My Squealing Dell XPS M1330 Notebook "Working as Designed" According to Dell Technician

[Jason Dunn]

<p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1218747074.usr1.jpg" border="1" /></p><p>Last August, almost a year ago, I purchased a Dell XPS M1330 notebook. <a href="http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/news/show/31571/yessssss-it-finally-arrived-my-dell-xps-m1330.html" target="_blank">I was really excited when I got it</a>, which was good because I paid $2736 for it and expected it to last me for at least two years. I sprung for the extended warranty, and got every option there was on the laptop. For the most part, I've been quite happy with it over the past year - there have been a few glitches here and there, but no really serious problems. I sent it back for cosmetic repair last month&nbsp; - the top part of the screen bezel (the black bar where the webcam is) rubs on the bottom part (near the trackpad) and as a result it gets scratched. This is just bad design by Dell, and after talking to a tech I convinced him it should be repaired. They repaired it, but it's starting to scratch again - I need to get some small and thin rubber "feet" (those little nubs) to put on the top part of the screen to stop it from happening again. <MORE /></p><p>The more serious issue though is the squealing (or whining) sound I hear when I connect it to power. It's intermittent, so it comes and goes, but when it's happening the notebook is frustrating to be around. There are <a href="http://www.google.ca/search?q=M1330+squealing" target="_blank">500+ search results on Google</a> for "M1330 squealing", so I know I'm not alone. I've wondered about this issue in the past, so today I decided to call Dell and find out what the issue is, and if there's a known fix for it. The answer I got back really surprised me: "Jay", the technician (badge # 160882, Case # 617611296), informed me that this sound was the slot-loading optical drive. I asked him how that could be since the laptop was closed, in sleep mode, and there was no disk in the optical drive. He explained that the issue was highly technical, but that all notebooks with slot-loading optical drives would have the same problem. I was rather suspicious of this, asking him if Dell's new Studio laptops all had this problem, and he said he didn't know. I informed him that while this is the first slot-loading laptop I've owned, I've been near many a Macbook and I've never heard this sound. He insisted, and this is a direct quote, that my XPS M1330 was "working as designed".</p><p>I pushed back on this issue with him for a few minutes, but he was absolutely adamant that this behaviour was normal for any laptop with a slot-loading drive. I refuse to believe that's true. Any XPS M1330 or M1550 owners out there seeing this issue, and did you manager to convince Dell to fix it for you?</p>

[Vincent Ferrari]

Bravo Sierra.

We have one in the office and it's so quiet you don't even know it's running. As for my MacBook, my wife's MacBook, and my iMac at home, they all have slot loading drives and do not make any noise unless I'm accessing them.

Jesus, what the hell happened to Dell? They used to be cream of the crop now they just pick up the phone solely to tell you there's no problem and if there is it's either your fault or they don't cover it.

What a shame.

[jmulder]

I did have a weird problem back in the late 90's with a then-new Inspiron. The system would pause every time the fan spun up or down. I spent several days on the phone with technicians who finally said they spoke to an engineer and the system was 'working as designed'.

I calmly told him that I had 12 other Inspirons that didn't exhibit this behavior, and I would like to return all of them since they weren't 'working as designed'. He put me on hold for 5 minutes and gave me an RMA number for the single 'working' unit.


I suspect that as money has been getting tight at Dell, tech support is playing the 'working as designed' card again. I suggest that you point out that the behavior is intermittent, and you demand that they issue you an RMA so your unit can be exchanged for one that 'works as designed' at all times. I would also demand to speak to a manager, then that manager's manager (first-level managers are typically just reps with more authority...but their job is really to keep you from bugging _their_ manager).

[phoenixag]

Actually, Dell gives you excellent customer service, as long as you have the patience to hound them to death :D

I once had an order botched up and I spoke to every manager they had (and every call agent too I think) and after a very long correspondence, they finally told me that they had had a meeting just to discuss my case and I was getting a lot of freebies (or "goodwill gestures") for the inconvenience caused and also, the order would be set right immediately.

Regarding the whine, if you go to notebookreview forums' Dell section, you will find a lot of earlier posts of users complaining about the cpu whine problem. This was a major issue with the new C2Ds and it takes a bit of randomness to fix it. Some people fixed it by underclocking their CPUs, some fixed it by a BIOS update, etc.

