audio noise

Saajuk

Member
Apr 15, 2013
45
0
61
w/e i plug my laptop cooler in to my laptops usb port and put my headphones on i get this weird static noise like a mosquito is buzzing around near my ear (its pretty loud but not loud enough to notice when im playing a game). If i turn the laptop cooler off the noise is gone. Whats causing this?
 

tosaytheleast

Member
May 10, 2013
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Try using the cooler in a different laptop. If the sound is also present there the cooler is the cause. If it doesn't then probably it's your laptop. Usually this buzzing sound could just be the spin of your hard disk OR maybe the spin of the fan of your cooler.
 

Saajuk

Member
Apr 15, 2013
45
0
61
it might be worth to note that my laptop has a cooling vent at the bottom. But ill try it.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,553
248
106
You could be getting some noise from part of the system that isn't grounded properly. Tough to tell exactly where (for me anyway). Couple things I can think of would be to try different USB ports, especially ones in a different physical location on the laptop (other side, back, etc). Also, some computers with more than one 3.5 mm connector allow you to switch the port functions (audio out, audio in, etc.) so you may want to check on that as well.
 

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
w/e i plug my laptop cooler in to my laptops usb port and put my headphones on i get this weird static noise like a mosquito is buzzing around near my ear (its pretty loud but not loud enough to notice when im playing a game). If i turn the laptop cooler off the noise is gone. Whats causing this?
You've got coils that energize and pull a chunk of something (very technical term!) towards them. Before the center of that coil's magnetic field is reached, that coil needs to turn off, and the next one in line turn on.

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_2/chpt_13/6.html
A DC brushless motor works just like an AC one, just that with AC, the power line's voltage changes are used for powering them up or down, while a DC motor has them switched on or off based on rotor position.

The same mechanism that pulls to make the rotor spin, by having applied voltage to a set of coils, can also induce current in coils turned off (spin an unpowered motor, and you'll be generating electricity). That could cause noise. Also, the abrupt turning on or off of the coils, without sufficient damping (usually just by a capacitor or two), might cause audible noise. There could be other causes too, or that could make it worse, like PWM speed control (turning the fans on an off hundreds or thousands of times a second).

It's also possible, instead, that the noise you hear is directly from the magnetic fields inducing current in your headphone wiring, or the internal analog audio wiring (same causes as above, but not actually due to messing with the ground rail(s)). In that case, all you can do is use some other audio port, or a different cooler[, and get laptop that can cool itself without external aid, next time].

P.S. The magnetic field hypothesis can be tested, by moving the laptop towards and away from the cooler, while listening.
 
Last edited:

bononos

Diamond Member
Aug 21, 2011
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Last edited:

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
Shared grounding on usb ports and headphone jacks which are common on front panels on cheaper cases also causes noise to bleed into the headphones. Can a ferrite ring be used here?
Where's it going to fit?

Some guy in the link below did a rough fix on the front panel pcb to separate the ground wiring.
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187276
For a full-size case, that's great (if you use onboard audio, anyway), but do we want to be recommending that the OP cut traces in a contemporary notebook? That could be what's going on for the OP, effectively, but while it's a bad decision (audio should have its own power and ground paths, starting at the DAC), I'd sooner recommend an external sound card, than wantonly modding the board (which will probably also require a new ground wire to be added).
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,553
248
106
Shared grounding on usb ports and headphone jacks which are common on front panels on cheaper cases also causes noise to bleed into the headphones. Can a ferrite ring be used here?

How would that work on a laptop?
 

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
Sure, if you're trying to remove noise of a frequency range they'll work for. But, that''s nothing to do with the OP. Even if the technical data for the ferrites was available, there, you'd be dealing with MHz or GHz, not sub-KHz. They do work, but unless you're designing a power supply, or trying to deal with RF noise at known frequencies, they won't do you much/any good (and, those linked aren't giving any useful specs, either). By the description of the problem, I doubt the OP is dealing with rectified and filtered RFI, anyway, but direct <1KHz noise.
 

Saajuk

Member
Apr 15, 2013
45
0
61
ya i switched usb ports and the noise stopped. I never tried it because the cool master cord did reach to the other ones so i eneded up finding a usb extender and pluged it in there. the one ive been plugging it into looks different than the others. It has a greenish inside while the others dont.
 
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