Turning Off CPU Idle Setting and Enable Passive Setting

[miketurn]

I have a labtop with an Intel CPU that produces terrible high pitch noises (sounds like morse code) (I know some will comment, CPUs don't make noise, and to that I say.... yes sometimes they do) I tested this out on Linux Mint and also with Windows 7 and the noise is generated with both OSs.
I found a site online where a user mentions that there is a hidden power option setting in Windows 7 that allows you to turn off "CPU Idle"
I performed the steps he mentioned and when disabling this "idle" setting, it worked, the morse code noise stopped immediately.
I was so excited that this worked and then realized that there is another high pitch noise (that is constant!) that was hidden behind that noise, which really made me mad .

I thought there might be a power setting in my BIOS but I found nothing regarding this.


QUESTIONS
1.) I don't believe there is a fix for that secondary constant high pitch noise which is dissapointing, but the morse code one I was able to remove.
I was wondering is there such a setting that can found hopefully within Linux Mint (that does not require a separate piece of software to achieve)?
I guess this setting in Windows 7 disables the CPU from constantingly powering down and starting back up every time an action is performed.
I can understand why a setting to have the CPU idle when not being used for a while, but to have it constantly! going from action to idle seems foolish.

2.) Kind of a separate issue, but I mentioned this in the "Suggest A New Feature" for Linux Mint category a short while ago.
In Windows 7 "Power Options" there is a setting for labtops that allows you to enable either an "Active" or "Passive" mode when it comes to CPU cooling fans.
Active = Turn on fan when CPU gets hot
Passive = Will underclock the CPU before turning on the fan to full speed
This passive setting is a great feature for labtops with loud fans and it actually works quite well.
On my other post, no one mentioned that there is a built in setting for this in Linux Mint, but does anyone know of any programs to achieve this.

Thank you to anyone who reads this and for any advice offered.

[Mute Ant]

"CPUs don't make noise" It's not number one on the list of offenders, no, but the integrated circuit is surrounded by coils, which contract when you run a current through them, and capacitors, which contract when you apply a voltage across them.

On my squeaky machine, it was the processor flipping between 'top-speed' and 'stopped' that caused the morse-code effect. There's a relatively simple fix to smooth it out...

1] Don't let the CPU do the default, which is to save power by using HLT and waiting for an interrupt. To stop that, you need to apply a kernel boot argument idle=poll You can try that for one-boot-only by interrupting GRUB as it boots the OS, just like adding nomodeset or init=/bin/bash

2] Add the package cpufrequtils to take control of the CPU speed. On a desktop machine, you might be happy with all the cores running at full speed all the time. On a laptop, with all the cores at minimum speed. There's other clock-control packages, but I have only ever needed the all-cpu-at-minimum-speed setting.

[miketurn]

@Mute Ant
Thank you for your response.
Sorry I have not responded sooner I have been pulled into many other things.
When I say CPUs make noise, you know what mean, noise is generated with the components + power. That is like saying fans are completely silent, until you add power to them
I am not glad that you experience a "squeaky machine" but I am glad that you at least know what I am referring to and have some solutions.
I have not had a ton of time to test out these solutions as of yet, I remember researching them after I read your post.

1.) I remember I was about to try this but in doing some research about this I saw someone mention something about generating too much heat or concern about damaging hardware, don't hold me to this, I can't remember exactly what I read at the moment. Have you ever experienced any issues after enabling this?

2.) Does cpufrequtils come with Linux Mint? because I actually had this on my machine. As I mentioned I asked about this issue in the past so I may have downloaded it back then, I was just shocked to see it already there. I will have to look into this more as I do not see any kind of GUI for it, and my terminal skills are not that great.

Thank you again for your advice