modem humming noise when power cord plugged in

Question

I have an Inspirion 8100.  Lightening struck near our house and zapped my modem.  I replaced the modem with an identical one, but as long as the power supply is plugged in, the modem has a humming noise when trying to dial up.  When the phone line is plugged into the modem and not trying to dial, our phone line itself has a humming noise in it.  However, if I unplug the power supply and run off the battery, it dials up just fine.  I have tried replacing the power supply and that didn't fix it.  Do you have any other suggestions?  Could it be the battery?  I tried removing the battery and dialing up but still got the humming sound.

DELL-BobT · Answer

AndiL,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.

Was the modem purchased from Dell or a different vendor? If it was purchased from a different vendor, then this vendor is responsible for finding the solution.

The "hum" is produced from feedback from the AC adapter. You should try updating the system BIOS and also update the drivers for the modem.

johnallg · Answer

Sounds like either the power supply brick is damaged (highly probable) or the power charger board is damaged.  If you can run the computer on just AC and also charge the battery ok then this is most likely alright.

AndiL · Answer

I tried updating the BIOS, didn't work.  I looked for an updated driver for the modem, didn't work since there wasn't one.  I have the exact same modem as before.  I did replace the power supply but that didn't work either.  My guess is that it is the charger board you describe.  My battery will only charge for 30 minutes use now instead of a couple hours as before.  Thanks for the suggestions.   AndiL

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modem humming noise when power cord plugged in

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