Saturday, October 1, 2011

Fan sound problem on the Cintiq 24HD


I am experiencing a sound problem from the fan of the Cintiq 24 HD. It seems to me that the fan is not working correctly.  I am getting a very disturbing sound from my Cintiq 24HD. I have customized my workspace to make it as quit as possible (using water cooling and specific fans to reduce the sound from the computer, for example) and I can clearly hear a “strange sound” coming from the back of my Cintiq 24HD. 

I reported to this to the Wacom European Forum. Please read post number 15 of the linked discussion. 

I tried to describe my problem on the forum in this way: 

I am a bit scared about the fan because the sounds it produces is not “regular” but, randomly, it produces a metallic and creaky sound. The sound that, in my experience, is produced by a fan that is not working properly. It is usually produced by a fan that is not spinning correctly, but which is moving a little bit around the rotation axis. Not easy to describe with words. I have emailed the support and I hope to get an answer. I can make an audio/video recording to show the problem if needed. 

I tried to make a sound recording but I don't have a good microphone. Anyway you should be able to hear something in this registration, that could help to understand what problem I am reporting: 

Audio Recording (Download) 

It seems that I am not the only Cintiq 24HD user that has this problem: there is another topic on the Wacom European Forum of an user that is reporting a "noise issue".

I sent an email to the Wacom Support (support@wacom-europe.com) and they told me that have to compile the return module. I have been told that Wacom does not have technicians that can come and check the unit in your working place or home, so you will always have to send the unit back to them in Germany if you have a problem or need a repair/replacement. The good thing is that they are going to pay for the shipping. The bad thing is that the Wacom 24HD is sold out at the moment and they don’t know when a replacement unit will be available.

I am happy with the Cintiq 24HD but the fan sound is very distracting. I have some experience with electronic devices. I don’t have any technical details of the fan that is installed (maybe is more than one) in the Cintiq 24 HD. Maybe Wacom should have chosen a better fan like the Noctua that I am using to keep my PC cool?

 UPDATE (13th October 2011): My unit wasreplaced. Noise is present but this times it is “uniform”.  

13 comments:

  1. Hi Vittorio, thanks for picking up on my posting on the Wacom forum, I too have the same noise you describe, I will contact Wacom Support like you ajnd see how they deal with the issue, but as you say it is a disturbing and distracting noise. Thanks again for the response.

    Paul

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  2. Thank you Paul.

    I will let you know if I get any news.

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  3. Hi Paul. I am waiting for your registration. Let me know!

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  4. I own a new Cintiq too. Till now I worked just with an MacBook Air and an Intuos 4. I hear no music, I'm wrking alone and I'm loving the silence. Now I've got my Cintiq 24HD and am surprised about noisy fans. But don't know if this is normal noise, because display is on a the fans are cooling it. Or if something is wrong

    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1090809/cintiq24hd.wav

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  5. Thanks for your comment. I heard the sound registration that you made but I can’t say if the sound that your Cintiq 24HD is making is normal or not. What I can say is that a fan that is not making a “uniform” sound generally is a broken fan or a fan that has some problems. In my registration you should hear a crackle that is preceded and followed by silence.

    My Cintiq is constantly making this "nonlinear" sound, and it is very boring. A Cintiq 24 HD told me that his tablet is completely quiet. Now it is very hard to know what “quiet” means, because the human ear perceive the noise depending of several factors. Anyway I would not be worried unless the sound is clearly not continuous.

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  6. So Wacom told me:"the Cintiq has 2 cooler fans, which should not be that noisy in a normal work surrounding. But in an absolutely quiet workspace it is possible to hear them."

    And my room is damn silent... if I open my window, turn on my music or even TV...the Cintiq noise is not to painful... I can hear it... so I know my Cintiq is on... but it'S not too boring.

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  7. Fan used in the Cintiq are not 100% noise free (and this is really bad, because in the market you can find several noise-free fans). The strange thing is not a regular noise from the fan, this is absolutely normal. The strange thing is that when you can hear randomly some “scratching sounds”. At the moment in my work space I can only hear the Cintiq 24HD, much louder than my computer (i7@Ghz). I should soon get another Cintiq 24HD and I will finally know what is the sound produced by a non-defective unit.

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  8. Hello Vittorio,

    Thank you for creating this post. I have just bought a Cintiq24HD and am experiencing the fan issues.
    I've contacted Wacom and they say that they can repair it, but i'll have to pay for the shipping myself... which I find disappointing since shipping for this item is very expensive.

    Out of curiosity, when they replaced yours, did they asked to pay the shipping of the new unit?

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    1. Hi Alan, did you then solved your problem with Cintiq fan noise?

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  9. Hi Alan.

    Thank you for your post. I don’t know where you purchased your Cintiq 24HD. In Europe if you purchase in the Wacom eStore you should be able to get a free shipping service, but I am not sure about it. I had to pay for shipping of other items that I was buying in the eStore, so maybe I got one shipping fee for everything.
    Of course if you didn’t purchase directly from Wacom eStore Europe (or another Wacom eStore) but from a dealer I think that is normal that you have to pay for shipping. Purchasing directly from Wacom is more expensive but has some benefits.

    Please notice that the Cintiq 24HD doesn’t have a silent fan. If you are hearing a “not uniform” sound than you need the unit to be replaced, otherwise I suggest you to keep your Cinitq.
    Please notice that Wacom is not offering a 0-bad pixel warranty so if you have a 0 pixel unit be sure that Wacom is going to repair it (if they send you a new unit, you could have problems with bad-pixel).

    I hope this helps.

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  10. Hi guys,
    yup, Me too, I got mine today (cost me $2935 where I live)
    and now I'm having the same ugly XXXXX fan noise which is great to hear when you're doing art! and of course Returning it is not an option for me.

    could you please describe the NORMAL fan noise so I can compare it? I'm having low noise similar to the one you hear when you grind something,it's not so loud but in silent environemnt you can hear it, it is annoying and it is not uniform is this normal?

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    1. Hi I'm Giovanni,
      I'm choosing between Cintiq 22hd and 24hd and the bigger choosing factor for me is that noise problem.
      I'd like to ask you if your experience with the noise problem is so terrible that you would downgrade to a 22hd;

      I've searched for a lot of videos and read some experiences about this fan problem and it really seems to ruin the experience with a so expensive device.

      Thanks

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