Chirp Chirp!

[mofette]

Ever since I came back from holiday, the laptop at work is making chirp noises, like it's got something wrong with the sound card. I disabled sounds but that hasn't worked and it sounds like a fucking sparrow is making home in it.

I've run a troubleshoot on the sound card and it says that nothing is wrong. I don't know what they did while I was away but it's sure as fuck annoying now! Any ideas?

Comments

[sarah-orange.livejournal.com]

it's a laptop - there couldn't possibly be a sparrow in it. perhaps it's a wren?

I'll get me coat :P

[mofette.livejournal.com]

SQUAAAAK

[nigelmouse.livejournal.com]

Is it definitely coming from the sound card ? If you plug in headphones does it stop ?

[mofette.livejournal.com]

I have speakers plugged in and it continues. Where else could it be from?

[nigelmouse.livejournal.com]

Does the chrip noise come out of the speakers then ?

It depends on the chrip sound as to it's source. The cooling fan could have it's bearings on the way out to cause an intermittent squeek/chirp. Hard drive bearnings could go in similar way.

Is there a pattern to the chirp noise ? is it random or consistently spaced out ?

[mofette.livejournal.com]

it happens when the computer is doing a lot of work, mainly when starting up

[nigelmouse.livejournal.com]

If it's hard drive or fan related then it could mean the hardware is on it's way out. First thing I'd recommend is to make sure you back up any important files on there to another machine.

It's hard to be sure without seeing it myself but if it's a hardware problem then there's not much to do to fix it without getting it to repair place.

[nigelmouse.livejournal.com]

Some laptops may also have the equivalent of an internal pc speaker. These are usually a pizoelectric thing which is enough to make a tinny beep noise. It's possible something is triggering this briefly to make a chirp noise.

this is pretty unlikely though

[mofette.livejournal.com]

yes, I think it's that. it's a beep/chirp.

[nigelmouse.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, could it be temperature related ? Some pc's beep when they're starting to get warm and then shut down when they get hotter. It could be that your just getting the temperature warnings because things are warming up.

These temperature warning levels can sometimes be set in the BIOS. You might be able to set the warning level higher to stop the annoying beeps. It might not be the best idea though as they're usually there for a reason.