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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments

375 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2020-01-05T11:13:55+00:00

    Bought mine (SL3 i5 8gb) yesterday and have this problem too. Am a student and find it impossible to study in the quiet with this sound in the background - extremely irritating. Microsoft please help in any way. To the community: Do you think they will fix this or should I just get a refund?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2020-01-03T16:39:33+00:00

    same same here. I tried to install the latest driver and firmware but nothing changed.

    I was enthusiastic about the pc, but I am considering returning it, because a brand new product, of this price range, should not have such a problem while simply browsing.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2020-01-03T15:01:21+00:00

    Any solution?I returned the first one because the buzzing sound and I don't know if I should buy slp 3 again...

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2020-01-03T14:42:56+00:00

    It would seem I am the latest victim to this exact same issue everyone is getting.

    I've been using mines since Thanksgiving of 2019.  Same buzzing.  Tried all types of power/brightness/volume setting just to see if I can get it to be different.  It sounds very much like it's going to short circuit and burn.  

    --This POST here will be witness if that happens and I need to prove my case!--

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2020-01-01T17:18:33+00:00

    I found that the command you gave is about disabling idle state of cpu's. 

    It seems that this buzz is happening not only on surface products.

    I'm just worried that running this would reduce battery performance or ultrabook-specific power management configs.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments