Weird electrical vibration on left side of laptop.

[CaramelDonut]

I recently reapplied the liquid metal on my laptop's gpu and cpu. I was very careful to not damage any component when opening my laptop (used gloves, unplugged and drained battery, touched components very lightly).

Everything was working perfectly except I could feel a vibration (possibly electrical) when my gpu fan was at a high rpm. Im unsure if this vibration was there before, but now it was more evident.
The vibration becomes noticable around 5800rpm, and reaches its peak around 6400rpm. Weirdly enough, when putting the fan on its max speed of around 6800-7000rpm, the vibration is almost gone.

I thought this was an issue with the fan, however upon replacing it with a new one, the vibration persists. Could anyone point as to what could be causing it and if it poses any danger? I have been using my laptop like this for around 2 months and so far nothing else weird has happened.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I thought this was an issue with the fan, however upon replacing it with a new one, the vibration persists.

You told us nothing of this computer, other than it is a laptop.

Is that the only fan in the computer?

Does it have a hard drive?

 

[CaramelDonut]

You told us nothing of this computer, other than it is a laptop.

Is that the only fan in the computer?

Does it have a hard drive?

You're right, my apologies. It's a ROG strix g614 (2023) with a RTX 4080 and a i7 13650hx. It has 3 fans which are for the GPU, CPU, and a small fan for the VRAM (if im not mistaken). There are 2 ssds and no hard drives. Also I forgot to mention, while the vibration is most evident in the left side it is present everywhere.

 

[Bill_Bright]

If you feel comfortable opening up the case and can safely reach the center hubs of the fans, a good way to troubleshoot and locate sources of possible fan noise/vibrations is to momentarily and gently touch the center hub of the fan with your finger, wooden glue or Popsicle stick, or a pencil's eraser (I put tape around the metal). Touching the center hub in this manner will momentarily change the rotation speed and that will change the pitch of the noise and vibration. Removing your finger will restore the noise and vibration back to previous status "IF" that is the offending fan.

 

[CaramelDonut]

If you feel comfortable opening up the case and can safely reach the center hubs of the fans, a good way to troubleshoot and locate sources of possible fan noise/vibrations is to momentarily and gently touch the center hub of the fan with your finger, wooden glue or Popsicle stick, or a pencil's eraser (I put tape around the metal). Touching the center hub in this manner will momentarily change the rotation speed and that will change the pitch of the noise and vibration. Removing your finger will restore the noise and vibration back to previous status "IF" that is the offending fan.

Thank you for the advice. As I have replaced the GPU fan and the issue still persists, I dont think the cause is the fan (or am i wrong).

 

[Mathragh]

Weird question, but does it persist with the laptop on battery power only?

 

[Bill_Bright]

Thank you for the advice. As I have replaced the GPU fan and the issue still persists, I dont think the cause is the fan (or am i wrong).

Not that fan. But you said it has 3 fans. Vibrations often reverberate through cases making their source "appear" to be coming from somewhere else.

 

[CaramelDonut]

Not that fan. But you said it has 3 fans. Vibrations often reverberate through cases making their source "appear" to be coming from somewhere else.

But the vibration only occurs when the gpu fan is running, I have tested each individual fan using ghelper and i can only feel it with the gpu fan.

Weird question, but does it persist with the laptop on battery power only?

Yes it still does unfortunately.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Good luck with your problem then.

 

[CaramelDonut]

Good luck with your problem then.

Thank you.

 

[Mathragh]

But the vibration only occurs when the gpu fan is running, I have tested each individual fan using ghelper and i can only feel it with the gpu fan.


Yes it still does unfortunately.

Alright, just checking, could have been a weird grounding issue liquid metal related.

apart from that:

• insulation you misplaced?
• some plastic clips you might've missed (minor gaps in the chassis)?
• Did you triple check all screws?
• are there any wires stuck between parts you re-assembled?
• Are you missing any (rubber) feet since reassemly?

 

[CaramelDonut]

Alright, just checking, could have been a weird grounding issue liquid metal related.

apart from that:

• insulation you misplaced?
• some plastic clips you might've missed (minor gaps in the chassis)?
• Did you triple check all screws?
• are there any wires stuck between parts you re-assembled?
• Are you missing any (rubber) feet since reassemly?

First, thank you for the help and the replies, I'm sorry I forgot to say earlier. As for the questions:

• insulation you misplaced?

- I am not 100% sure as to what you're referring to here, if you mean the tape around the gpu and cpu dies, then no I didn't touch them at all.

• some plastic clips you might've missed (minor gaps in the chassis)?

- It might be possible, but looking at the chassis there seem to be no gaps visible, and since there is no vibration on the underside of the laptop, I doubt this is the issue.

• Did you triple check all screws?

- Yes, I've checked all the screws and they're all properly screwed in.

• are there any wires stuck between parts you re-assembled?

- Well the gpu fan cable is placed under the heatsink, which is how it was when I first opened the laptop. I have also tested with the wire above the heatsink, however the vibration persists.

• Are you missing any (rubber) feet since reassemly?

- There are no rubber feet missing.

 

[Vya Domus]

You're probably overtightening something somewhere, I don't know what else it can be.

 

[CaramelDonut]

You're probably overtightening something somewhere, I don't know what else it can be.

Thanks for the reply. The only thing I can think I have might have overtightened are the gpu fan and the heatsink screws (as those are the only screws I've touched inside the laptop). Do you think I should try loosening them up a bit and test?

I just checked the screws and they were a bit too tight. So I loosened them up. The issue persists unfortunately, however it is seemingly less evident (may just be placebo). I might have to get used to it I guess. Thanks everyone for the help.

Just a final question, if someone could answer I would appreciate it. My laptop gpu has a slight but noticable coil whine when running games and such. From what I've read online ASUS says this is completely normal for laptops such as the one I own. Could he vibration be related to this gpu coil whine?

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

So, let's explain the why and try to work backwards. There's a thing called natural frequency...which is engineering speak for you to know that at certain oscillations the composition and structure of things will actually vibrate in harmony with the input, and effectively amplify it. The natural frequency can be influenced by extra damping, a change in oscillation (slow down or speed up fans), or securing a mass in-place.

So we are clear, this is why everyone is asking you about the screws, rubber feet, and the structure. It makes sense to get worse as you enter the natural frequency...and then to disappear as you speed up or slow down. Assuming you can, maybe take some thick tape and add it to the center of the fan. This will result in higher power draws, but it doesn't take a lot to change that natural frequency. Do be wary that the simplest answer is undamped mass oscillating...so the easiest answer is to add in rubber washers, secure the frame with double sided tape, or otherwise to prevent the fan from moving.


Your dumbest answer is to ignore all of this and change the fan profile to step around the frequencies that are an issue...but that will increase noise if 80C is 92% fanspeed and 81C is 98% fanspeed.