Disturbing constant huming/buzzing noise from the laptop[Solved]

matman · 2014-08-10 12:52:42

Hi, I have a problem with laptop (Dell Inspiron 15 - 3251) working with constant distant buzzing/humming (don't really now how to describe it : It's like distant buzzing, but you can hear it all the time). I do realize it sounds silly, but the truth is I can't describe it any better.

The first, obvious conclusion was - fan problem. So I posted this: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewforum.php?id=1445114

In short words I managed to get fancontrol going. Then I tested fan speed and came to the conclusion, that the sound is not the fan. Basically when I ran fan on low speed I can hear it in the background of the problematic noise. In other words they are independent. I will post my fan stats just in case, but I am pretty sure it's not the root of the problem.

The fancontrol service is on:

[mateusz@mateusz ~]$ LC_ALL=C systemctl status fancontrol
* fancontrol.service - Start fan control, if configured
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/fancontrol.service; enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Sun 2014-08-10 12:53:07 CEST; 1h 31min ago
 Main PID: 250 (fancontrol)
   CGroup: /system.slice/fancontrol.service
           |- 250 /bin/bash /usr/sbin/fancontrol
           `-3442 sleep 10

Aug 10 12:53:15 mateusz fancontrol[250]: Depends on hwmon1/temp3_input
Aug 10 12:53:15 mateusz fancontrol[250]: Controls hwmon0/fan2_input
Aug 10 12:53:15 mateusz fancontrol[250]: MINTEMP=45
Aug 10 12:53:15 mateusz fancontrol[250]: MAXTEMP=85
Aug 10 12:53:15 mateusz fancontrol[250]: MINSTART=150
Aug 10 12:53:15 mateusz fancontrol[250]: MINSTOP=100
Aug 10 12:53:15 mateusz fancontrol[250]: MINPWM=0
Aug 10 12:53:15 mateusz fancontrol[250]: MAXPWM=255
Aug 10 12:53:15 mateusz fancontrol[250]: Enabling PWM on fans...
Aug 10 12:53:15 mateusz fancontrol[250]: Starting automatic fan control...

The sensors output is consistent as well:

[mateusz@mateusz ~]$ sensors
i8k-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
Right Fan:   90000 RPM
CPU:          +46.0°C  

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Physical id 0:  +47.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 0:         +47.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 1:         +45.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)

I tested the laptop with two live systems, Ubuntu and Arch (the one I used for the installation) and there was no problematic sound whatsoever. So my conclusion is, this is not a hardware issue, but my current configuration.

I have only one, integrated video card:

[mateusz@mateusz ~]$ lspci|grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)

So this is not an issue with having two running in the same time.
I made three system upgrades since the installation (one after I noticed the problem, hoping that upgrade would deal with it, silly me).
The main things were new kernel 3.15.3-1-ARCH --> 3.15.8-1-ARCH
and xf86-video-intel (2.99.914-2 -> 2.99.914-3).

The other clues I have are: there's no buzzing when the laptop is in the bios, or in the early stage boot. It actually starts when the virtual consol is turned on. Hence my suspicion of the video controler. While coming back from suspension there's a minute of silence too. This is my dmesg (only errors and warnings):

[mateusz@mateusz ~]$dmesg -H --level=err,warn
[sie10 12:52] ACPI: RSDP 0x00000000000FE020 000024 (v02 DELL  )
[  +0,000000] ACPI: XSDT 0x00000000AAFFE210 00008C (v01 DELL   CL09     00000001      01000013)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: FACP 0x00000000AAFFB000 00010C (v05 DELL   CL09     00000001 ASL  00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: DSDT 0x00000000AAFEE000 009332 (v01 DELL   CL09     00000000 ASL  00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: FACS 0x00000000AAFB9000 000040
[  +0,000000] ACPI: UEFI 0x00000000AAFFD000 000236 (v01 DELL   CL09     00000001 ASL  00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: ASF! 0x00000000AAFFC000 0000A5 (v32 DELL   CL09     00000001 ASL  00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: HPET 0x00000000AAFFA000 000038 (v01 DELL   CL09     00000001 ASL  00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: APIC 0x00000000AAFF9000 00008C (v03 DELL   CL09     00000001 ASL  00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: MCFG 0x00000000AAFF8000 00003C (v01 DELL   CL09     00000001 ASL  00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: SSDT 0x00000000AAFED000 0006FE (v01 COMPAL CRV ORB  00001000 ACPI 00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: BOOT 0x00000000AAFEB000 000028 (v01 DELL   CL09     00000001 ASL  00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: ASPT 0x00000000AAFE9000 000034 (v07 DELL   CL09     00000001 ASL  00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: DBGP 0x00000000AAFE8000 000034 (v01 DELL   CL09     00000001 ASL  00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: FPDT 0x00000000AAFE6000 000044 (v01 DELL   CL09     00000001 ASL  00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: SSDT 0x00000000AAFE5000 000860 (v01 COMPAL CRV ORB  00003000 ACPI 00040000)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: SSDT 0x00000000AAFE4000 000A92 (v01 COMPAL CRV ORB  00003000 ACPI 00040000)
[  +0,000000] Zone ranges:
[  +0,000000]   DMA      [mem 0x00001000-0x00ffffff]
[  +0,000000]   DMA32    [mem 0x01000000-0xffffffff]
[  +0,000000]   Normal   [mem 0x100000000-0x1cf5fffff]
[  +0,000000] Movable zone start for each node
[  +0,000000] Early memory node ranges
[  +0,000000]   node   0: [mem 0x00001000-0x0009cfff]
[  +0,000000]   node   0: [mem 0x00100000-0x1fffffff]
[  +0,000000]   node   0: [mem 0x20200000-0x40003fff]
[  +0,000000]   node   0: [mem 0x40005000-0xa0baffff]
[  +0,000000]   node   0: [mem 0xa13b0000-0xaa3befff]
[  +0,000000]   node   0: [mem 0xaafff000-0xaaffffff]
[  +0,000000]   node   0: [mem 0x100000000-0x1cf5fffff]
[  +0,000000] Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 1519879
[  +0,000000] Policy zone: Normal
[  +0,000000] Memory: 5995720K/6176108K available (5225K kernel code, 886K rwdata, 1644K rodata, 1116K init, 1284K bss, 180388K reserved)
[  +0,000000] ACPI: All ACPI Tables successfully acquired
[  +0,017799] ENERGY_PERF_BIAS: Set to 'normal', was 'performance'
ENERGY_PERF_BIAS: View and update with x86_energy_perf_policy(8)
[  +0,098841] ACPI: Executed 1 blocks of module-level executable AML code
[  +0,012392] ACPI: SSDT 0x00000000AAE27018 00083B (v01 PmRef  Cpu0Cst  00003001 INTL 20130117)
[  +0,000406] ACPI: Dynamic OEM Table Load:
[  +0,000003] ACPI: SSDT 0x0000000000000000 00083B (v01 PmRef  Cpu0Cst  00003001 INTL 20130117)
[  +0,009374] ACPI: SSDT 0x00000000AAE28A98 000303 (v01 PmRef  ApIst    00003000 INTL 20130117)
[  +0,000474] ACPI: Dynamic OEM Table Load:
[  +0,000002] ACPI: SSDT 0x0000000000000000 000303 (v01 PmRef  ApIst    00003000 INTL 20130117)
[  +0,009372] ACPI: SSDT 0x00000000AAE26D98 000119 (v01 PmRef  ApCst    00003000 INTL 20130117)
[  +0,000405] ACPI: Dynamic OEM Table Load:
[  +0,000002] ACPI: SSDT 0x0000000000000000 000119 (v01 PmRef  ApCst    00003000 INTL 20130117)
[  +0,009906] ACPI Exception: AE_NOT_FOUND, While evaluating Sleep State [\_S1_] (20140214/hwxface-580)
[  +0,000005] ACPI Exception: AE_NOT_FOUND, While evaluating Sleep State [\_S2_] (20140214/hwxface-580)
[  +0,240381] ACPI: Enabled 5 GPEs in block 00 to 3F
[  +0,208654] Dquot-cache hash table entries: 512 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
[  +0,505016] sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 24x/24x writer dvd-ram cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
[sie10 12:53] ACPI Warning: SystemIO range 0x0000000000003040-0x000000000000305f conflicts with OpRegion 0x0000000000003040-0x000000000000304f (\_SB_.PCI0.SBUS.SMBI) (20140214/utaddress-258)
[  +0,033896] r8169 0000:01:00.0: can't disable ASPM; OS doesn't have ASPM control
[  +0,863886] rts5139: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[  +0,049544] [drm:cpt_serr_int_handler] *ERROR* PCH transcoder A FIFO underrun

Here's my boot log, If that would be of any use. sprunge

I know my post is extremly unclear, but I am absolutly cluless here. If someone could point me to what diagnostic steps should be taken now, I'd be very grateful. I don't want to open the laptop, since It seems that it's not a hardware thing, as well as, I am still on warranty. I don't want to reinstall the system either, because if it's a inproper config I could face the same problem sooner or later.

Last edited by matman (2014-08-10 19:15:55)

lucke · 2014-08-10 13:02:30

See if running "xset dpms force off" and "hdparm -y /dev/sda" (without disk activity, perhaps in runlevel 3) makes it stop.

matman · 2014-08-10 13:26:13

Thanks for the replay. I tried both, but there's still this noisy humming.

ooo · 2014-08-10 15:14:14

try tuning the APM level for your hdd with hdparm -B (try both increasing and decreasing the value and disabling APM completely with -B255)

If you've power saving for audio enabled, that could also cause buzzing through speakers: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Power_saving#Audio

matman · 2014-08-10 16:02:55

I tried various values for the APM level, including switching it off completly. Unfortunatly It didn't work. I don't have powersaving for audio, since this is relatively new arch installation, and I didn't have enough time to configure it. However you mentioning the sound and speakers made me realize that I messed a bit with audio settings. I wanted to get sound over HDMI connecting to the TV. I got that going using this guide:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ad … s_not_work

But I followed the guide exactly. I am using ALSA only. Might that :

$ aplay -D plughw:1,3 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav

messed my configs? It produced some binary data.
I am not sure that's the speakers though. I am terrible at hardware, but as long as I am not mistaken the noise is comming down from the left corner. I checked online, and hdd would be there.

There's a problem, and I am responsible for it. I just cant pinpoint the exact moment when that humming/buzzing started. It might've happened while I was playing music/watching video. Also I probably ignored it thinking it was just noisy fan work.

ewaller · 2014-08-10 16:57:36

Two things I would suggest. Mute your speakers or plug in a head set. If the sound goes away, then it is your sound system. If so, we can chase that down later.

If that is not it, try changing your display brightness and see if that has any effect. I know nothing of that laptop, but if it uses CCFLs for the display back light, then it will have a high voltage inverter do generate the strike and run voltages for the lamps. They are notorious for buzzing.

lucke · 2014-08-10 17:13:55

"xset dpms force off" should turn off the display, thus most probably get rid of the buzzing if it was display-related. My desktop LCD buzzes at certain settings/resolutions.

matman · 2014-08-10 19:07:13

Thanks a million guys!That was it. Muting alsa mixer that was it. Whoo big relief, I was worried it could damage my hdd or graphic card. I'll into it and see if I can deal with the problem myself. I'd welcome any sugestions though .

Cheers!

EDIT:

It is very embarasing, but I'll admit it, so the thing will be clear. I had microphone on (don't really konw how that happened), so obviously It was looping back. I am sorry for wasting your time. Marking that as solved and going to live in shame

Last edited by matman (2014-08-10 19:14:24)

ooo · 2014-08-10 19:13:03

do you mean you muted master channel and the buzz went away, and you still need to find the actual alsa channel that causes the buzz?
If you have headphone plug in your laptop that also acts as microphone plug, make sure the headphone mic is muted in alsamixer. That has caused some audio weirdness for me before.

matman · 2014-08-10 19:17:33

Thanks, that was preety much it.

emeres · 2014-08-10 20:07:16

Should this happen again, take a look at hdajackretask from alsa-tools package, I assume you hardware is hda compliant.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-08-10 12:52:42

Disturbing constant huming/buzzing noise from the laptop[Solved]

#2 2014-08-10 13:02:30

Re: Disturbing constant huming/buzzing noise from the laptop[Solved]

#3 2014-08-10 13:26:13

Re: Disturbing constant huming/buzzing noise from the laptop[Solved]

#4 2014-08-10 15:14:14

Re: Disturbing constant huming/buzzing noise from the laptop[Solved]

#5 2014-08-10 16:02:55

Re: Disturbing constant huming/buzzing noise from the laptop[Solved]

#6 2014-08-10 16:57:36

Re: Disturbing constant huming/buzzing noise from the laptop[Solved]

#7 2014-08-10 17:13:55

Re: Disturbing constant huming/buzzing noise from the laptop[Solved]

#8 2014-08-10 19:07:13

Re: Disturbing constant huming/buzzing noise from the laptop[Solved]

#9 2014-08-10 19:13:03

Re: Disturbing constant huming/buzzing noise from the laptop[Solved]

#10 2014-08-10 19:17:33

Re: Disturbing constant huming/buzzing noise from the laptop[Solved]

#11 2014-08-10 20:07:16

Re: Disturbing constant huming/buzzing noise from the laptop[Solved]

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