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    R3 wierd noise comming from main board

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by kivoen, Jun 3, 2011.

  1. kivoen

    kivoen Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi guys, my R3 is making some weird noises that I never got on my R1.

    Its not loud but you can hear it distinctively at night. it sounds likes a spinning hard drive ( constant back ground sound that is louder then a spinning drive ) and it clicks after every few seconds, in short it sounds like a dead hard drive however there is a catch, I'm using a SSD and the fan is not spinning therefor it should not make any noise at all.

    is this normal or i can get dell to swap me a board? and how do i describe this issue when the noise is barely audible during the day and because of my hearing i can pick it up distinctively at night and explain my after market SSD along with service warranty.

    I'm afraid that these guys might claim that i've damaged my own machine with SSD instal and if i plug my original drive back in they say its normal HDD noise
     
    kivoen, Jun 3, 2011
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  2. pmassey31545

    pmassey31545 Whats the mission sir?

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    I had a similar issue on an R2 but no SSD. It was coming from the GPU area and it is difficult to describe. I told the tech it sounded like an electrical circuit grounding out or 'frying'. Just barely can hear it. They determined it was a bad GPU and then shortly after ran some diagnostics on my BIOS. Ended up giving me an R3 as replacement. Soooooo, sure it was an issue, but still not real certain as to what it was.
     
    pmassey31545, Jun 3, 2011
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  3. kivoen

    kivoen Notebook Enthusiast

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    kivoen, Jun 4, 2011
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  4. pmassey31545

    pmassey31545 Whats the mission sir?

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    Ahhhh!*Light pops on in head* You don't have an M17x R3. You have an 11. Regardless, it still seems to me to be something that shouldn't be there, right? Call it in before something goes really bad.
     
    pmassey31545, Jun 4, 2011
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  5. tonkatrain

    tonkatrain Notebook Consultant

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    Probably coil whine which is very common near the gpu. When you can hear it try unplugging/plugging in the power cord and see if the noise changed. Also fire up a game to see if that changes it.

    If that changes it it's coil whine, which is normal.
     
    tonkatrain, Jun 4, 2011
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  6. kivoen

    kivoen Notebook Enthusiast

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    unplugging and replugging does nothing, nor does launching a game. also the noise isnt from the GPU area. it is right at the spot where the speaker is(and only that speaker).

    i'm thinking poor shielding and EMI that is causing the speaker make such noise
     
    kivoen, Jun 4, 2011
    #6