Support NeoGAF

[Blue Ninja]

Yeah, the problem is annoying. I just turn my Xbox off completely instead of leaving it in low-power state. It's also worth noting that it's only on the dashboard, and that it even stops momentarily when the console makes a noise (for instance, while navigating through the menu). It's very odd.

 

[Timmay]

Can someone make a Video?

There's tons of them on Youtube. Just google Xbox One buzzing.

 

[atomsk]

For what it's worth, when I tweeted Xbox Support about it being 60db, they took my information and said "thank you for your info. Your continued patience is much appreciated"

Instead of telling me to send it in... so maybe they're actually looking into the issue now.

 

[~~Hasan~~]

i bought my xbox one with Kinect few months back "titan fall bundle"

the console it self make a lil hissing sound coming from the fans I believe which is very normal. otherwise the fans are not working. its not as loud as the youtube videos.

the youtube videos sounds like there is some sort of cable is getting stuck between the fan blades or a cable is hitting the fan blades.

 

[atomsk]

the youtube videos sounds like there is some sort of cable is getting stuck between the fan blades or a cable is hitting the fan blades.

Doesn't make any sense since it goes away when you launch a game (at least for me it does anyway)
Got to be some kind of power draw issue.

 

[ekim]

Another possible explanation (maybe it's a dumb one though):
It's the APU Fan that constantly switches between speeds because the temperature halts within the threshold that forces the fan to slow down or speed up when in Dashboard with no Kinect (I guess the camera processing for recognizing you costs energy and thus heat).

For example:
Fan speed set to 1 when below 50°
Fan speed set to 2 when above 50°

Now booting to Dashboard, the APU starts heating up a little (we are at Fan speed 1). It eventually reaches the 50° threshold and the fan sets it speed to 2. This causes the APU to instantly cool down below 50°, which then sets the speed to 1. Now the cooling effect is gone and it's instantly back to 50°... rinse and repeat.

I had a similar problem with my CPU fan in my PC although the sound was different. I had to change the stepping in the BIOS.

Doesn't make any sense since it goes away when you launch a game (at least for me it does anyway)
Got to be some kind of power draw issue.

Maybe the higher fan speed blows the cable away from it.

Only has one big fan so maybe at a certain power draw it makes a weird sound. Does the power brick have a fan again like 360 ?

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Xbox+One+Teardown/19718

Yes - the power brick does have a fan

 

[jelly]

Only has one big fan so maybe at a certain power draw it makes a weird sound. Does the power brick have a fan again like 360 ?

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Xbox+One+Teardown/19718

 

[Timmay]

No one with the problem would ever think it was coming from the power brick. It's definitely coming from the front of the console. There's no confusing the two.

 

[jacobeid]

As many have said. Once you are in a game, its not a problem.

FWIW, both consoles I returned made the noise described in this thread both in the dashboard and in-game (didn't matter physical or digital). US here.

No one with the problem would ever think it was coming from the power brick. It's definitely coming from the front of the console. There's no confusing the two.

Also this times infinity. The location of the noise was definitively clear, as in definitively not coming from the power brick.

 

[Raist]

Only has one big fan so maybe at a certain power draw it makes a weird sound. Does the power brick have a fan again like 360 ?

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Xbox+One+Teardown/19718

Yes.

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

No one with the problem would ever think it was coming from the power brick. It's definitely coming from the front of the console. There's no confusing the two.

Yeah. The power brick makes its own noise, buts its acceptable and easily ignored.

 

[LilJoka]

Could it some sort of coil whine due to the low power loading of the console in idle situations much like PC motherboards at times. It's possible the disconnection of kinect also gives a different electronic response from the console causing a louder coil whine.

Or is it really loud from a few feet back?

 

[jacobeid]

Could it some sort of coil whine due to the low power loading of the console in idle situations much like PC motherboards at times. It's possible the disconnection of kinect also gives a different electronic response from the console causing a louder coil whine.

Or is it really loud from a few feet back?

In the middle of the night I could hear it in the front room from the main bedroom in my apartment.

