Surface Laptop 3 Faint Buzzing Sound

Anonymous

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.

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375 answers

Anonymous

2021-05-11T17:48:48+00:00

Agreed. It's an inelegant solution with downsides. I don't like it, but I'm prepared to live with it. I don't blame you for deciding differently, though.
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Anonymous

2021-05-11T06:57:56+00:00

I'm glad you're calling these options a workaround. Not that it affects me anymore since I've returned the laptops and moved on, but calling methods that prevent the CPU of a ultrabook from being idle is very far from being a "fix".
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Anonymous

2021-05-11T00:33:37+00:00

Thanks a lot the buzzing stopped , I also believe that this is a fan sound, or may be the buzzing noise, the fix is to put the laptop to best performance and use chrome and some more apps in the background , but this download helped a lot . Thanks. Arielle and Peakman
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Anonymous

2021-05-10T16:07:01+00:00

To summarise, possible workarounds discussed in the 35 pages above include:

- editing the registry to disable CPU idle states

- editing the registry to disable the touch screen

- install and configure Throttle Stop

- install Winstep Nexus (a MacOS-style dock for Windows)

- install the RingCentral Classic app.

My impression is that people fall into two groups: those who don't find any of the above acceptable, and those who are willing to adopt some such step because they'd like to keep the laptop (or have no choice but to keep it) and want to get rid of the static sound.

For people with the latter perspective, it would be extremely useful to have an expert assessment of the pros and cons associated with each of the options above. What has the least impact on performance and battery usage?

I've taken the RingCentral route because it's easy to understand: it's just a background process that seems to make low demands on CPU and memory. I'm reluctant to start editing the registry because I don't understand the implications of the commands described, but I'm open to persuasion if it makes sense to disable CPU idle states in that way.
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Anonymous

2021-05-10T15:49:05+00:00

ArielleR.,

Note that this workaround is discussed on pages 18, 26 and 27 of this thread. If you're content with the approach, that's fine, but some users aren't happy to have software that they don't need running in the background. I've posted a summary of the workarounds that have been suggested in a new thread (Surface Laptop 4 Faint Buzzing Sound) and will add a further comment below.
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