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February 3rd, 2025 15:55
XPS13-W10pro Extremely loud noise Support Assist after detecting and repairing potential software problem
XPS 13 9350 (End of Life)
00330-50000-00000-AAOEM Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6500U CPU @ 2.50GHz 2.59 GHz
Good afternoon,
Never before I have seen the blue screen of the SupportAssist, so I did not expect any problem like this. The laptop volume was set harder than normal, because of a telephone call that was not very clear to hear, although my hearing ability is normal, I checked this later - the amount of decibels was set at 65,
The distance to the screen was 85 cm, using a monitor. Fortunately that far away .... the signal tone that came out at the same time a message appeared "problem solved" was incredibly loud. It was the loudest sound I ever heard from a close distance, even harder than what I remember from a sudden 'loudspeaker bang' coming out of a box close to me during the soundchec of a concert.
I am sure the decibel was much and much more the 65 db indicated in the settings.
Apart from the fright, I ecperienced a sudden pain in both ears, followed by a feeling of pressure. I jumped up and covered my ears immediately in response, but too late... most of that terrifying sound reached my ears ... What could have happened ? It is because of the lifetime of the laptop [ expired FEB 03, 2018] one cannot count any more on the technical functions of the sound control ?
Worst case, such a noise can damage the eardrums permanently.
After using ibuprofen and lidocaïne drops locally, the pain the pain subsided slightly. At the moment I hear a kind of murmur in my right ear, and was I was advised to take betahistine for a week, to reduce the risk of tinnitus.
For the future I know now that seeing appear the screen of the Support Assist, I should leave the room immediately and stay elsewhere. ..
I could not have foreseen this and would like to know if others have experienced this.
Have a nice evening
Greetings from the Netherlands
Persephone
lmacri
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February 5th, 2025 15:10
Hi Persephone58:
I'm sorry to hear about this unfortunate incident. I hope there won't be any permanent damage to your hearing.
What version of SupportAssist is listed at Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features, and what is the version and build of your Win 10 OS [open a Run dialog box (Windows key + R) and enter winver]? If you go to https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/products and enter your unique Service Tag does this redirect you to the XPS 13 9350 (End of Life) support page at https://www.dell.com/support/product-details/en-us/product/xps-13-9350-laptop/overview (or the Dutch equivalent)?
When your computer boots up it goes through a series of POST (Power-on Self-Test) checks of your hardware components and you might hear a series of loud beeps (see the Dell support article Understanding Beep Codes on a Laptop) but the loud screeching noise you are describing could indicate that your sound card or some other hardware component is headed for a serious failure. I'd suggest your run a proper F12 ePSA (enhanced Pre-boot System Assessment) on-board hardware diagnostic from your Dell BIOS as instructed in the support article How to Run Dell Preboot Diagnostics and Hardware Tests on Your Dell Computer (see the companion video Performing ePSA Diagnostics). If the Quick Test reports an error code (e.g., 2000-0132) write it down and post back to let us know the error code(s).
Also see my 29-Dec-2024 post in PeterMartinez's SupportAssist Reports Wrong Service Tag Code for instructions on how to run DISM and System File Checker (SFC) scans that can detect and repair damaged or missing Windows system files.
As a precaution, make sure all your important data in C:\Users\<yourusername> (.g., C:\Users\<yourusername>\Documents, C:\Users\<yourusername>\Pictures, etc.) is backed up to an external backup drive just in case you experience a serious hardware failure that prevents you from booting up your computer. Also note that support for Windows 10 ends in a few months on 25-Oct-2025 (although Microsoft will be offering home consumers one year of extended support for $30 USD - see <here>), so this might be a good time to start shopping for a new Win 11 computer if your budget allows.
I don't know why SupportAssist would have caused this loud noise unless it was running an advanced hardware diagnostic for your sound card (check the History tab of SupportAssist for a log of recent activity) , which can be incredibly loud. If you're certain that SupportAssist was the cause of this noise then at a very minimum I'd suggest you disable ALL automatic background scans in your SupportAssist settings (see the instructions <here> in the SupportAssist v4 User Guide) and avoid running manual hardware diagnostics from the Home tab of SupportAssist - if necessary, you can always run an ePSA hardware diagnositic from your BIOS as instructed above.