 

[Timmay]

Could it some sort of coil whine due to the low power loading of the console in idle situations much like PC motherboards at times. It's possible the disconnection of kinect also gives a different electronic response from the console causing a louder coil whine.

Or is it really loud from a few feet back?

I could hear my defective Xbox Ones from rooms away. For me anyway this problem wasnt a matter of hearing the console when I put my ear to it. It was more of a "Holy fucking shit this console shouldnt be that loud!"

 

[PlumCantaloupe]

If it's likely to be fixed in a future update, Microsoft should probably inform their support department of this instead of having them tell people to pointlessly return units to various places.

Does returning and buying again falsely increase sales though? If that is the case I wonder how many 360 sales were returns of RROD's ...

 

[family_guy]

People concerned with noise, have you heard a PS4 in comparison when playing a game? I don't think it could be any worse.

 

[jacobeid]

People concerned with noise, have you heard a PS4 in comparison when playing a game? I don't think it could be any worse.

My PS4 and Xbox One sit next to each other.

The defective XBO units I had were much worse. Like, leagues worse even when factoring in Sony first party games that tend to push the system. Also, fan noise =/= what is breaking in there?!

 

[Timmay]

People concerned with noise, have you heard a PS4 in comparison when playing a game? I don't think it could be any worse.

A proper PS4 runs louder when some games are being played because the fan is doing its job. It's a semi-loud consistent, predictable sound. The problem with these defective Xbox Ones is that it's not a consistent sound, it's not normal, and worst of all it sounds horrible as if something is definitely broken inside the box.

 

[Daniel R]

People concerned with noise, have you heard a PS4 in comparison when playing a game? I don't think it could be any worse.

I own both and I never ever thought the PS4 was noisy. This faulty Xbox One I got last friday is a different beast. The sound is unnatural.

Sure I've had old 360's that sounded like jet planes but that was somehow expected. This Xbox one sound really grates on the ears and is not the product of a harddrive or fan working.

 

[LoveCake]

Why would not having the Kinect plugged in make the Xbone make noises though?

Have MS not updated the firmware so the X1 knows not to expect a Kinect to be connect.

 

[Lima]

Had this on my Kinect bundle at launch and exchanged the console. Took 2 days to get a new one with advance shipping.

 

[~~Hasan~~]

Doesn't make any sense since it goes away when you launch a game (at least for me it does anyway)
Got to be some kind of power draw issue.

how is It possible there is a sound in the dashboard and not during the gameplay ? what is changing ?

does the Blue ray drive keep on spinning slowly while its on the dashboard and it stops when you enter the game after the OS checks the initial authentication of the game?

or is it the when the xbox on the dashboard the fan goes to lower speed which is why its making this sound " some issue with the fan it self" and when it goes to higher speed during the game the sounds disappear ? "

I find it hard to believe its a software issue. but I am no expert in this

 

[atomsk]

Can someone make a Video?

Alright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZzPbxvT_o

on dashboard 0:53
launching game 1:47

Lot 1432X
Manufacture Date: 5-12-2014

 

[CrossTrigger]

It happened with Kinect versions too. I smacked mine, hasn't done it since lol

 

[10k]

Actually I know someone that took a laptop back and got 4 different models from Walmart. She said they were all broken. Turns out they just had Windows 8 on them. (True story!) she's also elderly, heavily medicated, and insane so there's her excuse.

Nope, she's perfectly sane based on this story.

 

[KDC720]

Mine only makes noise when I play games. (Both on disc and digital). My xbox is quiet as a mouse doing everything else. But man that noise can get annoying
after awhile. Hope they fix this soon.

 

[Ertai]

I work in Dutch retail and of the units sold, we're getting a lot of defective units. Both Day One editions + Kinect had the harddrive issue and another one we sold instantly booted up to a System Error screen (Kinectless Day One bundle)

I spoke with our HQ and they seem to get a lot of complaints as well, this really seems like a widespread issue.

Our own stock was limited, (2 Day One with Kinect, 4 Day One Kinectless and 2 regular). So far they've all been sold and we had 3 returns

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

People concerned with noise, have you heard a PS4 in comparison when playing a game? I don't think it could be any worse.