I would suggest at least those 2 measures. It was also seen that when the power is connected, not only does the CPU whine come on but also in some models, there was noise/whine/disturbance in the headphone jack. It's a grounding issue, probably.

Try a search for "m1330 cpu whine" instead of just "m1330 whine" and I am sure you will get better and more specific responses :)

P.S. Btw Jason, did you also look at my reply to your HDD space problem?

[EscapePod]

... he didn't blame the whine on Vista. <img src="http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Big Grin" class="inlineimg" />

[Jason Dunn]

I suggest that you point out that the behavior is intermittent, and you demand that they issue you an RMA so your unit can be exchanged for one that 'works as designed' at all times. I would also demand to speak to a manager, then that manager's manager (first-level managers are typically just reps with more authority...but their job is really to keep you from bugging _their_ manager).

Yeah, I'm probably going to call back next week and hammer on them some more - it's just stupid that they'd suggest this was normal.

[ctmagnus]

In a similar but slightly unrelated vein, the tray-loading optical drive on my XPS M1210 occasionally gives a good "ka-chunk" sound.

The better I get at touch-typing, the worse my spelling gets. :o

[Gordo]

Does your new Dell Studio Hybrid Desktop PC with it's slot-loading optical drive make the same noise?

[gdoerr56]

As the Brits would say "bollocks!"

The whine is due to a switch mode power supply in the laptop. My M1330 exhibits the exact same problem but only when connected to power, in Off/Sleep/Hibernate, and the battery is full or nearly fully charged. I suspect that when the duty cycle in the power supply is very low due to the above conditions, the magnetics in the power supply are responsible for the noise. Under a higher load, the duty cycle changes enough to eliminate the noise.

It may very well be working as designed but the design is faulty. Don't even get me started about the slot-loading CD drive....it's not even powered on!

[Jason Dunn]

The whine is due to a switch mode power supply in the laptop.

Interesting - thanks for the input!

[jacklf]

I'm not sure if it will help, I thought it might be worth a try before getting back into the tech support queue... Apparently my beloved M1210 can also produce this noise, but I've been enjoying quiet bliss for 2 years now.

XPS M1330: A Sign of Things to Come - Direct2Dell (http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/06/26/19138.aspx#31672)
(should link to the person ("Hussien") calling out the issue you mentioned -- the response after him (from "Cousin") has the link to the possible solution (http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=3516).)

** oops -- just noticed phoenixag's response.. sorry for duplicating, but perhaps having the links helps.

[Rob Alexander]

I suggest that you point out that the behavior is intermittent, and you demand that they issue you an RMA so your unit can be exchanged for one that 'works as designed' at all times.

Hah, I love this approach. It's designed to whine? Why then I'm complaining because it doesn't whine all the time. I insist you give me one that does. :D The total absurdity of that request makes it difficult even for a zombie clone rep to hold the line on that argument.

For the record, it's not all bad over there. When my new XPS 420 desktop arrived last week, it made an annoying intermittent sound that rose and fell with the fan. I called to complain because I couldn't have lived with it, and the answer after a few minutes of checking things out, was that I was welcome to tighten things up myself and see if I could make it go away, but then they'd be happy to build me another computer if I couldn't get it resolved. Once I found the offending location, it took all of 2 seconds to fix, but I appreciated that they didn't waffle about making it right. Of course, I am still in the 21 day return period. Things may change once that has passed. :eek:

[jeffd]

I have an inspiron 1505 with the original dual core intel, and experienced 2 types of noises. One was the cpu squeel however I think it happened only when I was running off battery... only because I havnt heard it in so long a time now, I rarly use the battery, and I can't test now cause I no longer have a battery. Battery marked itself as bad and so I gutted it so I could still use it to plug up the battery compartment.

Another noise is my dvd drive. I dont have a slot loading drive, however if there wasnt a disc in it and windows queried the drive, it made a fairly audible click sound as the laser focused to find a disc. I usualy have a disc in here (what ever anime series I am currently watching) so these days my laptop is quiet.

[ctmagnus]

Another noise is my dvd drive. I dont have a slot loading drive, however if there wasnt a disc in it and windows queried the drive, it made a fairly audible click sound as the laser focused to find a disc.

That sounds like what mine does.