This post is more than 5 years old
5 Posts
0
82067
U2715H makes buzzing sound when brightness is below ~85
My brand new U2715H monitor looked great, but made an annoying buzzing/humming sound. I found that I could get the sound to go away by raising the brightness above around 85. Since that level of brightness was too high for my application and the sound was distracting, I contacted Dell support and was told that was a very unusual issue. They sent me a replacement monitor which I just got done setting up. Unfortunately, the replacement monitor suffers from the exact same problem! I found posts here from a few years ago describing this same issue in other models (U3011, U2312HM) but didn't find out how/if the issues were eventually resolved. Any advice on getting a monitor that doesn't suffer this problem and/or technical explanations of why this should occur would be very useful.
mvp73
5 Posts
0
January 4th, 2015 16:00
A few more internet searches yielded a wealth of information on this issue as well as potential workarounds:
www.silentpcreview.com/stop_lcd_whine
www.silentpcreview.com/.../viewtopic.php
www.ghacks.net/.../decrease-noise-of-lcd-displays
I am going to try setting the brightness ~80 to remove buzz and then use a software solution to reduce the observed brightness. This doesn't look as good as setting the appropriate brightness swing the monitor OSD, and ends up consuming 10-20% more energy, but may be a workable compromise.
If I knew there was a good quieter alternative to the U2715H, I would certainly want to try that but the information I have suggests this issue may be present in all the 27" Dell Ultrasharp monitors.
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
Community Manager
•
55.5K Posts
0
December 30th, 2014 10:00
Assuming the desktop resolution used is 2560x1440 and that you used the monitor OSD (On Screen Display) -Others - Factory Reset and tested for the noise using the defaults Brightness 50, Contrast 50? Click my username, via private message, send me the U2715H service tag numbers and PPID serial numbers for both the original and replacement U2715H's.
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
Community Manager
•
55.5K Posts
0
December 30th, 2014 16:00
Exactly how is the monitor connected to the computer? What ports? What cables? What specific video card?
mvp73
5 Posts
0
December 31st, 2014 04:00
Yes, I am using native (2560x1440) resolution and OSD to set brightness and have tried the factory default settings. Contrast setting doesn't seem to do anything to the noise, but humming will reliably turn off if I increase brightness over around 80, and reliably turn back on when brightness is decreased to a value below ~70.
I have sent you the service tag numbers and serial numbers for the two monitors that were manufactured in Sept. 2014 and Oct. 2014.
mvp73
5 Posts
0
December 31st, 2014 05:00
I have tried connecting via both the DP and mDP ports using a mac mini 2014 (Intel Iris graphics) and a macbook air (Intel HD 5000 graphics card) and see the problem with both ports and machines.
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
Community Manager
•
55.5K Posts
0
January 1st, 2015 12:00
We tested several in our lab and found a very small amount of acceptable buzz which means the buzz would be on all units. Dispatching more displays will not help. The monitors are well within our manufacturer specifications for noise. At this point, your only option is to keep it, or contact Dell Customer Service and request a refund and return the monitor to Dell.
mvp73
5 Posts
0
January 1st, 2015 22:00
Did your lab tests reproduce the sound going away at higher levels of brightness and is this behavior understood? Should I expect the same sound in a U2713HM or U2713H monitor as well? I have two 24" Dell Ultrasharp monitors and one 30" Ultrasharp monitor in my office at work and don't recall experiencing similar issues with them. I would certainly disagree with the "acceptable" amount of buzz statement for the two U2715H monitors I have tested. In my case, the noise is loud enough to be distracting and impossible to work with.
Thank you.
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
Community Manager
•
55.5K Posts
0
January 2nd, 2015 07:00
Did your lab tests reproduce the sound going away at higher levels of brightness and is this behavior understood?
* We saw it happen as you decribed. Why? They did not tell the technical reason. But the noise of 28dB is well within our manufacturer specification so nothing is going to happen on their end to change this. They are not going to allocate resources to address a complaint when the monitors are built within the specifications agreed to in their contract with Dell.
Should I expect the same sound in a U2713HM or U2713H monitor as well?
* Unknown.
I would certainly disagree with the "acceptable" amount of buzz statement for the two U2715H monitors I have tested. In my case, the noise is loud enough to be distracting and impossible to work with.
* Then return it for refund as I said earlier. 28dB is acceptable to Dell. If you return it, send me the Credit Return Authorization number via private message so that we can capture the monitor before it goes back to the manufacturer.