Surface Laptop 3 Faint Buzzing Sound

Anonymous
2019-10-23T21:50:20+00:00

Hello,

I’ve got the i5 8GB Surface Laptop 3 (13.5-inch), and today, while browsing the internet, I noticed a fairly faint  buzzing sound coming from under the keyboard. It was faint enough you couldn’t hear it from a couple metres away, and sometimes buzzed continuously, other times buzzed in short repetitive bursts.

It didn’t sound like the fan to me, so I opened up the task manager to see if browsing was straining the computer in some way.

I have updated the computer completely, but the buzzing persisted.

Is this a normal electronics problem? Is it actually just the fan? Or is it possibly a defective unit?

Edit/Update:

I took the device into the MS Store today to see if there was something wrong. The staff took it into the back and tested it. They found increasing the computer's workload caused the sound to increase and described it as a popping static-y sound. They replaced the device and I have a new one now. Unfortunately, I've found through usage that this one is also making the sound. I am waiting to see if a firmware update reduces the noise since it seems pervasive across the devices.

Surface | Surface Laptop | Install and update

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-01-13T11:16:51+00:00

    It seems like they don‘t care.

    Do anyone know if the business devices habe the same issues?

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-01-12T13:57:01+00:00

    found another solution: I disabled the touch feature of the screen (which was quite useless for me) from the registry and it did the trick.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-01-11T21:35:36+00:00

    I found if you do the following steps the buzzing noise can be completely killed: 

    1. Press Win key + R to open CMD
    2. Press shift+control+enter to run CMD as an administrator
    3. run this code (copy and paste): reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Processor /v Capabilities /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0007e066
    4. retart laptop. 

    I found after doing this, my surface laptop 3 has been super quiet without any high pitch buzzing noise even by ear contacting keyboard deck. 

    This seems to be the only solution as of now.. completely kills the noise both charging and non-charging. Just not sure if it would shorten the battery life or overdo the CPU permanently over long term use!

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-01-11T17:11:41+00:00

    Microsoft is ignoring this issue. No response from Microsoft. This issue is 3 months old now.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-01-07T01:57:38+00:00

    Couple of more finding and updates: 

    > Laptop definitely warms up (uncomfortably warm i might add) when charging > there is not a single time it did not do that, and fans revving up so everyone in the room can hear it (something my 10 years old laptop used to do). Heat passes all the way to palm rests. 

    > Laptop will cool down after 90% charge is done, or fully charged and you are not performing any multitasks. 

    > Static noise still present randomly if you stick your ear at the near the exhaust 

    > Connected to dell D6000 Display link for additional screen. man it did not like that (even with all drivers installed), the fans automatically started revving and charging brought the heat back.  

    seriously need to consider another alternative laptop, i may end up returning it for dell or HP or even Mac even though i prefer Windows. Cant use laptop on your lap is not a laptop for me.

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