Dell Inspiron 6400/1505 Problem (whineing noise)

My brand new E1505/6400 with Core 2 Duo, 1gb of Ram and integrated gfx emits a rather loud high pitched whine from the machine when plugged into AC power and turned on. It doesnt make this noise when it is running off battery, turned off and charging on AC, in safe mode, booting windows or in Ubuntu Live. I installed a fresh copy of XP and it didnt make the noise so I installed drivers one by one and found that when the laptop was running on the proper Intel GMA drivers it emitted the noise when plugged in but when running on generics it did not make the noise when plugged in. This explains why when running Ubuntu Live the noise was not apparent because it was probably running on generic drivers. I cannot run on the generics long term because it limits me to 1024x768 which looks horrible on widescreen.

Can I fix it? what should I do?

Thanks,
Wayne

 

Where did you get the drivers from? If you haven't already, try downloading the intel driver from support.dell.com and see if that helps. That should be an updated version and hopefully has an update to fix this issue.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=79853

 

I got the drivers from Intel's website, I have emailed Dell I think we will organise a technician to come around and look at it. Incorrect ram was installed so I need a technician to come around anyway.

Cheers for the link to other thread.

Wayne

 

who installed the ram you or dell.

 

Dell, I ordered 1x1gb but they put in 2x512mb.

 

I'm having the same problem! Also, if I plug headphones in the jack, the whine is transmitted there too.

I've got the radeon X1400. And yeah, it doesn't happen in safe mode.

I've also noticed that its louder when the cpu is clocked higher (default when it's plugged in) but you can have lots of fun with a program called notebook hardware control, where you can set CPU speed regardless of wheather its plugged in or not. So you can control the amount of whinyness, somewhat.

This is issue is really starting to tick me off.

 

crap and I just ordered a 1505 t7200. just my luck right

 

not really. I don't think the issue affects everyone.

I'm going to exchange mine.... hopefully the next one won't whine

 

The 1505 is a marvellous laptop, perfect for my school work with a long battery (9 cell) life but the whine is the only problem. The dell technician is coming over tuesday, ill post what happens.

Not all of these laptops have this problem luckily.

 

In the HP forum, DV6000t users with the Core2Duo chips are also reporting high pitched whining noises. Someone posted a link to a program that seems to eliminate the noise.


http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=75470&page=8

 

Well RMclock doesn't seem to help me very much. :'( I Also just seem to put the cpu under 100% load with that HLT thing enabled.

i wasn't aware dell sent people over when there was problem - let me guess, not in canada?

 

Nah, im in Australia. Dont see why they wouldnt do it in Canada

 

because this country seems to be seriously ___ up the a$$ when it comes to service.

. I wasn't informed of the possibility of sending over a tech. Unless you have a special warranty? I just have "return to depot".

 

I got an email from dell saying they are sending me the replacement ram via mail so I guess the technician will only be fixing the whine and I will replace the ram myself when it arrives.

What do I do with the old ram? send it back to them?

 

Hey,

RMCpu thing really did work for me. Without it, there is this stupid very very low volume, very high pitched electronic buzzing. I am turning the HLT thing, and then everything is alright, no sound no nothing. BUT, this thing makes your cpu works 100% or at least make it feel like it and open space incoming programs. Does anyone know what the hell this thing exactly doing? I really did not notice a performance fall, but I am in no position to compare since I have got my 6400 yesterday!

 

waynejkruse10: what was wrong with your ram?

 

Nothing was faulty with it but it was different to what I ordered. I payed extra for a 1x1024mb stick rather than having the regular 2x512mb sticks. This allows me to upgrade to 2gb later easily and cheaply because there are only 2 slots on the laptop. The laptop only came with 2x512mb.

 

Technician just came, had a replacement mobo and installed it. Now it doesnt whine and I'm very happy. He also installed the replacement RAM that was sent to me. Oddly enough Dell have not given me or the tech instructions on how to return the old RAM to them. I asked the tech and he said if Dell doesnt contact you about it just keep it.

I wonder if I have got myself a little freebie

 

nicely done. Have you tried using a software called Notebook Hardware control? It allows you to set your cpu to choose between cpu speed. I used it to amplify the whine to make sure I wasn't crazy. When set to "max perfomance" the whine was at its worst.

If you have the time, please try this out, lemme know if the whine is truely gone, just cause I'm very skeptical about dell's quality control so far.

I have a feeling dell will send me a new machine instead of a technician, it would really suck if it was just as bad (or worse!)

Thanks.