Loud laptop hissing noise when processor _not_ in use

Reformist · Guru Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Posts: 323

I have a relatively new laptop, the Gateway 200x, bought just 2 months ago; it's a Centrino and runs linux.

When the processor is not in use, there is a very loud and annoying high pitched hiss (not air related, like fan noise) that the laptop emitts, from somewhere around the CPU area. I'm not sure if it's the motherboard or CPU, but I've heard of other motherboards on older PCs making buzzing noises when powered.

Does anyone have any experience/information on this, and how I can get rid of it? The pitch is so high and discordant that I cannot sit and work with my laptop powered on next to me, or I get a headache. I cannot determine whether this is hardware related, operating system related. As the topic says, it only buzzes when the CPU is idle; as soon as it is in use (~2% or higher) the sound disappears. Could this be faulty power management by the operating system, doing something that makes this noise when the CPU is idle? Any suggestions on destroying this cacophony?
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KingTaco · Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 3:44 am Post subject:

you can try enabling "Make Idle Calls" in the kernel. sounds like you fan is being powered down.
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snowmoon · n00b Joined: 05 Jun 2002 Posts: 64 Location: Albany,NY USA

yes,

This is probably because your CPU is going at full throttle and my centrino based x1000 does the same thing when it's running full tilt. check /proc/cpuinfo to see.

You should install one of the many speed throttling daemons that are availible in the gentoo portage tree.

Kesereti · Guru Joined: 07 Nov 2002 Posts: 520

Hrm, high pitched noise only when your CPU isn't being used? Does it go away when you run the laptop on AC power? If it's only when running off battery power, it's a problem with several laptop manufacturers, it has something to do with the power circuitry and some certain frequency that it has to switch at while running off battery; that frequency just happens to be audible =\ My Gateway 350 laptop does the same thing...

Snow · n00b Joined: 28 Sep 2002 Posts: 14

I get this on my IBM thinkpad, but only if I use a 2.6 kernel. 2.4 kernels dont have the noise. I didn't do much research on it, just went back to using 2.4, since I had everything working there anyway.

I think that while my system was idle, the processor was actually doing something, because it ran rather hot while idle.
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asubedi · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 105

I have the same problem. Since I moved to 2.6 series, the fan is buzzing all the time. Was there automatic throttling in 2.4?

LostControl · Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 10:24 pm Post subject:

I also get this high pitched noise. I only get it when I have processor.ko module loaded. It has certainly something to do with "C state" (idle mode)...

I wonder if this can damage the CPU ???

sekh · n00b Joined: 20 Dec 2002 Posts: 55

Hey guys. I'm having the same problem.

Check out this thread: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=9754
I haven't tried it out myself yet, but once i get out of this lecture and get off battery usage on this laptop i'll definately try a kernel recompile. I'm also on the 2.6 kernel. 2.6.3 to be exact.

Reformist · Guru Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Posts: 323

Still looking into it, but for reference, the noise is present on both AC and battery. Also, is there a "make idle calls" option in the 2.6 kernels? I was unable to find one.

Also, I'm using ACPI, as I think most newer laptops are doing.
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