Dont see why this comparison is even made. Keep your console warz at the door please.

But for the record, at load the PS4 is incredibly loud, especially with first party games. But its the sound of fans doing what they are supposed to be doing under load. It is not an annoying sound at all.

Meanwhile the Xbox is making a far more irritating sound in a idle state. Big difference.

 

[10k]

Coil Whine is the new RROD. Maybe I should wait for a 2.0 version or is the white one different?

 

[x-Lundz-x]

Alright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZzPbxvT_o

on dashboard 0:53
launching game 1:47

Wow, wtf.

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

Alright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZzPbxvT_o

on dashboard 0:53
launching game 1:47

Mine is exactly like this.

 

[~~Hasan~~]

Alright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZzPbxvT_o

on dashboard 0:53
launching game 1:47

damn. I stand corrected. first thing popped in my head while watching this video is the a bad HDD but it can't be it since the game is playing from the HDD

I have to ask though. why the fan it self is very loud ? is it because the microphone very close to the system ? my fan isn't that loud at all.

 

[gloriousd]

Alright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZzPbxvT_o

on dashboard 0:53
launching game 1:47

I will make a video once I get home from work but my console behaves exactly like in the video.

Also, I don't get why people try to downplay this or laugh it off. Believe me, it's not so funny when you have this thing sitting under your TV, buzzing like crazy. I will probably try to return the console in a few days if there is no reaction from Microsoft.

 

[Bastardo]

TL;DR:
The sound to me is a loud hard disk searching around like crazy on disk.
If I'm right, the Kinectless and Kinect-models should have different harddisk revisions or even types.

---
Explanation:
Tinfoil hat time!!

Well, consider the following: When you let a Windows machine idle, it sits completely idle for some time, doing nothing. If you don't do anything, very often a background process is started to do something, which usually uses lots of random disk IO. MS has been doing this for a long time.

When your game is idling in the menu it usually does not have lots of random IO, but rather reads large chunks at the same time, which is quiet.

So, what could cause random IO, when idling your xbox? Windows examples from the past:
1.) precompiling .NET byte-code
2.) a nasty hd indexer
3.) the windows update service looking which updates are installed and which updates need to be installed.
4.) background defrag

Something like 3.) is the most probable use-case for the xbox in my opinion. The Xbox advertises stuff for you to do on the dashboard and these things are targeted as far as I know. (I just remember a controversy about targeted political ads; don't know how it went in the end. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/mi...ashboard-courting-conservatives/1100-6418181/ )
For that it needs to know, what is installed and what is not installed. Usually this should only be a list, but the same things applies for Windows Updates.

This doesn't explain why the kinect-model doesn't do it. Well, many different harddisk models get louder after usage especially during random access. So MS could be using a different model in the Kinect-less and Kinect models. I would like to tell you to pry open your boxes, void the warranty and prove me wrong, but I guess it's better if you don't.

 

[atomsk]

damn. I stand corrected. first thing popped in my head while watching this video is the a bad HDD but it can't be it since the game is playing from the HDD

I have to ask though. why the fan it self is very loud ? is it because the microphone very close to the system ? my fan isn't that loud at all.

Galaxy S5 has 2 microphones. The fan noise is not that noticeable.

When my PC is on, I can't hear the system when I'm playing a game.

In dashboard, it's louder than anything else in my entertainment setup, solely because of the pitch of the noise.

TL;DR:
The sound to me is a loud hard disk searching around like crazy on disk.
If I'm right, the Kinectless and Kinect-models should have different harddisk revisions or even types.

Pretty sure it's not the hard drive, as you can hear that very faintly when I load up a game, it sounds like it should.

Coil whine seems the most likely culprit.

 

[Daniel R]

Yes. People can stop pretending the sound comes from the harddrive. It does not.
It doesn't help that people try to spread this info because then people think it is normal behaviour.

 

[Bastardo]

Pretty sure it's not the hard drive, as you can hear that very faintly when I load up a game, it sounds like it should.

Coil whine seems the most likely culprit.

