My Surface Book 2 i7 256gb is experiencing coil whine.

Anonymous
2017-11-21T08:05:28+00:00

Is there anyway to get around this?

Definitely notice coil whine whenever my SB2 is plugged into charging and on high performance mode. I am concerned about this issue as I was hoping issues like these didn't come with such a high price tag.

Surface | Surface Book | Power and battery

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Anonymous
2018-04-16T18:14:15+00:00

Update 8/1/2018:

Thank you for your feedback. We have published a set of drivers and system updates which helps mitigate this issue. This is now available in Windows Update.

We recommend that you install the latest updates to keep your Surface performing its best. You can get updates now by checking Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.

As a temporary workaround, we suggest that when your Surface is plugged into the power supply, click on the battery icon in the Windows taskbar and set the Power Mode slider to either “Recommended” or “Better performance.”

You can find the details of the latest update on our Surface Book 2 update history page.

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-02-13T11:57:39+00:00

    Same problem here. Bought a Surface Book 2 13" on Friday in Germany. Its really annoying. In a quiet room it drives me nuts. When I unplug the charger, the noise is gone. It gets especially loud when I move the mouse or scroll a website.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-02-09T11:14:37+00:00

    Sadly I am on my 3rd replacement and they all have the same issue.

    Same with me. Got a new device from the MS Support after I sent in my last one with mentioning the coil whine as the problem. 

    I will use for some weeks now, to see if it gets better. I had the feeling that the sounds got more rare the longer I used the last one.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-01-22T21:08:42+00:00

    Sadly I am on my 3rd replacement and they all have the same issue, on high performance setting when plugged in they are unusable in my opinion. Seems like a significant design flaw to me given the commonality of the problem, but sadly that is what I am coming to expect from Microsoft devices.

    Having owned multiple surfaces I can't think of one that hasn't had some kind of problem, you would have thought I would of learned my lesson by now. The problem is I really like the form factor, but given others are now in the market with similar offerings I think the time has come to shop elsewhere. Given I don't live near a Microsoft store every replacement involves couriers, wasted time waiting for a drop off and pick up, rebuild of the machine etc. etc.

    What I really can't fathom though is just how awful their customer support is. I mean I send in a faulty device with a specific breakdown of the problem i.e. coil whine, only to receive a few days later a replacement device with exactly the same problem, then when I send that one in they do exactly the same again.

    I am not normally someone who has a complain on a message-board, but as you can probably tell, pretty disappointed overall.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-01-19T18:40:54+00:00

    Unfortunately I have a second SFB2 and the same issue. I suspect that all of these SFB2's have this problem. I do find it very annoying and I still do not know if I will request a third machine or get rid of it completely. It is such a shame because it is a really good notebook. 

    I'm sorry for you. :( I heard from some people with the 15" version, that they don't have this issue. But yeah, maybe all 13,5" and some 15" versions...

    I will try a third device now. I can use my old laptop during the waiting time, so I'm in no rush to have the SB2. I really like the surface book, there is no other laptop like it, so I'm willing to wait some time till Microsoft reaches the point where they can produce faultless devices.

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