A few days ago I noticed a rapid clicking noise from my Rock Pi 4 board. It keeps clicking even if I restart the board. I only have one Rock Pi 4 and I can’t compare this to another board. I also can’t say if this clickling noise was there from the beginnig. Is this normal or is something broken on my board?
Clicking noise from Rock Pi 4
If you don’t confirm that your ROCK Pi 4 is broken or not, could run a set of stress tests.
For example, Antutu
have the abnormalities in the test process or not
I’ve just run a cpu test using sysbench and I can still hear the clicking during the test. I can also hear the clicking if if shut down the device completely and just having the power connected. I’ve also recorded the sound using my phone: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0dlyst6wcgtr6jv/Audio-Aufnahme%202019-04-08%2019-43-53.wav?dl=0
Any idea what could cause this?
Edit: If I disconnect and reconnect the power there is no clicking, but it starts soon after that when the OS (Ubuntu) is booting. I also tried booting a fresh installation and there is no clicking. So it must be something I installed. I will install everything on the fresh installation again until the clicking appears again to find out what causes this.
Edit2: I think I already found out what is causing this. As soon as I installed the latest version of the kernel I compiled myself the clicking is back. @jack Any ideas what changes to the kernel could cause this clicking?
Edit3: Ignore the last comment. It seems to be much simpler. The clicking also appears after the first reboot of the fresh, unchanged system.
Do you have the HDMI port in use? If yes, can you please use the RockPi headless without HDMI? Is the noise gone then?
If the noise is still there, I could imagine the Buck Converter NB679GD, resp. an inductor, as a possible cause.
bad power supply? (: try another one and compare the noise
@SunWukong: Yes I had an HDMI cable connected to my TV. I disconnected the cable and powered off the device completely and started it again. At first there was no clicking, but it startet again when I rebooted the operating system. Any other ideas?
@MX_Master: I’m using this power supply with an USB-C cable. I will see if I find another power supply that is strong enough for the board and test if this solves the clicking.
@MX_Master I’ve tried a different power supply (Anker PowerPort 5) and I can still hear the clicking. After that I tried powering using a Powerbank and there was no clicking. So it could be an issue regarding the power supply. But I guess the PowerPort 5 should be a pretty good power supply.
@SunWukong Any ideas what could be the problem with my power supply?
Maybe your electricity network have abnormal voltage range and noisy output form. Have you some brightness dimmers at your home?
I have no brightness dimmers. I only use Philipps Hue lamps in my home.
I did some more tests and I found out that the clicking on the battery only stops if I connect the power using an USB-C to USB-C cable. If I connect an USB-A to USB-C cable from the battery I also get the clicking.
I also tried to plug the power supply into a special plug strip that should correct power issues but also had the clicking. Then I also tried connecting the power plug to my USV and there I had no clicking. So it seems to have something to do with the power.
I also noticed that the passive cpu cooler (I use the big one) get’s really hot if the device runs for a few days, even when only the basic operating system runs. Also the device always crashes after a few days of continuous operation.
@MX_Master @SunWukong Could this be an issue with the 50 hz power in europe and could the temperature issue be caused because of this?
Try to power up your board outside of your home (: In the office (at work), for example. Try a power plug at the friend’s home too.
By the way, usb-c cable can provide 3A current, but usb-a - is not. May be it’s an answer (:
I will try that, but an additional test on the USV showed that the board also clicks there sometimes. This seems to be a very random problem. Could my board be damaged or have some kind of manufacturing defect?
Maybe. Maybe not. Need more tests with different power sources.
I also have a clicking sound when board is idle (sounds like a clock).
How exactly do I stress test it?
Hi folks, I also observed this “clicking” on my Rock Pi 4 board, aspecially when I tried to connect external hard drive. In my case it was problem of voltage drop on my USB cable when consumption got too hi (when harddrive was spinnig up or operating). My cable was probably too long or low quality. I changed it by another one more massive and shorter and problem disappeared.