposite, put a little Vaseline or oil, will give you a smooth fan