Faint clicking noise when laptop idle

[natcos]

Hi guys,

I got my laptop 2 days ago from PCS (Octane IV) and I'm very pleased with it. However, when the laptop is idle (fans are either off or running as slowly as they are going to run) I can hear a faint clicking noise coming from the laptop. I've tried to record the sound but I can't seem to pick it up. If I leave the laptop completely alone (for about 10 mins) the sound disappears (I set the screen to turn off after 1 min and the laptop to never sleep). When I touch it again to turn the screen on the sound returns after about 30 seconds or so or when I open something eg. task manager. It's hard to tell if then noise goes away when the laptop is running heavier things or if it is being drowned out.

The sound sounds a bit like putting the corner tip of a piece of card into a gently running fan so that its just catching the blades.

Does anyone know what might be causing this or if there is anyway i can isolate the issue to see where it might be coming from?

Its quite frustrating because i currently also have two very old laptops around me that are completely silent and my brand new one is the one sounding a bit ill! It is a very quiet sound, like its not really noticeable unless the room is completely quiet, but i do tend to work in a very quiet room a lot of the time. I'm concerned that it might get worse and just wish it wasn't there!

Thanks in advance for any help.

The spec:

Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 120Hz IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache ()
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Hard Disk
NOT REQUIRED
M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2

 

[natcos]

A quick update:

Just to add to this. I tried picking my laptop up and carefully turning it in different directions in the air. At some angles the sound becomes louder and seemingly faster. If I turn it upside down it disappears! If i wiggle it a little bit around the vertical position it sort of stops and starts. Also, some times i leave it idle for ages and it the noise is still there, so its actually a bit random whether it goes away when left idle for ages.

The sounds seems to be coming from the top left of the laptop around the Esc key area

 

[steaky360]

I guess worst case it's possible that something is loose inside the chassis, if you're feeling confident you can open up the laptop case and take a gander inside at the affected area.

Obviously that might not be something you're prepared to do yourself (wouldn't blame you) - in that case you could give PCS a call to see if they can either guide you through it or send it back for a check up?

 

[natcos]

Thank you for your help Steaky360. I tried what you suggested and took the back off, very, very.... very carefully. I couldn't see anything obvious (as expected I guess). The noise looked like it would have been coming from the fan on the side the esc key is on so I checked that the screws for it were tight and pressed the casing gently to see if anything was loose (all seemed fine) and then I put the laptop back together.

And hey presto the sound is gone!!!

No clue how what i did managed to fix it but I'm not complaining!

Hopefully that's the end of it and I can continue to be amazed by my new laptop

 

[natcos]

Seems it was temporarily solved and the clicking sound is back. At least I'm almost certain it is coming from the fan on the left. The fan on the right seems to be rather noisy as well. No clicking noises just louder when it spins than the left fan when its not clicking!

 

[ubuysa]

Seems it was temporarily solved and the clicking sound is back. At least I'm almost certain it is coming from the fan on the left. The fan on the right seems to be rather noisy as well. No clicking noises just louder when it spins than the left fan when its not clicking!

If you think it might be the fan then I would open the laptop up and have a very close look at the fan blades. They may just be catching on something, and if that's a bit of wire you'll want to move it out of the way now before it breaks. It might also be dust and/or muck on one of the blades, an unbalanced fan can make all sorts of noises.....