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
    2021-09-06T09:25:19+00:00

    There really should be a note at the beginning of this thread stating very clearly that this is part of the design and absolutely cannot be fixed.

    It's the way the hardware works. If a firmware fix was possible, it'd have been issued a long time ago. When the CPU is in an idle state, it'll buzz.

    Increasing load or disabling panel refresh or any of the other workarounds shouldn't be recommended.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2021-01-31T23:58:25+00:00

    FOUND A SOLUTION

    Don't bother dealing with Microsoft, it's just a straight defect they're not willing to fix

    .

    Download Winstep Nexus 10 dock. It's just some toolbar to make a PC look like a Mac's desktop layout. As soon as you start running that, the buzzing stops. You can remove the icons from the Nexus dock so it doesn't clutter up your desktop either. Just keep that running whenever your PC's on and it'll fix the issue.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2020-11-26T22:40:41+00:00

    Got the SL3 one day ago.

    I have the same issue and I‘m not sure to keep the Laptop or to send it back.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2019-10-29T23:36:37+00:00

    Hi, 

    I am running on "Best Performance" right now, but unfortunately can still hear the sound when I make the computer do any kind of work.

    Thank you for your effort! Please let me know if there is something else I can try!

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2019-10-27T16:02:46+00:00

    Originally I thought it happened mostly when it was idle too, but the employee told me he could make it happen more when running it higher.

    Hopefully Microsoft addresses this in the coming days. At least their return policy is good.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments