eYe-I-aïe... Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 (edited) Hello fellow Aliens,Since our ships emit different noises;Since this is NOT why we bought them;Since Dell's Engineers did not care about them;Since some of us are SEVERELY affected by those;Since at least 2 of these horrible noises can be shut-off;I created this thread hoping it will help people getting theHELL outta their DELLMost likely, you all know by now the four (yes, that is 4) different noises that comeout of our ships,as they have already been described, but as a quick recap, we have:CPU Whine: Easily audible whenever one core is heavily sollicited, tend to be less audible if more cores are sollicited, or if the fans kick-in like crazy; this sound seems to be inherent to Intel's I-core's CPUs, not much can be done here I guess... Actually, you may get rid of the CPU WHINE by downloading and merging this file to your registry, and by applying the tweaks found here.Note that the specific setting which makes the CPU WHINE much more acceptable is this one: Minimum processor state = 0%GPU Coil: Easily audible whenever the GPU is sollicited, for instance if you quickly scroll up&down a web page, or if you stay idle on a web page that has a lot of flash animations; this sound seems to be inherent to GPUs, not much can be done here I guess...Transistor Off: Easily audible from the left side vent area when you plug the A/C adapter to your machine, without powering it on; this sound seems to come from a faulty transistor, capacitor, which seems to be unable to properly deal with the power (current) that is fed into it, so it kinda suffers from this and therefore emits a noise like an high-pitch EEEEEEE, constant. This sound shall stop about 10 seconds after you disconnect the A/C adapter, or as soon as you power on your system.Transistor On: Easily audible from the right side vent area when the computer is running; this sound seems to come from another/the same incompetent transistor/capacitor, which seems like the previous one to NOT be able to deal with the power that is injected in it, or so... This jerked transistor will then emit a constant but intersected, cut across high pitch noise, more or less like Morse Code, going like EEEEEEE-EEE--EEEEEEEEEE--EEE--EEE-EEEEEE-EEEEEEEEE-EE-etc...In my humble opinion, this last one is the most annoying of the four described above, as this one is giving me headaches if I work for, say more than four hours in a row on my M17X... Well, since it seems we can't count on Dell to first, aknowledge the problem, and, needless to say, to fix it, well, here's the cool part: a French guy found a way to solve it, it's not a manufacturer's solution, mind you, still it works, so let me entertain you here...What you wanna do is the following:1. Right-click on the Sound icon of your taskbar;2. Click on Recording Device;3. Double-click ANY Mic in the list (Mic or Mic In or Microphone Array);4. Click on the Level tab;5. Slide the volume down to zero, click on the speaker on the right to mute the sound (red circle appears);6. Click on the Listen tab;7. Check the Listen to this device box;8. Click Apply, then OK...9. Believe it or not:YOU ARE NOW THE MOST HAPPY CAMPER OF THE WHOLE ALIENWARE UNIVERSE !!! Enjoy !eYe Edited November 26, 2011 by eYe-I-aïe... 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Michael Posted March 28, 2011 Founder Share Posted March 28, 2011 Great stuff!!Highly appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashtefere Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Also of note - disabling the onboard sound entirely at the bios level will prevent this as well.Of course, you need to use a USB sound solution instead - I use a set of logitech z-10 speakers.-Ash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Great Info.Thanks for the advice! Creative verse at the start of the thread too, Marvallous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Disabling recording devices in windows instead of muting them and disabling play-through will work too especially if you don't use them often and don't want to disable the entire sound card from BIOS. I have an M17x R2 and the inferior flextronics ac adapter. When plugged in I notice now a sound that sounds like a quick dripping of water or rolling current like deet deet deet deet towards end that plugs in and to the left if sitting top up. I'm afraid I need it replaced due to this noise and Brian's advice in R2 Bench thread. Does anyone else experience this or is this a sign that there really is something seriously wrong with my adapter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Here is an update, after 40minutes on phone with dell customer service, technical support and then advanced technical support they are going to send me a new adapter. Two buisness days from today it should arrive. Hopefully if not the more dependable adapter from Delta, then atleast maybe if it is another flextronics perhaps this new one will prove to be more dependable at maintaining high wattage. I'll let everyone know if the noise in fact exist with the replacement too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eYe-I-aïe... Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 (edited) Indeed, the A/C adapter also emits a noise; I never talked about it because:It's not the laptop itself;I don't sit too near to this guy, so I don't really hear it;I had both Delta and Flextronic and both were emitting this noise.Sadly. Edited April 3, 2011 by eYe-I-aïe... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Indeed, the A/C adapter also emits a noise; I never talked about it because:It's not the laptop itself;I don't sit too near to this guy, so I don't really hear it;I had both Delta and Flextronic and both were emitting this noise.Sadly.Thank you for confirmation on this matter. Guess they all make that noise, guess it just comes down to how dependable the adapter is then since both company's adapters emit that noise. So have you found the delta to be more of a dependable brand then the Flextronic as Brian/5150Joker has stated? I know my Flextronic has not proven to be so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eYe-I-aïe... Posted April 4, 2011 Author Share Posted April 4, 2011 While both emit a noise, I can tell you the delta one is the less audible one. On another hand, I found that sometimes, my M17X will tell me my A/C adapter is not a Dell branded one when connected to the flextronic, and this barely never happened with the delta one. But actually, both of them are able to fully power my computer; go figure... So, is the delta more depndable than the flextronic ? I asked Michael (Dell), and he told me to not care as none of them are made by Dell, which I could not figure out myself until he told me Nice week to all ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Brian Posted April 4, 2011 Founder Share Posted April 4, 2011 Whenever my R2 squeals, I just beat it with a stick. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 LOL, beating it with a stick gives you a sense of satisfaction but certainly spanking it makes you feel like it won't misbehave again. Funny thing is I got the replacement Delta now and when stressed it makes more noise than the flextronics did, but seems more dependable. I got a complimentry battery replacement too, of which I didn't ask for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unreal25 Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I have flextronics AC adapter but I don't hear any noise. In fact, all the noise I hear from this laptop is from the cooling vents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eYe-I-aïe... Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 Lucky you ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unreal25 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Speaking of which.... Have you tried downclocking/undervolting the graphic cards in order to reduce the fan noise? Does it even have any more quiet profile? I typically use Stealthmode + Power Savings mode (or just Power Savings since with Stealthmode it feels a bit slugish), but I feel the fans are always on, on their minimum setting (2K RPM according to HWInfo32). I guess it would work more quiet had they actually enabled the IGP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eYe-I-aïe... Posted April 7, 2011 Author Share Posted April 7, 2011 I never downclocked my video cards. 2 reasons for that: 1. I don't know how; 2. I don't need to... Because it's the CPU fan that seems to wish it was an helicopter so it tries very hard to lift off my M17X to go levitate in Tibet with some Monks... As far as I know, there's no such integrated graphic card on the R2-Intel-Inside-board; NVidia had put one on the R1, but their chipset was so buggy Dell went to Intel and ask them to produce a chipset for their R2 version... When I said lucky you thought, I was refering to the noises made by electrical componants inside the M17X, like transistors, capacitors or so, not the fans. So basicaly, if you can't hear those noises, then;goto: happy you ! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unreal25 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Ah ye, I don't hear those noises. Only fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Honestly the Alienware noises are usually so faint that you think your hearing things or one could say its like a ringing in your ears, mostly high pitch hums probably in the 16Khz+ range. Not everyone will hear it in other words since not everyone hears frequencies that high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unreal25 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Heh... I hear some of the noises you mentioned here on my Thinkpad X200t. It's fan is always dead silent tho so I can't complain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eYe-I-aïe... Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 Honestly the Alienware noises are usually so faint that you think your hearing things or one could say its like a ringing in your ears, mostly high pitch hums probably in the 16Khz+ range. Not everyone will hear it in other words since not everyone hears frequencies that high. While it's perfectly true that not everyone is able to hear such high pitch noises, and I SO wish I was one of them, true also that for those who hear them, not only it is a pain in our... head, but worse, it can actually lead ot headaches, which I was getting sometimes before I found how to get rid of the transistor on noise. In ANY case, they are TRUE high pitch noises, even if some or most people can't hear them. And you know what ? If you CAN'T hear them, don't care, actually, count yourself lucky and DON'T even try to hear them because, would you ever succeed, you might just not be able to NOT hear them again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 Lol, sounds like a Schizophrenic wishing they never heard voices. Hmm like a faucet dripping or something similar that you didn't hear before but then someone brings it to your attention and you just want to forget you heard anything. I'd have to say if the noises start turning into voices your better off giving your self a labotomy to save your self from the torture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eYe-I-aïe... Posted April 10, 2011 Author Share Posted April 10, 2011 Hellya... Fortunately for me, my M17X speaks Morse Code, and I know siht about it... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huuy Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 Nice guide. reduced the CPU humming noise. It's wasn't to bad, but i do have sensitive ears . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eYe-I-aïe... Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 Happy it helped (even just a bit) you ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AssimilatorX Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I have not experienced that. I've retained the original XPS M1730 power (brick) and R1 PSU when my laptops was replaced time to time.I know is a "bit heavy" than what came with R2 but performing much much better and got thicker leads too...Disabling recording devices in windows instead of muting them and disabling play-through will work too especially if you don't use them often and don't want to disable the entire sound card from BIOS. I have an M17x R2 and the inferior flextronics ac adapter. When plugged in I notice now a sound that sounds like a quick dripping of water or rolling current like deet deet deet deet towards end that plugs in and to the left if sitting top up. I'm afraid I need it replaced due to this noise and Brian's advice in R2 Bench thread. Does anyone else experience this or is this a sign that there really is something seriously wrong with my adapter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I have not experienced that. I've retained the original XPS M1730 power (brick) and R1 PSU when my laptops was replaced time to time.I know is a "bit heavy" than what came with R2 but performing much much better and got thicker leads too...-When I had the M17 R2 I ended up getting that psu replaced by Dell. Ironically the outcome was the non flextronics psu they sent me as a replacement made more noise when overclocked to its limits.... than the flextronics branded adapter. The one they replaced made noise just being plugged in not even having the system turned on. So seems the flextronics puts out higher wattages better than the delta branded adapter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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