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
    2021-01-03T18:24:39+00:00

    Hey everyone, I have the same issue, but only if my battery is at 72 percent or lower or when charging and the battery is full.... Thought this was interesting, I guess it is an battery related issue as sb mention above. Nexus dock does not work for me either. Interestingly, when I open the timeline, the start menu, a program or when scrolling really fast, the sound stops for a few seconds. So maybe it has sth to do with the cpu power draw.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-01-03T17:56:02+00:00

    Same Issue here with my SL3, constant buzzing noise, really annoying, regretting already not to bought an MacBook!

    I mean these kind off issues are known & predictable in the development process! That is really a shame and absolut unaccaptable!

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-12-31T15:51:54+00:00

    I exchanged my laptop 2 times already and it never worked. I got both times a laptop with the buzzling sound despite I ask that they make sure that the device work. The second time I even get the laptop and when I opened it, it was already on. This is unacceptable. Clearly, MS knows about this problem and does not do anything about it. I guess it is better to loose all these clients than just accept the mistake. But I guess, the word of mouth will take care of make sure that many people does not buy more Microsoft products. 

    I lost more than two week of classes due to this replacements and nobody did anything about it and without mentioning all the time that I lost with the paperwork, phone calls and shipments. 

    Also, it is unbelieveble that the replacements are refurbrished. Not only they do not fix the problem but they sent me refurrbished devices with the same problem. Therefore I lost my new device !

    Never gonna buy a microsoft product again and sure I am going to tell everybody that I know the same thing !

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-12-30T14:23:03+00:00

    the nexus dock seems to be working with everyone, but not me. i downloaded it and the noise is still going.

    and now, i have other issues on top of the buzzing noise.

    • black screen randomly comes up. 
    • video / audio is not in shnc, there is an audio delay.
    • my cursor keeps freezing
    • the speaker makes a static noise when the volume is significant.

    the amount of problems for a laptop that is over $1,500 is insane. The only reason I am not refunding is because it works and I just don't know if any other windows laptop will be better.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-12-30T14:11:33+00:00

    I’ve contacted Microsoft and they confirmed that if you want a replacement you will receive a “new” refurbished device. Its not fair when you have paid for a new device. 

    Any better way to go to IDLE mode than NeXus?

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