Strange Sound from my Laptop

[ZetaOne]

Strange thing is happening in my Acer laptop, its making the typical HDD (mechanical drive) noise even though there is no HDD installed as I replaced it with an SSD.

Let’s take if from the top, I recently purchased an Acer F5-573G model that had a 1TB HDD installed. I took it out immediately and replaced it with an SSD. However, I now hear the typical sound a mechanical HDD makes when its reading/writing emanating from the inside of my laptop. You can imagine how baffled I am.

After further investigation, the sound “seems” to emanate either from the GPU (nVidia GTX 950m) or the CPU (i7 7500M) at least with my ear I hear the sound coming from the ventilation grill on the middle right of the laptop.

How is this at all possible? Can anyone shed some light for me?

 

[PC-4LIFE]

Maybe it's a fan?

 

[BadAsAl]

I would check the cooling fans for debris. Maybe something got in there and it's getting kicked around, which would sound a little like a hard drive being accessed.

 

[ZetaOne]

Maybe it's a fan?

It’s definitely a read/write type of sound with the pauses and all, I know it’s hard to believe but that is the sound. I did not want to take the computer apart but I may have to understand what is going on was just trying to avoid it in order not to void warranty… the HDD I replaced had its own cover to take off and not the whole back.

 

[PC-4LIFE]

Maybe it's a fan?

It’s definitely a read/write type of sound with the pauses and all, I know it’s hard to believe but that is the sound. I did not want to take the computer apart but I may have to understand what is going on was just trying to avoid it in order not to void warranty… the HDD I replaced had its own cover to take off and not the whole back.

This laptop has an SSD and a Hard Drive. Are you sure you didn't remove the SSD?

 

[BadAsAl]

Did you buy it new or used/refurbished? Does it have a CD/DVD drive? Someone might have replaced the CD/DVD drive with another hard drive?

 

[PC-4LIFE]

Did you buy it new or used/refurbished? Does it have a CD/DVD drive? Someone might have replaced the CD/DVD drive with another hard drive?

I can confirm it has a CD/DVD Drive.

 

[BadAsAl]

Maybe it's a fan?

It’s definitely a read/write type of sound with the pauses and all, I know it’s hard to believe but that is the sound. I did not want to take the computer apart but I may have to understand what is going on was just trying to avoid it in order not to void warranty… the HDD I replaced had its own cover to take off and not the whole back.

This laptop has an SSD and a Hard Drive. Are you sure you didn't remove the SSD?

I read the specs too and was a little confused, but based on them it does look like it comes with a 128GB SSD and the 1TB HDD. I can't find a service manual to show exactly where each is though.

 

[PC-4LIFE]

Maybe it's a fan?

It’s definitely a read/write type of sound with the pauses and all, I know it’s hard to believe but that is the sound. I did not want to take the computer apart but I may have to understand what is going on was just trying to avoid it in order not to void warranty… the HDD I replaced had its own cover to take off and not the whole back.

This laptop has an SSD and a Hard Drive. Are you sure you didn't remove the SSD?

I read the specs too and was a little confused, but based on them it does look like it comes with a 128GB SSD and the 1TB HDD. I can't find a service manual to show exactly where each is though.

A hard drive has what looks like a mini motherboard on it's back. SSD are covered in plastic, only connection is the SATA.

Just realised you're not OP :/

 

[BadAsAl]

OP - This is not in English but look around 13:30, is this what the inside of yours looks like? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxLvVre9poM

If this is the right one, then there is no way to mistake the HDD for the SSD as the SSD is M.2 form factor.

 

[mjslakeridge]

Plus, if the OP had removed the SSD rather than the HDD, the system wouldn't boot into Windows (presuming the OS is installed on the SSD).

 

[ZetaOne]

Plus, if the OP had removed the SSD rather than the HDD, the system wouldn't boot into Windows (presuming the OS is installed on the SSD).

I omitted the fact that I am from Europe and the precise model number is F5-573G-71UK and it came with a 1TB HHD, no SSD either SATA or M.2

I swapped out the mechanical HDD for sure and replaced it with a 520MB Crucial while awaiting to purchase an M.2 model in the future.

And here while I type…. I still hear the HDD chirping!!!

 

[PC-4LIFE]

Plus, if the OP had removed the SSD rather than the HDD, the system wouldn't boot into Windows (presuming the OS is installed on the SSD).

I omitted the fact that I am from Europe and the precise model number is F5-573G-71UK and it came with a 1TB HHD, no SSD either SATA or M.2

I swapped out the mechanical HDD for sure and replaced it with a 520MB Crucial while awaiting to purchase an M.2 model in the future.

And here while I type…. I still hear the HDD chirping!!!

Do you see any other storage device in device manager?

 

[ZetaOne]

Plus, if the OP had removed the SSD rather than the HDD, the system wouldn't boot into Windows (presuming the OS is installed on the SSD).

I omitted the fact that I am from Europe and the precise model number is F5-573G-71UK and it came with a 1TB HHD, no SSD either SATA or M.2

I swapped out the mechanical HDD for sure and replaced it with a 520MB Crucial while awaiting to purchase an M.2 model in the future.

