faint "electronic mosquito" noise from laptop

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97tbird

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i hear this VERY faint but audible noise emitting from my laptop..it's almost continuous steadily, with small breaks.

it's like a constant electronic noise, as if a VERY small mosquito would make, but doesn't change in pitch. Almost sounds like the faint but steady teeeeeeee noise you get when you have tinnitus.
I hope I'm describing it okay...it's EVRY faint, and does not sound as it would be a dull, mechanical noise like a fan would make...it's very "electronic like" beep.
I can hear it louder when i put my ear next to the keyboard.

perhaps you guys have heard the noise that is generated when a CRT tv is on? it's like that but a LOT quieter, and clearer...

what could this be? I restarted the laptop, noise still there.

all else is normal, and i'm sure I never heard this before.
no new changes.
win XP pro. Lenovo ThinkPad R60

thanks a lot.
 
Could be the hard drive starting to show it's age. Mine got progressively loud until it went SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH and kicked the bucket!
 
Heat is pretty much the number one enemy of hard drives. Laptops tend to not have the greatest cooling, so the poor hard drives get to heat soak for extended periods.

If I were you, I would do a full system backup just in case.
 
yeah that's what I thought...
but I can hear the hard drive anyway, like I always could, very faintly...it's a more mechanical, whirring type of noise, and this noise is extra...
who knows, perh. HD can make more than 1 noise as it ages... ?
have to get an ext HD anyway.. i have 21MB of free space left.. ARGGGH.

well, it looks like it has stopped now...
will keep an eye (ear) on it, and report back if it comes back...
Thanks guys...
 
When my hard drive on my laptop took a dump, I went with an Apricorn External HD that comes with their EZ Gig II software - a stripped down version of Acronis True Image. I got the laptop drive to finally boot one more time (by the grace of god!!!) upon which I made a disk image of the drive. I'd recommend doing that so then swapping out hard drives becomes a 10 minute affair with no need to reinstall the operating system - it will be exactly like it was with the new drive.

Then, you'll be able to routinely make disk images so if something gets messed up on your machine, all you do is load a good image and you're back to square one. It's the greatest thing in computing IMO!

Plus, you can look through disk images to find individual files, so basic file backups can be done simply by creating images.
 
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If you are getting HDI (head to disk interference) issues, then it will be a compound noise of the motor whirring as well as the heads scraping on the platters. If it is a bearing problem, that will also be a compound noise. Bearing sounds can often be intermittent.
 
Drew, which Apricorn model was this?
I really would like some imaging SW with my ext. HD when I get one, and that one sounds good..

do you have a link? thanks.
 
I've also found another neat trick with laptops using XP - keep the power mode on laptop/portable, and it will run the processor at half speed. It'll make the computer a bit slower, but it will run much much cooler. Mine runs at about 35 degrees C, where as on full speed, it'll stay at about 55 C and get up to 65 C when doing heavy work.

That alone makes the HD run about 10 degrees C cooler.
 
check the fan on the heat pipe condensor side. I had that exact issue with a Sony vaio laptop, when it wa held a certain way. There was just a bit too much slack in that area, and so things could shift the wrong way and make funny noises.
 
That's what I have. New Egg has it for $118 free shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822161021

You might still want to look around at other alternatives and other imaging software, but my setup has been bulletproof. I've reinstalled images probably 20 times and it works perfectly. The only thing the EZ Gig II software doesn't do is automatic incremental backup like Acronis True Image does. But, from what I've read, incremental backup is not 100% bulletproof like creating an image when the operating system is not running (running EZ Gig II off the CD from the command line).
 
I had a fan die on me in my laptop before, it started to make a loud buzzing/whining noise before it finally went kaput. When it did die eventually, it just made it so the computer would shut itself down when it got too hot. Had to send it in to HP to get it repaired. Probably a fan or something... but I'm not sure.
 
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
it's like a constant electronic noise, as if a VERY small mosquito would make, but doesn't change in pitch. Almost sounds like the faint but steady teeeeeeee noise you get when you have tinnitus.


Maybe you have tinnitus.
 
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