Why does my SSD-only laptop make a scatchy sound when I open a new Chrome tab?

I've got a brand new Asus Zenbook (https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/ZenBook_Pro_UX501/) which makes a low-volume but certainly audible sound when I open a new tab in Chrome. This doesn't happen every time, but very often this sound can be triggered by opening a new tab in the Chrome browser.

I'm running Windows 10.

The sound is not coming from the speakers ( as far as I know), but from the device. It still happens when I mute the audio output.

I would like to understand what causes the notebook to make this sound. FYI: The laptop has no moving parts ( except the fans ). It's got no disk drive, but a SSD HD.

Any idea what causes this? It's driving me nuts :-)

treesAreEverywhere

Posted 2015-08-21T10:52:27.610

Reputation: 123

If the device has no moving parts, except for the fans, then the sound is the fans. – Ramhound – 2015-08-21T11:04:02.633

Answers

It can be electromagnetic parasite sounds. I've had them on several laptops (with SSDs), I'd get them when scrolling, and when certain patterns would be displayed on the screen I'd get them constantly. Muting the sound will only cause Windows to not send sound, it won't prevent the speakers from producing sound.

user1532080

Posted 2015-08-21T10:52:27.610

Reputation: 506

Parasitic oscillation is certainly possible. My Nexus 7 has this, unfortunately. Scrolling pages in Chrome or playing certain games (with sound muted) with cause a high pitched noise. Not very lound or anything but really annoying at times. – MrMajestyk – 2015-08-21T12:00:41.973