Speaker rattling/distortion on surface laptop 3

Hi

Thanks for reaching Microsoft Surface Community. We thank for taking advantage on our new Surface Laptop 3 also, we apologize for the late response. We don't here any concern with regards on speaker, possibly this is just a rare occurrence on your Surface. You may consider trying each suggestions below and check.

Suggestion 1:

As of the moment, please try to run the Surface Diagnostic toolkit.

The Microsoft Surface Diagnostic Toolkit (SDT) resolves the most common Surface issues. SDT is downloadable and can take 10-15 minutes to complete. The automated tool pinpoints and auto heals issues that can contribute to or cause the symptoms that you're facing.

Suggestion 2:

Try doing a Force Shutdown on your Surface Pro 5.

(Press and hold the Power button for 20 seconds and then release.)

The Surface may boot to UEFI. This is normal. Just press Exit in UEFI.

Restarting the device puts the device, drivers, and operating system in a known good state. If the issue is resolved after a restart, we know it’s a driver or software issue. It resets the hardware and clears all the cache and memory for your hardware.

Suggestion 3:

Try to check under your Device Manager and check under Audio. Tap or click it to show options. It shows like a triangular icon on it if there is an error on a specific driver. 

****Try to uninstall the Realtek Audio. Tap and Hold the driver that has an error to show up options or Right Click > Choose Uninstall > Restart.

Suggestion 4:

Considering it's still brand-new you might proceed on doing a Fresh Start on your Surface Laptop 3.

Fresh Start lets you perform a clean reinstallation and update of Windows while keeping your personal data and most Windows settings intact. In some cases, a clean installation may improve your device's startup and shutdown experience, memory usage, Microsoft Store apps performance, browsing experience, and battery life.

• To use Fresh Start, select Start Windows logo Start button > Settings Gear-shaped Settings icon > Update & security Circular arrows Sync icon > Windows Defender > Device performance & health. Under Fresh Start, select Additional info > Get Started.
• Note: Fresh Start will remove most of your apps, including Microsoft Office, third-party anti-virus software, and desktop apps that came pre-installed on your device. You will not be able to recover removed apps, and will need to manually reinstall these apps later. You may also lose your digital licenses and digital content associated with apps, which may impact your ability to use these apps or app-related content you paid for.

Please let us know if this helps. This will help other members who may have the same issue as you. Otherwise, don't hesitate to update us by posting or replying.

Regards,

Edd

Hello Elgmannen,

Thank you for reaching out Microsoft Community. Can you check if the rattle sounds came from the keyboard keys as well? We'd also like to inform you that Surface Laptop’s Omnisonic speakers are optimized for the best quality and loudness. But there may be times you need to reduce the volume to avoid the rattling sounds on the keyboard keys.

Best Regards,                                                                                                                 

KarenJune_F

I did try all the suggestions here, and while I don't really think it made a difference and I can still hear the rattling and certain sounds/frequencies, it happens pretty rarely (but still easy to replicate one the sounds/frequencies where it do happen).

It might be the keys rattling. I think there is less rattling when I hold my fingers/hand lightly on the keys/keyboard (maybe stopping them from vibrating), but It's hard to know for sure since then I'm also holding my hand over the speaker altering and slightly muting the sound.

If I was going to use the speakers a lot I would probably try another computer right away, but the speakers are not that important in my case. It doesn't seem to be noticeable in most cases.

Hi,

When you run the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit, you will be routed on some sort of Test on it's hardware. When you are on the speaker Test have encounter any issues or did the issue shows up also in that part?

Regards,

Edd

I couldn't hear anything wrong in the surface speaker test. In the normal speaker test in windows I can hear it (mostly on the right speaker, but sometimes also on the left speaker)...but I can also alter or even make the rattling/distortion go away by holding on the keys on the right side (del, backspace, enter, shift). And sometimes I have no problems even in this test and everything sounds normal even without touching the keys/computer. So it seems to me its the keys and/or some other part of the computer that's rattling.

In everyday use watching movies, youtube, playing games I have found out It's not a huge problem, but it does take away the enjoyment on some kinds of music (piano music is especially bad). Then again for any serious listening I use headphones og seperate speakers anyway.