LCD Monitor High-Pitched Whine

Curious as to solutions to an LCD monitor making a high-pitched whine. The frequency of the whine changes based on refresh rate selections.

Can this be fixed? Time for new hardware? Other alternatives?

UPDATE: Apparently the noise stopped a number of hours after it started. For now. :P

iokevins

Posted 2010-03-29T18:45:11.350

Reputation: 388

Is the monitor under warranty? – Dave M – 2010-03-29T19:19:26.970

@DaveM The warranty status is not known at this time. :P – iokevins – 2010-03-29T20:27:34.253

Can you provide make and model? – Dave M – 2010-03-29T21:07:22.043

@DaveM It is an HP 1740 LCD monitor: http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12127_div/12127_div.HTML

– iokevins – 2010-04-01T20:25:36.340

Answers

I have seen a bad inverter cause this noise but not sure about the frequency change with the refresh rate. With prices going down all the time, many time the repair is not worth it.

Dave M

Posted 2010-03-29T18:45:11.350

Reputation: 12 811

I had this happen on a monitor where the fix was to remove it from power entirely. Try pulling the plug on it, waiting 30s and powering back up. Easy enough to try if you haven't yet.

DHayes

Posted 2010-03-29T18:45:11.350

Reputation: 2 103

I forgot, but indeed the same happened to me once. I had to unplug for many hours though. (And also the screen itself was non-readable when it happened.) – Arjan – 2010-03-29T19:59:44.027

Nope, this failed to work. – iokevins – 2010-03-30T16:07:38.370

Sounds like a dying capacitor, look at CRT monitors and TVs and you'll hear a similar whine.

dmanexe

Posted 2010-03-29T18:45:11.350

Reputation: 280

I have seen this around our office right before the monitor breathes its final breath. Normally the monitor lasts 1-2 weeks with the “whine” and then will no longer power up (have had 6 Optiquest Q9’s die this same death). Open it up to find one (or more) capacitors that have gone bad. Replace the bad capacitors with ones the same size, good as new!

N_Lindz

Posted 2010-03-29T18:45:11.350

Reputation: 557

I have a cheap LCD that sometimes exhibits this problem (Chimei CMV 938D). For me, the most effective solution is playing with the brightness levels - it never whines at 100% brightness. I've always assumed it was the capacitors, though I've never been sufficiently motivated to take it apart and investigate.

It does seems to be temperature dependent - the brightness level at which it starts whining varies day to day, and how long it's been running, so I tend to just leave it on max.

I've had this screen for 2 years now, and it's done it since it was new, so while it might be an early warning of death, I've always just figured it was a function of a cheap build. Admittedly I don't often run mine in the brightness range where it whines.

user235

Posted 2010-03-29T18:45:11.350

Reputation:

So I had this same exact issue. I assumed it was related to a capacitor but I just couldn't work out how or why when it was a less than 1 year old 27" 1080p LED screen.

So as a last ditch effort, I decided to dismantle to check the capacitors. But JUST before doing that, I had an idea. I opened the overlay menu, found the audio settings and enabled mute.

The sounds are gone instantly.

Marc Hilton

Posted 2010-03-29T18:45:11.350

Reputation: 1