High pitched very disturbing noise off my Surface Pro

Anonymous
2013-03-14T21:42:40+00:00

I have had my first surface pro sent on a warranty run because of it producing a very annoying high pitched disturbing noise which came (in "waves") a little now and then, whenever I am using the tablet. It did not come from the fan, I know how that defect sounds, it was more of a electronic noise. The noise isn't very loud, but sounds like you get tinnitus and is so disturbing that I can't use the tablet at all in my quiet room. The noise comes also when I have disabled the sound card, bluetooth device, wifi etc. I've tried to disable most of the drivers that are disableble ;) It doesn't get rid of the noise.

So now the company which I bought it from, sent me a new surface pro 128Gb. The sad thing is that my new tablet produces the very same noise as the one I got changed. So what is the chances that I've gotten two defective devices (assuming that the import company I am ordering from isn't sending me defective devices on purpose...) twice?

With this assumption I guess that most of microsoft surface pro have this defect and I badly need a solution for it. I have waited for one year for a product that I could use effectively for taking notes of lectures and when it comes, I get this noise issue which I have never encountered with any other tablet I've used, ever. When everything else is perfect, why does this thing have to ruin it :(

The fan isn't even on when noise present, but one interesting thing is that the noise disappears when I press the tablets sleep button and it goes into sleep. Is there a way to get rid of the noise? I can live without most things except wifi, screen, soundcard, touch and wacom. Even with only these things functioning (as long as the noise would be gone) it would be worth the 1400$ it has costed me. But this noise makes it impossible to use the tablet.

**Thanks in advance for the help!**All suggestions are welcome.

Surface | Surface Pro | Install and update

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Anonymous
2013-03-18T13:25:33+00:00

That sounds like machine noise from the SSD and is dang annoying! I would definitely return it as you likely have a malfunctioning or dying SSD in the SP.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-05-24T23:40:56+00:00

    It is the CPU. MacBooks had a similar problem a few years ago, as well as a few other Intel based machines. If you disable idle on the CPU (by first enabling a hidden power setting via Registry Editor and then going into power options to disable idle; there are posts online with instructions) you'll see the CPU will run at 100% and it will be completely silent. The fix for the MacBooks was to run a program that increased CPU load by a user specified percentage, adjusted with a slider. You could hear the squealing and beeping sounds raise in pitch until it became inaudible. I also recently used an Asus Vivobook with the same issue.

    So yes, it's directly related to the CPU.

    I installed all of the system updates and it's been quieter. However, I've also been downloading and installing Steam games and syncing my Dropbox folders, which are increasing CPU load enough to quiet it down a little.

    It's extremely annoying and I hope Intel is aware of it so they can make sure their next generation of processors don't do this. I was thinking of sending mine in for it, but I feel like it might be better to wait in case there was maybe a batch of processors that make noise, while maybe another batch might not.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-08-21T01:29:44+00:00

    hi, this is a common occurrence but is not yet officially admitted. The consensus seems to be that it is an issue with the Intel processor running in a low power state (aka C-state). Some users have found relief by disabling the C-States. However i believe by doing that you reduce the battery life of the device. I had my first surface replaced due to this issue but the second one also makes this noise.

    This issue is also not limited to the Surface Pro but to many other PCs using intel processors.

    Like the rest of us, you will have to live with it :(.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-07-11T07:27:05+00:00

    You can try following:

    POSSIBLE FIX FOR HIGH PITCH NOISE:

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975530

    You can disable the ACPI C2-state and C3-state by setting a registry key. To do this, follow these steps:

    1. At a command prompt, run the following command:

    reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Processor /v Capabilities /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0007e066

    1. Restart the computer.

    Note The computer idle power consumption will increase significantly if the deeper ACPI C-states (processor idle sleep states) are disabled.    

      To continue to benefit from these energy-saving states, remove the registry key that you set in step 1 after you install the hotfix that this article describes. To do remove the registry key, follow these steps:

    1. At a command prompt, run the following command:

    reg delete HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Processor /v Capabilities /f

    1. Restart the computer.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-03-14T23:54:57+00:00

    My fans developed a high pitched mosquito whine one day but fortunately it disappeared.  Maybe the company you bought it from managed to get a small batch that have a defect, but this is the first mention I've seen of this problem, but I sympathize.  Does it happen when you are on the battery, plugged in or both? 

    Sometimes a defective capacitor can cause a noise like you mention.  Can you send it to someone in the US and get it replaced direct from Microsoft to avoid the bad batch problem?  If you can try using it for a couple of weeks sometimes noises like that will disappear after the electronic components have "broken in."  The other thing I'd suspect is some heat related issue.  Try editing the power profile to throttle the cpu to 70% max to see if the issue might be heat related.

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