XPS 8960, sleep mode, frequent clicking noise from PSU cycling on and off

Does this help?

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/xps-desktops/xps-8960-making-continuous-clicking-noises-when-in-sleep-mode/666771e40773466948807eab?keyword=sleep%20clicking

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/xps-desktops/xps-8960-mechanical-click-1-2-times-an-hour-while-in-sleep-mode-only-now-clicks-1-2-times-a-minute/66809373bea61218e7554d5b?keyword=sleep%20click

@Hokie_Shankar​ Thanks for sharing the link to this post, it seems like a very similar/same issue! The clicking on and off is more random for me though, and I'm also running windows 11 and not Linux... so unfortunately the work arounds Fozzy posted don't seem applicable to windows users? Still, it sounds like a lot of folks are having the same problem, but I'm not seeing any solutions yet... bummer

@Usagisama​ - I think you misunderstood Fozzy's post... It says:

"This investigation proves that the issue did not come from Linux...." <emphasis added>

Dell Tech Support claimed it was a Linux problem, but it's obviously a Win 11 ACPI problem..

It sounds like a firmware issue. Try reverting to a previous firmware version or updating to the latest one from Dell's support site. If the problem persists, contact Dell support for further assistance.

@RoHe​ Ahh, ok! Unfortunately the ACPI table problem and solution proposed was all a bit over my head, I wasn't sure if the code stuff he was doing was done through Linux since my computer knowledge is limited to very surface level interaction with Windows. His solution of editing the tables is beyond my ability and confidence unfortunately. However, since Fozzy found what seems to be the source of this rather common issue, and a way to address it by editing the ACPI tables, is there any way we can flag this solution for Dell? So they can resolve the sleep problem in future updates? I'm currently using this "hibernation" fix as a work around... but it would be nice if Dell can fix the underlying issue in a future update so I can eventually get sleep functionality back.

I suppose I could potentially attempt the fix myself if there was just a really super basic step by step instruction of how to edit the ACPI table. Like designed for someone with zero knowledge of coding or this deeper level of the OS... cause once again, I have zero experience doing stuff like this and with out a lot of hand holding I feel pretty sure I'd just screw things up even worse somehow.

@Usagisama​  - I pointed my Dell tech contacts to Fozzy's AHCI post in that other thread, and at your post here saying hibernation instead of sleep is a workaround. I presume that's still working for you...

Hopefully, both posts give the engineering team enough useful info to come up with a fix, probably via a BIOS update.  

I wouldn't attempt to mod the ACPI tables yourself.  If you don't do it correctly, it could be a disaster much worse than having the PSU clicking. So as long a hibernation is working, just leave PC alone until they issue a fix.

@RoHe​ Thanks for brining this to your Dell tech contacts attention! Hibernate is still proving an effective work around for me. No PSU clicking in hibernate. Still, if the Dell tech folks can fix sleep with a future update that will be great, since it seems like hibernate can't be set to automatically kick in if sitting idle for a period of time like sleep can. So hibernate is good to have, but it'll be better to have sleep back if they can implement a fix :)

@Usagisama - You're welcome.  Glad to hear hibernation is still click-free.  Haven't heard anything back, aside from that the team is investigating, but I don't work for Dell, so I'm not in the loop...

You can leave Sleep set to Never, but still have it turn off the monitor after a fixed time.  And/or set a screen saver to start after a set time of inactivity. 

And you can always start hibernation manually when you're not going to use the PC for a while.  Click Start>Power>Hibernation.