E520 Whine noise

[fmcsimmons]

Hi all,

I have a Thinkpad Edge E520 and there is a high pitched whine that comes from the top left side of the keyboard. Have seen it referred to as "CPU whine". It is especially bad when I have a wireless mouse inserted... any 2.4 wireless mouse will cause it. It is louder while on battery.

Changing brightness does not help. A clean install of Windows with drivers installed from the Lenovo website does not help.

Disabling "CPU power mangement" in the BIOS seems to eliminate the noise but this shortens battery life. I have already exchanged an E520 for a new one and the problem is exactly the same in both. This makes me think this issue is specific to the line of E520s and not just my machine.

[PeterTWJ]

Hi fmcsimmons

This problem begins with any manufacturer of laptops that comes with 1st gen of Intel Core i# processors (#=3/5/7). (Flaws of Intel)

If the whine (causes by built-in voltage regulator) is terribly loud and annoying, maybe you could try ask whether could they change a new intel cpu for you. If not, it should be considered as normal.

Cheers 

Peter
ThinkPad: W520 (4284-A99)

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Dolby Home Theater v4 (Essential/IdeaPad/ThinkPad)

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/General-Discussion/Dolby-Home-Theater-v4-for-most-Lenovo-Laptops/td-p/62...

[fmcsimmons]

My E520 has a 2nd gen i5 (i5-2430m).

Are these susceptible to the issue as well? Also, does this shorten the life of the product?

[PeterTWJ]

2nd gen are susceptible to the issue as well. Most probably, it does not shorten the life of product, as long as the buzzing is not too loud till the point it's annoying, it should be acceptable. Due to Intel manufacturing flaws, this is probably how the voltage regulator works. (With buzzing noise)

Cheers 

Peter
ThinkPad: W520 (4284-A99)

=============================================

Does someone’s post help you? Give them kudos as a reward, as they will do better to improve 

Mark it as solved if the solution works for you, so it could be reference for others in the future 

Dolby Home Theater v4 (Essential/IdeaPad/ThinkPad)

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/General-Discussion/Dolby-Home-Theater-v4-for-most-Lenovo-Laptops/td-p/62...

[fmcsimmons]

Thanks. Can anybody else confirm this? Anybody else have the same noise?

[fmcsimmons]

bump....

has anybody else experienced this issue?

[captainstress]

Yes, I am experiencing exactly what you describe with my E520 purchased July 2011.  The whine drives me crazy sometimes.  I couldn't figure out a pattern of when it was worse, but I think you are right.  It is worse when it is on battery power.  Have you found a solution?

[Yeshead]

I have the problem only when i use the screen of the laptop. So when i connect an external screen and set the projection to only external the whistling sound is gone!  Any solutions anyone? Also this started yesterday after downloading 500 mb of updates from lenovo!