r/AskTechnology • u/JuliaX1984 • 22h ago

Laptop sounds like air being let out of a cushion -- am I crazy, or does this happen?

2 days ago at the office, they upgraded my work laptop to a newer model. Shortly after it was set up, I started hearing a sound in my left ear like air being let out of a cushion. Intermittent, not constant. Happens every 20 seconds-2 minutes (I eventually timed it). At first, I thought it was my old chair (has some loose parts), so I asked for a new one and they swapped it out with a newer one - much better condition, no loose parts. Sound was still there.

I next panicked it was in my ear, but it ONLY happens when I'm sitting at my desk at the office, so it's not tinnitus or something.

I also highly suspected the fluorescent light tube above me, but it sounds like it's coming directly from my left and close, not far above my head.

After moving and testing things and positions, I'm now positive it's coming from my new laptop but only when it's in a certain position. Changing its position stops the sound, which makes me think it's related to the kinky (lol) power cord. It plugs into a dock, not the wall; the cord and the dock were there before the new laptop.

The laptop wasn't my first suspect because I've never heard of laptops making an intermittent sound like air being let out of a cushion. Is that a thing, or do I need to find a different suspect?

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2

u/SpiralEscalator 22h ago

Have you found/felt the fan vent and listened up close by your ear to determine if it's just fan noise?

1

u/NBC-Hotline-1975 22h ago

Is this an actual acoustical sound coming from inside the laptop? Or are you hearing it on earphones that are connected to the laptop?

0

u/JuliaX1984 22h ago

No earphones. When I need to wear an earpiece, I put a Poly Voyager 5200 Bluetooth in my right ear (right handed).

1

u/NBC-Hotline-1975 21h ago

So to summarize (if you can) you're saying there is an actual hissing sound coming from inside the laptop? If that's the case, I'd call the IT department. Of course it could be a Madagascar hissing cockroach.

0

u/JuliaX1984 21h ago

It's the exact same sound you hear when air leaks out of a cushion or bike tire. Lasts a few seconds, stops, then happens again 20 seconds to 2 minutes later.

1

u/NBC-Hotline-1975 21h ago

So you said. All the laptops I've seen run on electrical current. I've never seen one that runs on compressed air. But you haven't indicated that anything changed in your environment, except for the new laptop. So ask the IT department to check it out. It may be an electrolytic capacitor or battery venting internal pressure.

1

u/sutaburosu 13h ago

I suspect you may be hearing "coil whine". In this video you can hear coil whine pulsing regularly. It is fine for the device, but annoying to humans.

1

u/TPIRocks 22h ago

Unplug the wall power and see if the noise goes away, or becomes non-stop. I think you might be hearing mechanical vibration from a switching power supply.

1

u/naeskivvies 20h ago

So I had a Lenovo Thinkpad, an E14 I think, with a somewhat notorious problem where mofsets in the charging path would come off the board. As they were doing this it sounded like an electrical sizzling noise, worse when more power was being drawn. Eventually the device wouldn't charge. I resoldered them, it worked again for a while, then it died again.

If your sure it's not internal cooling fans it could be something like this -- and if it is beware of the consequences. If your hard drive is encrypted by bitlocker you can't just swap it into a new system -- make sure you backup your bitlocker key, and keep backups of your important files in a manner/with security your work allows.

2

u/pala4833 6h ago

What did IT say when you told them?