Given the age of your computer and the fact that Dell as not released any critical updates for your XPS 13 9350 (End of Life) since 2021, you might even want to uninstall SupportAssist *** and just check your XPS 13 9350 (End of Life) support page every month or so to see if Dell has released a critical update that matches your Service Tag.
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*** ASIDE: I uninstalled all SupportAssist-related programs from my Inspiron 5584 after my service warranty expired (they were too buggy and used too much RAM and CPU) and replaced Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery v5.5.x (also called Dell Remediation or System Repair) with Macrium Reflect Free v8 disk imaging software. Macrium Reflect Free v8 reached end of support in January 2024 but continues to function normally - see TechRepublic's Sept 2024 Top 5 Free & Reliable Hard Disk Drive Cloning Software for other suggestions.
I use Macrium Reflect Free to create emergency media (e.g., a bootable removable USB stick), and I save the occasional full disk image on an external USB backup drive in case I ever have perform a emergency recovery of my Windows OS and want to quickly re-image my entire hard drive to an earlier date. As an added precaution I've enabled Windows System Restore (disabled by default in Win 10 and Win 11) as instructed in the Windows Central article How to Use System Restore on Windows 10 so I always have a recent Windows restore point I can use to roll back my Windows OS.
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5371 * Firefox v135.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24090.11-1.1.24090.11 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.5.158-1.0.5135 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * * Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.4.0 * My Dell v2.2.6.0 * Fusion Service 2.2.14.0
Persephone58
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February 10th, 2025 09:49
@lmacri Hi Imacri,
Thank you for your kind and detailed answer. I was upset and later tried to edit my report to reduce it to the essence, but learned that editing is only possible a very short time. The murmur in my ear stopped already two days later, and for the future I am warned ;] Thank you for all your suggestions, which I followed, first of all disable ALL automatic background scans. The sound appeared one second after the message "no softwear problem found" ...
Concerning a possible failure of the sound card, thank you very much for the valuablelinks to find the diagnostic tools, I will find out and let you know in case of the described error.
Concerning the end of support of Windows 10 in october, I was suggested to have installed UBUNTU - that seems to be compatible. I only use text files and music samples, so that probably will do. Thanks again for your advice,
Persephone58
lmacri
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February 10th, 2025 15:36
Hi Persephone58:
Glad to learn there was no permanent damage to your hearing. I recall running an advanced hardware diagnostic on my computer a few years and stepped out of the room for a few minutes, and I heard this loud, horrible shriek that scared the life out of me. I can't recall exactly which hardware component was being stress-tested at the time but I'm glad I wasn't sitting next to my computer. Be sure to post back if any of your ePSA hardware diagnostic scans report an error code.
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I know little about Ubuntu ***, but I have an old Vista SP2 computer sitting in a closet somewhere that still boots up and I've refrained from recycling it just in case I ever want to try installing Linux Mint (Cinnamon edition), a Linux distribution (Linux lingo for operating system) based on Ubuntu that as a user interface that looks similar to Windows. Linux distros are great if you have an older computer that can't be upgraded to Windows 11 but you if you switch to a Linux distro just be aware that there will probably be a steep learning curve. If your hard drive, RAM, sound card or some other hardware component is failing then switching to a Linux distro also isn't going to fix anything.
*** NOTE: Your XPS 13 9350 (End of Life) support page at https://www.dell.com/support/product-details/en-us/product/xps-13-9350-laptop/drivers does list Ubuntu 14.04 (unsupported since 17-Apr-2019) as a compatible OS but none of the Ubuntu-compatible updates still listed on that Dell support page are drivers for sound cards, Ethernet network cards or other hardware components.
FYI, The Verge's Nov 2020 article How to switch an old Windows laptop to Linux has instruction on how to create a working "live" copy of Linux Mint on a removable USB stick so you can take it on a test drive without actually changing the Windows OS on your computer. I haven't tried one yet, but there are utilities like Universal USB Installer that "makes it easy to create Live USBs for Linux distributions".
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Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.5371 * Firefox v135.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24090.11-1.1.24090.11 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.2.5.158-1.0.5135 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v5.4.0 * My Dell v2.2.6.0 * Fusion Service 2.2.14.0