Surface Pro 4, annoying noise from the back!

I am interested to see if this "noise" is related to some factors and it might help with troubleshooting:

• Does it happen when on battery? Plugged? or both?
• Does it happens with touch only? or touch and mouse? Pen?
• Does it happen with specific app(s).
• Does it happen in a combination of the above?
• Is the noise higher when brightness is lower or higher?

-Both.  battery or ac power

-The buzzing occurs when touching the screen with a finger or the pen tip or the eraser.  The touch pad does not cause buzzing.

-It definitely happens more or less depending on what the computer is doing.  e.g. in my video the noise spikes when Edge is on that MSDN video page, and immediately diminishes when switched to an empty tab.  I really think it is correlated to CPU load.  At high CPU load it is almost inaudible, but as I type this at ~5% CPU load I can hear it from a normal typing distance (in a fairly quiet room but not completely silent).  Most likely related to the power states / clock speed fluctuations of the CPU.

-It's not my job to test all combinations of behaviors. 

-This noise, demonstrated in my video, is not correlated to brightness level.  There is another noise correlated to brightness level, but on my device (and my ears) I really have to struggle to hear it, while the CPU coil whine is much louder.

I am interested to see if this "noise" is related to some factors and it might help with troubleshooting:

• Does it happen when on battery? Plugged? or both?
• Does it happens with touch only? or touch and mouse? Pen?
• Does it happen with specific app(s).
• Does it happen in a combination of the above?
• Is the noise higher when brightness is lower or higher?

-Both.  battery or ac power

-The buzzing occurs when touching the screen with a finger or the pen tip or the eraser.  The touch pad does not cause buzzing.

-It definitely happens more or less depending on what the computer is doing.  e.g. in my video the noise spikes when Edge is on that MSDN video page, and immediately diminishes when switched to an empty tab.  I really think it is correlated to CPU load.  At high CPU load it is almost inaudible, but as I type this at ~5% CPU load I can hear it from a normal typing distance (in a fairly quiet room but not completely silent).  Most likely related to the power states / clock speed fluctuations of the CPU.

-It's not my job to test all combinations of behaviors. 

-This noise, demonstrated in my video, is not correlated to brightness level.  There is another noise correlated to brightness level, but on my device (and my ears) I really have to struggle to hear it, while the CPU coil whine is much louder.

I have a different noise-related problem than what you are describing:

--> Mine is a high-pitched ear-ringing sound... not a scratchy type sound.

• The noise I hear happens both when on battery and plugged in
• The noise is constant regardless of whether I am using touch, pen, or mouse
• The noise is constant regardless of what app I am using, and regardless of what the CPU load it
• I have observed no change regardless of what combination I use of the above
• The noise I hear is affected by the brightness setting.  With brightness between 0% or 100%, I can hear the noise, and it gets progressively louder as I increase the brightness.  At minimum (0%) and maximum (100%) brightness, I cannot heart the noise as much.

Again, I want to emphasize that it seems like different people are experiencing different kinds of noises - some hear a buzzing noise correlated with CPU load, whereas what I am hearing is a constant high-pitched whine that sounds like ear-ringing or mosquitos that gets louder with increased brightness settings

I am now on my third replacement device, and every device I have used has this noise.

That's very interesting.  The noise in my video is correlated with what the computer is doing.  Touching the screen dampens the noise and adds a buzz to it (I'm not sure the buzz is audible in the video).  I cannot notice any obvious correlation with the brightness level.  However, it is also most audible at the top right of the computer - that is where the processor is btw.  It would be interesting to see a demonstration of the noise correlated with screen brightness, if someone wanted to make a video of that...

EDIT: I have heard the brightness-correlated noise.  It is indeed different from the CPU-correlated coil whine, which on my machine is much louder.

Have you been able to grab a video of the brightness-correlated noise?  I tried, but it is rather difficult to capture that frequency of sound.  I'll try again when I get a chance.  What's the best way to share a sound file on here?

Hello Heinz57Sriracha,

Have you by any chance tried to rebuild the index on the Surface Pro 4?

• Open Control Panel
• Choose Indexing options
• Choose Advanced -> Rebuild

There have been other Surface models that have been resolved with this step.

Best Regards

Hello Heinz57Sriracha,

Have you by any chance tried to rebuild the index on the Surface Pro 4?

• Open Control Panel
• Choose Indexing options
• Choose Advanced -> Rebuild

There have been other Surface models that have been resolved with this step.

Best Regards

I performed the operation as you mentioned, but this did not fix the problem.  I still hear the high-pitched whine.  Could you direct me to the thread that involves this technique?  I'd like to see how they describe their problem.  I am not sure how the indexing could be related to a high-pitched tinnitus sound that is affected by the brightness setting, but I'll take whatever ideas I can get!  :-D