New W510 - High Pitched Whine/Sqeal Using Battery

[maverick]

920XM has this problem too. Turning off "deep sleep" in Power Manager works for me (fortunately).

[xtsubarublazin]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but my W510's whining has become louder and when I have my laptop in class, people around me can hear the sound. How embarrassing.

I did disable "CPU Deeper Sleep" in Power Manager, and that helps with the sound, but it makes my system run warmer and decreases the battery life significantly. I don't understand why the sleep mode of the processor affects all this. Can anyone explain please?

[Chatbox]

Totally agree with you.  It's embarrassing as hell...

Truth is though, Lenovo can't fix it.  And even if they can't, they're not going to.  Their post-sale customer service is absolutely aweful.  It's more or less two years since the release of the W510...and this is still not addressed.

[Mark_Lenovo Administrator]

chatbox,

Have you called service on this?   This may require a system board replacement.

Mark

[Chatbox]

Hi Mark,

Yes.  I've had a system board replacement, then CPU replacement, then system board replacement, then another system board replacement.  Had a complete system replacement.  And recently, another system board replacement.

Still same old, same old...having the same high pitch whine when the system is running on battery.  The effect is lessen when processor deep sleep is disabled...but it's not a fix.

And also, I've PMed you about a USB 3 performance issue (that the USB 3 solution, is half baked on the W510 - inadequate bus bandwidth) back in May/June 2011, as per your request.  But never heard from you again.

[JDay]

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xtsubarublazin wrote:

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but my W510's whining has become louder and when I have my laptop in class, people around me can hear the sound. How embarrassing.

I did disable "CPU Deeper Sleep" in Power Manager, and that helps with the sound, but it makes my system run warmer and decreases the battery life significantly. I don't understand why the sleep mode of the processor affects all this. Can anyone explain please?

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The processor is not making the noise, it is caused by a capacitor having acoustic vibrations.

[Chatbox]

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JDay wrote:

The processor is not making the noise, it is caused by a capacitor having acoustic vibrations.

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That's comforting...I guess.  Now where's the fix? 

[JDay]

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Chatbox wrote:

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JDay wrote:

The processor is not making the noise, it is caused by a capacitor having acoustic vibrations.

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That's comforting...I guess.  Now where's the fix? 

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In the T510 thread about this someone posted a fix that involves replacing the capacitor. You could also put a small dab of hot glue on the capacitor. It is something Lenovo could have easily fixed on a revised motherboard but in no way affects the systems performance and does not indicate anything is failing. As far as Intel is concerned it is within spec.

http://s169341379.websitehome.co.uk/

http://forum.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T510-i5-540M-terrible-whine-noise/m-p/306472...

[Chatbox]

That was an awesome post!  And great troubleshooting!

Now. personally, I'm not going to fiddle with it as it would likely void the warranty.

However, Lenovo really should address this issue proactively (for users of other Thinkpad series too)!  Sadly, this doesn't seem to be the case.

[Mark_Lenovo Administrator]

Jday,

Potentially true except that I believe we found it was not always the same capacitor producing the sound.

There is an update through service - I'm sorry that in Chatbox's case we didn't seem to resolve it previously.  It may have been a case of when the repairs were done.

Chatbox,

I would recommend you contact service again if you this is still a significant issue on your replacement system.

Also, I apologize for not getting back to you on your USB issue last year.

Mark