It sounds sooo much like some harddisks, when they run a defrag. It doesn't sound like coil-whine to me tbh, because it's too loud for that.

Now that I think about it: I put my money on some defragmentation algorithm.

Edit:

Yes. People can stop pretending the sound comes from the harddrive. It does not.
It doesn't help that people try to spread this info because then people think it is normal behaviour.

Random I/O and Normal behaviour I/O sound very different. Most games are optimized to read data in very large chunks and the head only needs to lift and go down once, while random I/O would mean the head going crazy.

 

[10k]

ACW - Annoying Coil Whine

CWOD - Coil Whine of Death

It seems to be hit or miss with some people I guess. If it is a manufacturing problem then it may need a hardware revision. Even ones manufactured as late as may 2014 are making the noise. Yikes.

 

[atomsk]

I should add my system is lot 1432X

Manufacture Date: 5-12-2014

Bought the Madden bundle on the 7th

Seen people who said they have systems made in August with the same issue

 

[Shin-Ra]

Ass storm?

 

[KlockreN]

From official xbox support forum:

I just got my replacement console (from Microsoft as Misses Quinzel suggested, not my retailer). I'm really excited... will it make the noise?

I'll report back in a few minutes.

Guess what?

Of course it does! Yes, the console that Misses Quinzel promised to be completely flawless makes the same freaking noise. MFR is 2014-08-22.

Except this one does it right away, not only after applying the update. So are they liars or are they completely clueless?

And now I have to send another console back. Man, I'm so angry. This really blows my mind!

 

[FairXchange]

My launch Xbone One has never had a Kinect attached even once, and it is pretty much silent even during gameplay. It's one of the reasons I enjoy playing on my Xbox sometimes, it's a few notches quieter than my PS4.

 

[iamjohn]

during gameplay

Same as everyone here. The problem only occurs when NOT playing a game.

 

[FairXchange]

Same as everyone here. The problem only occurs when NOT playing a game.

It's dead silent in the dash and not during gameplay as well.

 

[aspiegamer]

I should add my system is lot 1432X

Manufacture Date: 5-12-2014

Seen people who said they have systems made in August with the same issue

This shouldn't be terribly hard for them to track down by lots and work backwards to the production facility and where the related parts came from, so I can see why people are getting frustrated that there hasn't been any comments from Microsoft. If it's a hardware piece bought in massive bulk that's defective. Affected consoles seem to be 100% functional, at least, but that it only happens after the first update is installed is freaking strange. That does also mean Microsoft would be able to troubleshoot it by firmware version which is another plus.

I feel bad for people dealing with it but there's probably a very interesting/unique explanation for it. A firmware bug/quirk would be fascinating to try to decode. Perhaps a combination of things that results in a totally inexplicable problem? Electronics will never be 100% predictable.

Oh. My. God. I miss this gif so much.

 

[family_guy]

Dont see why this comparison is even made. Keep your console warz at the door please.

But for the record, at load the PS4 is incredibly loud, especially with first party games. But its the sound of fans doing what they are supposed to be doing under load. It is not an annoying sound at all.

Meanwhile the Xbox is making a far more irritating sound in a idle state. Big difference.

I have a PS4 and don't have an Xbox One, and was asking an honest question because the PS4's sound annoys me and wanted to know how it compared to Xbox One.

 

[Neuromancer]

MS trying to force people to use/buy Kinects. Pretty sneaky sis!

Alright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZzPbxvT_o

on dashboard 0:53
launching game 1:47

Lot 1432X
Manufacture Date: 5-12-2014

Good lord.

 

[Bastardo]

Affected consoles seem to be 100% functional, at least, but that it only happens after the first update is installed is freaking strange. That does also mean Microsoft would be able to troubleshoot it by firmware version which is another plus.

And again the very simple solution would be:
An idle process, which was introduced in the firmware update, which does random IO on a harddisk model, which differs from the Kinect-Model.

A coil-whine can't explain that the noise came with a firmware update.

I know I sound like a broken record, sorry.

 

[x-Lundz-x]

This is probably the greatest gif to ever grace Neogaf.

 

[Bikola]

They cant all be perfect OP