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Jlo02 · ‎09-10-2018

Hi guys, I have a question maybe one of you can answer. I've been wanting a gaming laptop for quite a while and I finally bought the Asus GU501GM from bestbuy. I'm a student and I wanted somethin slim but powerful and this really fits the bill. It's a beautiful laptop but I only have one problem with it. The laptop emits a high pitch noise on the top left when ever the fans kick in. it gets a little annoying after a while and im afraid to take it out in the library since it's loud enough that it would bother people. Is this normal? What could be the problem ?

Korth · ‎09-10-2018

Coil whine.

https://lifehacker.com/this-video-explains-what-coil-whine-is-and-how-to-avoid-1669522880

Most commonly in the GPU VRMs, sometimes in the motherboard VRMs, sometimes in the PSU or charging circuit. Especially when parts are overclocked or undervolted outside their rated specs. It's a part which is oscillating into audible frequencies - some people are far more sensitive to it (and annoyed by it) than others. There are all sorts of workarounds, and some work perfectly while some do little or nothing - the failure is quirky so the fix is quirky and varies from machine to machine, and the only "true" repair is soldering on replacement part(s) - but most of these DIY fixes involve taking apart the laptop (and voiding ASUS warranty).

I don't have that laptop model so I don't know what's located in the "top left". But if it only occurs when a fan kicks in then it's being caused by a part which fails under electrical load or under thermal stress. It's sometimes caused by what is basically cheap/flawed engineering - and a few defective units do always end up on store shelves - but ASUS isn't generally in the habit of making cheap and shoddy junk and I haven't seen too many complaints about coil whine from G501 owners.

Coil whine is usually not covered by ASUS Warranty - but I've read many instances on these forums where ASUS still chose to authorize an RMA ticket involving a coil whine repair/replacement. If the problem is particularly noxious then it would help if you could post an audio or video recording so that other people could offer their opinions.

If you've just bought this machine then you might be able to take it back to the vendor and swap it for another identical unit. Explaining the problem can be difficult if nobody else in the shop can hear the whine ... and remember that most of the folks you speak to are salesmen, not technicians ... but they should still know something about coil whine (and your local consumer laws, lol), at least vaguely.

"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

madhacker3kxl · ‎09-10-2018

Minimal amount of coil whine is acceptable. If it is something you can hear as loud as the fans I would do RMA on. All my high end laptop had coil whine but you would be able to hear it during charging or in really high load but it was not loud as the fans on low speed.

Jlo02 · ‎09-10-2018

Here is a video I made of the sound that I'm talking about. It might be a little loud since I turn the fans on to the highest mode so proceed with caution.
https://youtu.be/AVKQWkA7lYI

Korth · ‎09-11-2018

I couldn't hear any coil whine on that vid.
Could be my audio hardware (although it shouldn't be).
Could be your mic.
Could be YouTube's audio codecs deliberately excluding high frequencies.
Could simply be frequencies that my ears just can't hear.

Did you listen to the video yourself to confirm it recorded (and reproduces) the coil whine you can hear?

"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

Jlo02 · ‎09-11-2018

Korth wrote:
I couldn't hear any coil whine on that vid.
Could be my audio hardware (although it shouldn't be).
Could be your mic.
Could be YouTube's audio codecs deliberately excluding high frequencies.
Could simply be frequencies that my ears just can't hear.

Did you listen to the video yourself to confirm it recorded (and reproduces) the coil whine you can hear?

Sorry for the last video, it was i little hard to hear. So I just recorded another vid, the laptop is in silent mode and the high pitch noise is noticeable. The faster the fans spin the higher the pitch gets and it gets louder as well. I'm using earphones so maybe that will help hearing it. Here it is https://youtu.be/tD119zFjhPc

Korth · ‎09-11-2018

lol that is unpleasant, I've heard worse but that would still be awful enough to ruin the machine for me ... and yeah definitely coil whine.

"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

Jlo02 · ‎09-11-2018

Korth wrote:
lol that is unpleasant, I've heard worse but that would still be awful enough to ruin the machine for me ... and yeah definitely coil whine.

Can it be fixed? If not I'm probably going to return it. It's a shame because I really like the laptop.

Korth · ‎09-11-2018

If you have the option of return/exchange at the vendor or some kind of "extended care package" then go for it - you're not a satisfied customer and you're not being especially difficult, you just want your machine to work without usability issues.

If you want to make a warranty claim then contact ASUS with an RMA request. They may or may not choose to authorize it and it's apparently very hit-or-miss with some customers perfectly satisfied and other customers ranting forever in hateful anger. If you choose this approach then I recommend posting a link to this thread and your video in your correspondence with ASUS and interacting with them through their established support channels, don't expect much support from ASUS in these forums.

If you choose to ignore your warranties then you can DIY repair the machine. Or have a laptop shop do it for you. There's a variety of approaches (all over google) and no guarantees but many of them do work well enough to bring your ears some peace. Most workarounds basically involve identifying the whining/chirping part and physically restraining it from oscillating - encasing it within an epoxy potting agent or bits of rubber or whatever - the most severely stubborn instances can involve electrical rework or swapping in new parts, boards, modules. You can try upgrading or repasting the machine to help bring temps down, that might be enough to keep the whiny part from oscillating under peak load. You can try using an external laptop "cooling pad" device to accomplish the same thing.

"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

Jlo02 · ‎09-12-2018

Korth wrote:
If you have the option of return/exchange at the vendor or some kind of "extended care package" then go for it - you're not a satisfied customer and you're not being especially difficult, you just want your machine to work without usability issues.

If you want to make a warranty claim then contact ASUS with an RMA request. They may or may not choose to authorize it and it's apparently very hit-or-miss with some customers perfectly satisfied and other customers ranting forever in hateful anger. If you choose this approach then I recommend posting a link to this thread and your video in your correspondence with ASUS and interacting with them through their established support channels, don't expect much support from ASUS in these forums.

If you choose to ignore your warranties then you can DIY repair the machine. Or have a laptop shop do it for you. There's a variety of approaches (all over google) and no guarantees but many of them do work well enough to bring your ears some peace. Most workarounds basically involve identifying the whining/chirping part and physically restraining it from oscillating - encasing it within an epoxy potting agent or bits of rubber or whatever - the most severely stubborn instances can involve electrical rework or swapping in new parts, boards, modules. You can try upgrading or repasting the machine to help bring temps down, that might be enough to keep the whiny part from oscillating under peak load. You can try using an external laptop "cooling pad" device to accomplish the same thing.

Thanks for the help. I was hoping for an easy fix but these things never are I guess. I just bought it a couple of days ago, so im still within the return policy window. I really love the build quality of this laptop which is why I was hopping for an easy fix, but for my ears sake I got to return it. Thanks again.

Asus GU501GM high pitch noise