And here while I type…. I still hear the HDD chirping!!!

Do you see any other storage device in device manager?

here is my laptop's spec: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6bFVdDMaSj3VHhLU0xCNkhNdkk

 

[PC-4LIFE]

Plus, if the OP had removed the SSD rather than the HDD, the system wouldn't boot into Windows (presuming the OS is installed on the SSD).

I omitted the fact that I am from Europe and the precise model number is F5-573G-71UK and it came with a 1TB HHD, no SSD either SATA or M.2

I swapped out the mechanical HDD for sure and replaced it with a 520MB Crucial while awaiting to purchase an M.2 model in the future.

And here while I type…. I still hear the HDD chirping!!!

Do you see any other storage device in device manager?

here is my laptop's spec: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6bFVdDMaSj3VHhLU0xCNkhNdkk

Could it just be the DVD drive then?
There aren't many things that make sounds in a computer.

 

[mjslakeridge]

OK, your screenshot establishes that there is not a HDD installed in your laptop. About the only other mechanical things inside of it are fans and the optical drive, so the sound would have to be coming from one of them. Do you still have a CD/DVD in the optical drive, perhaps from installing Windows? Other than that, something must be intermittently contacting a fan blade. It could also be a bearing on one of the fans squealing, but that doesn't really sound like a HDD reading/writing.

 

[ZetaOne]

Plus, if the OP had removed the SSD rather than the HDD, the system wouldn't boot into Windows (presuming the OS is installed on the SSD).

I omitted the fact that I am from Europe and the precise model number is F5-573G-71UK and it came with a 1TB HHD, no SSD either SATA or M.2

I swapped out the mechanical HDD for sure and replaced it with a 520MB Crucial while awaiting to purchase an M.2 model in the future.

And here while I type…. I still hear the HDD chirping!!!

Do you see any other storage device in device manager?

here is my laptop's spec: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6bFVdDMaSj3VHhLU0xCNkhNdkk

Could it just be the DVD drive then?
There aren't many things that make sounds in a computer.

I agree and that is why I am baffled!

 

[ZetaOne]

OK, your screenshot establishes that there is not a HDD installed in your laptop. About the only other mechanical things inside of it are fans and the optical drive, so the sound would have to be coming from one of them. Do you still have a CD/DVD in the optical drive, perhaps from installing Windows? Other than that, something must be intermittently contacting a fan blade. It could also be a bearing on one of the fans squealing, but that doesn't really sound like a HDD reading/writing.

No, nothing inside the DVD drive, I opened the bay and it was still making the sound... as I said I'll have to open it up and find out what is causing the sound... its identical to an HDD writing/reading with the pauses and all.

Could it be a faulty transistor maybe? Anyone ever have that?

 

[mjslakeridge]

It is possible that it is a faulty capacitor or resister or something else, in which case it will eventually fail. As I see it you have 2 choices: 1 - continue to use the laptop to see if the noise disappears or gets louder/more frequent or 2 - Send it back for warranty repair. The risk with option #2 is that they may say the noise is normal and refuse to do anything. It sounds like you haven't had the laptop for long, so you really don't have to make a decision right away about the warranty.

Just out of curiosity, did you hear the same noise before you took out the HDD and installed the SSD?

 

[ZetaOne]

It is possible that it is a faulty capacitor or resister or something else, in which case it will eventually fail. As I see it you have 2 choices: 1 - continue to use the laptop to see if the noise disappears or gets louder/more frequent or 2 - Send it back for warranty repair. The risk with option #2 is that they may say the noise is normal and refuse to do anything. It sounds like you haven't had the laptop for long, so you really don't have to make a decision right away about the warranty.

Just out of curiosity, did you hear the same noise before you took out the HDD and installed the SSD?

I don't think so, but then if it did make the same noise I would have not noticed as I would have thought it was the HDD making it

 

[mjslakeridge]

Can you take the SSD out and put the HDD back in and see if you still hear the noise in addition to the normal noise a HDD makes. Maybe you will be able to distinguish between the two sounds. If you only hear the HDD sounds, perhaps the SSD is responsible for the current noise, although it shouldn't make any noise normally, maybe there is some electrical noise it is making.

I would still bet on something hitting one of the fans, but that would be pretty constant.

 

[BillyHalley]

I have the exact same laptop ( F5-573G-71UK ), bought last september on sale on Amazon. I have the same sound, and i too investigated and realized the noise comes from the CPU or GPU. It is clearly not the HHD, nor the fans, i am 100% sure it comes from either one of the processors.
Did you solve your issue?

( Does OP even receive a notification on this site? I never really posted here. )

EDIT

Acually I just discovered something, i had my power plan set to High Performance, as soon as I set it to balanced the noise stopped, and I can actually reproduce it.

So the noise comes definitely from the CPU, when it pushes for high clock frequencies. I still don't know if there's a fix, but putting the PC in balanced or power sever at least will cause the noise to cease when your not stressing the CPU.