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
    2021-04-14T18:43:50+00:00

    It's a useful app, but it is one of those power user apps and using the wrong options actually can damage things. Getting into clock and chipset modulations and multipliers requires more knowledge of what is going on.  You can quickly overheat your processor or pull too much current and fry something.  Most modern computers have some type of auto shutdown when it gets too hot, but still risky to rely on that.

    Someone actually has a post about it on page 29 of this thread](https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfacelaptop-surfver_surflap3-surftop_install/surface-laptop-3-faint-buzzing-sound/d800b696-ff7c-4cf0-a2db-99c2c2082144?messageId=96c30473-705c-41a3-8055-d2c8933ce874&page=29 "https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfacelaptop-surfver_surflap3-surftop_install/surface-laptop-3-faint-buzzing-sound/d800b696-ff7c-4cf0-a2db-99c2c2082144?messageId=96c30473-705c-41a3-8055-d2c8933ce874&page=29") ([AndreR_83).  It gives instructions on how to limit just the idle state level to the best one (C6), which should be safe enough.  It also warns not to try the other stuff.  The surface has some pretty hardware specific things going on, so I don't think I'd try any others, even after doing research.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-04-15T01:58:32+00:00

    Hi,

    If it helps, I bought SL 3/ i7/ 16 gb/512 on 9th March, 2021. The device has exactly the same issues mentioned in the thread. The conclusion is MS does not know how to manufacture a decent device, fix problem and support customer base. 

    So don't bother exchanging but try some of the work around mentioned here. 

    Hope it gelps

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-04-15T10:56:34+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

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  4. 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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  5. 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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