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
    2021-04-16T21:52:04+00:00

    There’s no way I’m touching another Windows laptop ever again after this Surface Laptop 3. 

    Disappointed that Microsoft hasn’t even addressed this issue. This thread was created in 2019, it’s 2021 already. 

    It’s crazy that running a chat application fixes this problem, yet Microsoft isn’t even capable of looking into the issue and fixing it.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-04-15T14:39:23+00:00

    And to clarify it, the buzzing noise does not come from the fan. It is instead an electric noise that comes from some hardware that uses exceeding power.

    So in my opinion the issue is quite dangerous, so it might generate a short circuit, even to burn that hardware.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-04-15T13:58:19+00:00

    Are there instructions online for fixing the roaring fan?  I am not an IT professional so I am wondering if Microsoft has posted any FIXES to get rid of the horrible buzzing that irritates me all day every day.

    Can someone send me the link so that I can get rid of this noise?

    Thanks.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-04-15T13:15:55+00:00

    Hi Billy_S,

    Thank you for your reply. So I've decided to not use Throttle Stop.

    Is this registry setting the fix that you did on your laptop?

    reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Processor /v Capabilities /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0007e066

    Yea, that's what I had used up until I was able to get rid of my SL3 and it had no issues for the months I had it. It was a business purchase, so I had more flexibility on what to do with it.  Having an option of not being stuck with it and finding something different was an easy choice.  I still haven't found a replacement I like as much though in looks and functionality.

    I tried to find documentation on what the hex value combinations could be in the registry setting, but no luck.  I did find that the above registry entry disables C3 and C4, assuming a random forum post is reliable.  Maybe disabling those two also disables the ones below it as well, which is why it works ok.

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-04-15T11:32:10+00:00

    Hi AndreR_83,

    Do you know if there is any way to disable the C7 and C8 states using a Windows 10 registry setting?

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