Corebooted T430 whining cpu noise issue

zapper · 2024-03-17 22:02:02

Anyone know how to make this cpu whining noise disappear? I need a solution that works for Hyperbola, hence off topic.

I wondered if anyone has any solutions that they use for devuan that might work on Hyperbola.

if it requires systemd, dbus, pam, elogind, consolekit, which I doubt, then no.

But if it works for openrc, it might be useful for me.

Although, I use an old openrc, although its called hyperrc on the hyperbola website.

I have tried the thinkwiki guide, but it is useless for me. Exec Error gets in my way.

Btw, the openrc used is version 28. just a heads up.

I am open though to other suggestions, acpid, lm_sensors, etc.

aluma · 2024-03-18 08:43:29

Is this Lenovo ThinkPad T430?
Maybe it needs to be cleaned and the thermal paste replaced?

zapper · 2024-03-18 18:41:07

@aluma funny thing is, its silent right now. Which is rare. It tends to happen when the computer is idle for a short while I think or is doing alot.

Although, its usually not this quiet.

Last edited by zapper (2024-03-18 18:41:44)

aluma · 2024-03-18 19:46:34

@zapper
CPU cooling can be checked objectively. The Lenovo test disk contains a processor stress test. They consider 10 minutes under full load sufficient. In mine the temperature did not rise above 70 degrees Celsius. And the stress test program itself can be anything.

P.S.Another point is controlling the processor frequency. In my DE there is a GUI for setting energy consumption - tdepowersave, the emergency circuit with dynamically changing frequency is selected.

Last edited by aluma (2024-03-18 20:05:54)

goat · 2024-03-19 05:53:16

I've used/worked with coreboot(ed) thinkpads quite a bit over the years. I believe what you are describing is known as the, 'coil whine...'

...and if I'm not mistaken, it has to do with power delivery. In my experience, in the beginning, I often observed that my Thinkpad x60 would make a terrible whine that seemed as if I could audibly hear the CPU's calculations, heh. However, if I inserted a USB stick, it would become much more acceptably silent.

I believe it's just a quirk of the boards, and has to do with power delivery to various components, and perhaps most specifically, USB.

The tried and true method of trying to mitigate this, is to mess around with, 'power top,' and attempt disable any power-saving settings that are automatically enabled by default - USB being a good place to start.

For example, if you have ever used a dimmer switch, for indoor lighting, you might notice a similar phenomenon: a slight audible whine coming from the dimmer circuit. My electrical knowledge isn't up to snuff, but, I believe that same sort of thing is what is going on.

So, yeah. @zapper you'll want to research and look into 'powertop,' and see what that is about. And as a quick test, you can just insert a USB stick, and see if that has any immediate change on the coil whine.

The rest, is beyond me; that's about all I know. On some Thinkpads it's a bit worse than others, but, they all seem to to emit some sort of noise like that, by default, under specific situations.

aluma · 2024-03-19 06:56:12

Lenovo says this is normal and inevitable.
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/prod … s/ht511649
In fact, this effect and methods to combat it have been known since the days of tube audio amplifiers, in which the output transformer could “sing” no worse than the speaker. This was eliminated by impregnation by immersing the transformer in molten paraffin. All that remained was the magnetostriction effect of the core itself, but the sound from it was much, much weaker.

zapper · 2024-03-21 22:38:01

@goat I noticed one time once I plugged in the AC adapter it started up, so you are probably right.

I wonder if there is a cure to make it much less annoying.

Is there a way to do this:

https://libreboot.org/docs/misc/#high-p … ed-distros

with openrc or runit?

Also without powertop too.

Last edited by zapper (2024-04-02 22:25:11)

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#1 2024-03-17 22:02:02

Corebooted T430 whining cpu noise issue

#2 2024-03-18 08:43:29

Re: Corebooted T430 whining cpu noise issue

#3 2024-03-18 18:41:07

Re: Corebooted T430 whining cpu noise issue

#4 2024-03-18 19:46:34

Re: Corebooted T430 whining cpu noise issue

#5 2024-03-19 05:53:16

Re: Corebooted T430 whining cpu noise issue

#6 2024-03-19 06:56:12

Re: Corebooted T430 whining cpu noise issue

#7 2024-03-21 22:38:01

Re: Corebooted T430 whining cpu noise issue

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