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

375 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. 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.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. 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".

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. 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

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. 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.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2021-05-09T08:09:14+00:00

    Hello! I believe I have a solution! I have the surface laptop 3 and it's about a month or so old. The buzzing started a few weeks ago and I browsed through this forum searching for a solution and couldn't find one. However, about 15 minutes ago, I told my friend about it and he helped me run a CPU test. We found that the buzzing only happens when the CPU ISNT working hard. He told me to download https://www.winstep.net/nexus.asp . And the buzzing stopped immediately! I guess what it does is put enough load on the CPU to stop the buzzing. Its just like an extra task bar (note that when I downloaded it I had to turn off a setting that made a voice announce the time out loud). There might be other things you can download that will do the same thing, but this is just the first thing that worked.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments