High Pitch Noise Coming From Pinebook Pro
#31
(01-17-2020, 09:39 AM)cheburashka Wrote: Just tried one more thing. I have my wireless mouse dongle plugged in, high pitched noise is there. I plug my phone in to the other USB port and it starts charging and the high pitched noise disappears. Take out the charging phone and it's back.

Seems to be some kind of input/output unbalance or something (okay maybe I just said something really stupid, but I'm pretty much a-technical).

Other posters have reported the noise going away by increasing the screen brightness.  As noted, things such as card readers without cards, and mice, do not draw much current.  So it seems to be happening within a range of current draw — above or below a certain load.  Which leads me to suspect it's the resonance of a band reject filter where an inductor is oscillating.  Perhaps someone could find the specific inductor by muting it with a gloved finger, using a can of freeze-it, or some other method, then smothering it with epoxy so it doesn't vibrate.
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#32
(01-17-2020, 12:31 PM)zaius Wrote:
(01-17-2020, 09:39 AM)cheburashka Wrote: Just tried one more thing. I have my wireless mouse dongle plugged in, high pitched noise is there. I plug my phone in to the other USB port and it starts charging and the high pitched noise disappears. Take out the charging phone and it's back.

Seems to be some kind of input/output unbalance or something (okay maybe I just said something really stupid, but I'm pretty much a-technical).

Other posters have reported the noise going away by increasing the screen brightness.  As noted, things such as card readers without cards, and mice, do not draw much current.  So it seems to be happening within a range of current draw — above or below a certain load.  Which leads me to suspect it's the resonance of a band reject filter where an inductor is oscillating.  Perhaps someone could find the specific inductor by muting it with a gloved finger, using a can of freeze-it, or some other method, then smothering it with epoxy so it doesn't vibrate.

I tried the brightness thing, but that doesn't seem to work for me, at least not significantly. I'm not technical at all so whatever you are suggesting is not something that I could do. I'm really liking the PBP, it's a pity a small thing like this can put such a damper on the whole experience. Hoping that there will be a solution someone like me could implement. If not I'm afraid this laptop won't see a lot of usage from me.
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#33
(01-17-2020, 02:37 PM)cheburashka Wrote: I tried the brightness thing, but that doesn't seem to work for me, at least not significantly. I'm not technical at all so whatever you are suggesting is not something that I could do. I'm really liking the PBP, it's a pity a small thing like this can put such a damper on the whole experience. Hoping that there will be a solution someone like me could implement. If not I'm afraid this laptop won't see a lot of usage from me.

Is it that loud?  My PBP makes occasional whining noises, but it's not that bad.

Noisy inductors are not an uncommon problem in laptops.  They aren't an uncommon problem is desktops either, but in a big box with a fan they aren't as noticeable.  I had an Macintosh Titanium G4 laptop that made a very loud noise only when I had a firewire interface connected to it.  This was a new computer that was still under warranty.  Yet, even though I located the exact inductor, identified its part number, and explained it to Apple, it took them a long time to agree to fix it.  

I do not know what Pine64 can or should do about PBP's that have already shipped.  Regardless, considering the large number of people complaining about it, they should look into the problem, and fix it for future batches.
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#34
(01-18-2020, 03:17 PM)zaius Wrote:
(01-17-2020, 02:37 PM)cheburashka Wrote: I tried the brightness thing, but that doesn't seem to work for me, at least not significantly. I'm not technical at all so whatever you are suggesting is not something that I could do. I'm really liking the PBP, it's a pity a small thing like this can put such a damper on the whole experience. Hoping that there will be a solution someone like me could implement. If not I'm afraid this laptop won't see a lot of usage from me.

Is it that loud?  My PBP makes occasional whining noises, but it's not that bad.

Noisy inductors are not an uncommon problem in laptops.  They aren't an uncommon problem is desktops either, but in a big box with a fan they aren't as noticeable.  I had an Macintosh Titanium G4 laptop that made a very loud noise only when I had a firewire interface connected to it.  This was a new computer that was still under warranty.  Yet, even though I located the exact inductor, identified its part number, and explained it to Apple, it took them a long time to agree to fix it.  

I do not know what Pine64 can or should do about PBP's that have already shipped.  Regardless, considering the large number of people complaining about it, they should look into the problem, and fix it for future batches.

Mine pop and then whine with a 16 GB SanDisk thumbdrive in the USB-2 Brightness helps. Funny, that is a super small current draw.

Titanium G4? I LOVED that box! Hinges and all.
— Jeremiah Cornelius
"Be the first person not to do some­thing, that no one has thought of not doing before’’
— Brian Eno, "Oblique Strategies"
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#35
(01-18-2020, 03:39 PM)Jeremiah Cornelius Wrote: Mine pop and then whine with a 16 GB SanDisk thumbdrive in the USB-2 Brightness helps. Funny, that is a super small current draw.

Titanium G4? I LOVED that box! Hinges and all.

A small current load also looks like a large resistor.

(I loved my Titanium G4 too.  Even though I had to send it in for repairs several times.  The last time Apple fixed it for free even though it was out of warranty, because it kept having the same video problem.  Then the video broke again.  What I miss most is that the new Intel MBP's can't run the same software.  So I had to give up Spark XL, which was an excellent audio editing and processing program.  Back when I produced ambient, I could make entire tracks using only Soundhack and Spark XL.)
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#36
So, has anyone figured out which inductor is whining?

I have both thermal epoxy and silicone glue to try and dampen it, but I’d prefer not to pull the mainboard if I don’t need to get to the top (opposite the CPU) side if I don’t have to.

The sound does seem to be from the topside, however.
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#37
I'm not technical enough by any means to solve the issue, also interested in a solution to this problem though. My pinebook is just gathering dust, just turn it on once in a while for some quick browsing when my other laptop is busy processing something.
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#38
Hi everyone,
Got this problem too, first on stock Debian, then I switched to Manjaro and the noise wasn't there.
And then I ran the keyboard/trackpad firmware update, sound was back.

I didn't see anyone in this thread relating the problem to the trackpad firmware update so maybe I'm the only one, but maybe it'll help figuring out where this comes from.
Up to now my fix is to just to mute the computer.
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#39
Hi, I also have a high-pitch noice when connecting a Dell USB-A mouse on either the USB 2.0 or 3.0 port. It only happens when I don't move the mouse. Clicking or scrolling doesn't change anything. Another mouse doesn't produce the same sound, but I'm sure the sound comes from the PBP.
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#40
I hear a faint noise coming from the side of the power connection and USB ports.
I'm running Manjaro 20.04.
When I press Caps lock, the noise changes a bit.
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