High pitched sound from a laptop.

So I have a strange event to relate, to get everyone's thought and input on the situation. I had a friend over last night while her apartment building was being fumigated, and she brought her own laptop. So we were both on our laptops, and she had headphones on and I was sort of on mine and watching TV.
I glanced over at her because she got quiet and was frowning at her screen looking kind of pale and not paying attention to me so I nudged her. She jolted and glanced at me saying her headphones are making a really high pitched ringing from her computer to her headphones and stopped quickly, it then it did it again a second time right after for a longer period of time and then she tried to unplug her headphones, thinking her headphones were going bad. We though it fixed it but then it was emitting from her speakers, and each time it did it would get longer. It was quite high in pitch, to the point where it was almost inaudible, and it was also quite loud it seemed to fill the whole apartment. He complained about the sound and his ear hurting from down the hall which was a good 30 feet or so away. (Plus is door was closed.) To me it just kind of made my jaw hurt like when you listen to nails on a chalk board. But later that night I did get a headache and lethargic.
Well we ended up just shutting down her laptop, and right after we did she started to complain that she couldn't breathe right, and she was kind of turning blue around the lips kind of like a choking person would. She also complained that her chest and body was heavy and then she started sweating and shaking badly, and saying she was extremely dizzy the room was spinning before passing out. We quickly took her to the emergency room, which is luckily right down the street. By the time we got there she was vomiting non-stop for what seemed like 30-40 minutes. The doctors didn't know what was wrong and kept her over night, this was about the time my headache and tiredness kicked in and then I threw up twice when I got home before crashing in bed.
I'm pretty sure it was just from how high pitched the sound was, but I felt like I should share it none the less see what you all think, or if you experienced anything like it. I need to go pick her up in an hour or so, so maybe the doctors will have more information.

Maybe what caused the high pitched noise was a part of the laptop having a serious problem, to the point of emitting toxic elements... as if it was somehow overheating very badly?

sound from headphones then speakers means you machine is ok, illness probably from the fumigation.

I'd say it's about to get sick. Hardware problems. A cap about to blow probably.

Either that or the nsa have becoma lazy and they are using the squeal virus to insert snoopy programs now.

Yes..

COming from the speakers....its either a program that was making the sound via the sound card, an error with the sound card, or interference.

Do a restart, if it continues take it to someone to do a repair.

Sounds to me like a sound card going bad. Here's a simple test: Mute the sound, or at least drop it all the way to zero. Still hear the noise? Bad sound card.

When you raise the volume, and hear the sound, check and make sure your built in mic is muted, could be feedback.

Also, goto the manufacturer's website and get the latest drivers. That MAY help. Hope your friend is feeling better, and keep us posted with updates.

Well I took her to her parents house, and she is doing better, the doctors are saying it's probably a seizure, they aren't real sure until tests come in. I just thought maybe it was the frequency that made her sick, I know that's what gave me a headache.
Her computer wont turn back on, the first time I turned it on it got a blue screen of death and then sounded like grinding gears and shut off. Hasn't turned back on since, so I'm assuming it was the computer that did it. I just thought it was kinda weird, working and fixing computers never heard that sound or had it happen so its a new one for me. Anyways that's all the news for tonight, and sorry not such a big mystery. Though I'll admit I thought it was at first but it seems pretty mundane.

Jedite
Well I took her to her parents house, and she is doing better, the doctors are saying it's probably a seizure, they aren't real sure until tests come in. I just thought maybe it was the frequency that made her sick, I know that's what gave me a headache.
Her computer wont turn back on, the first time I turned it on it got a blue screen of death and then sounded like grinding gears and shut off. Hasn't turned back on since, so I'm assuming it was the computer that did it. I just thought it was kinda weird, working and fixing computers never heard that sound or had it happen so its a new one for me. Anyways that's all the news for tonight, and sorry not such a big mystery. Though I'll admit I thought it was at first but it seems pretty mundane.

I've had pretty much this exact experience (in terms of the laptop, not in terms of illness). In my case, it was the PSU in a desktop PC.
That's actually not all that uncommon with a dying desktop PSU (the squealing), but usually it's reasonably quiet and innocuous. With one PC I took in to repair, however, the squealing was so loud as to be physically painful - and I had exactly the same issue you did, with the pain in the jaw etc., which I have always assumed, as you did, was related to the frequency of the sound.

Oh, and for what it's worth... that ^ occurred in about 1996, on a PC that wasn't internet connected... so somehow I doubt the NSA was involved

I think they started fumigating earlier then what they told the residents of the building. Because a few other tenants got sick to so problem solved. It was all coincidence, nothing sinister or spooky, which in away is kind of sad. But least she is ok and the other tenants will be also. Her computer is trashed though.

If her microphone was "on" and she didnt know it....it was "feedback". Possibly.........

reply to post by Jedite


Thanks for the updates! Upon closer inspection, you'll find the cooling fan is toast, a simple thing to replace if you are handy with a screwdriver, and about 12 bucks on Ebay.

Good to hear a happy ending.