I returned a Jetson Orin Nano back to the sales agent as it would whine when the GPU was full load.
Then I received the new one today. This time the situation was worse, as it will whine as soon as the power is on!
That’s extremely terrible. So is it a normal phenomenon?
*** Please note that this reply is generated by LLM automatically ***
Based on the provided context, it appears that the whining noise issue with the Jetson Orin Nano is not an isolated incident. There are several forum posts and discussions related to fan noise and behavior on various Jetson models, including the Jetson Orin Nano.
In the provided context, there are two specific posts related to fan noise on the Jetson Orin Nano:
However, there are other posts related to fan noise on other Jetson models that might be relevant:
It’s worth noting that the Jetson Orin Nano is a relatively new model, and it’s possible that there might be some teething issues with the fan design or firmware. However, without more information or official documentation from NVIDIA, it’s difficult to say whether the whining noise is a normal phenomenon or not.
In comparison, the Jetson AGX Xavier series and Jetson TX2 series have more extensive documentation and community discussions related to fan noise and behavior. For example, there are posts related to modifying fan speed, adjusting fan curves, and troubleshooting fan issues on these models.
In conclusion, while there are some posts related to fan noise on the Jetson Orin Nano, it’s unclear whether the whining noise is a normal phenomenon or not. It’s possible that it might be a design or firmware issue, but more information and official documentation from NVIDIA would be needed to confirm this. If you’re experiencing this issue, it might be worth reaching out to NVIDIA support or the sales agent for further assistance.
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I’ve never noticed coil whine on any of my Jetsons. I wouldn’t say that it is necessarily harmful or “bad” (other than being irritating to hear). It is not common though.
Acoustic noise is difficult to debug. You need to check the source of the noise, if from coil, or fan or loose mounting hardware etc… How loud is the noise in dB?
Hello.
Cuz I don’t have professional sound level measuring tools, I can only describe approximately.
It’s a bit louder than a mosquito, sounds like squeezing rubber with water (middle-high-pitch sound) when starting up, and always appears whenever the terminal has an output (including the boot process). And sounds like Zzzzzzzzzzzz when running LLM inference (the same issue with my previous Jetson Orin Nano which I returned to the sales agent).
I inferred that it might have come from the coil, as anything on the orin nano worked fine (running LLMs using docker, with only occasional power warnings).
If it’s normal or a few other jetson orin nanos (jp62) got this, I will gladly accept the fact.
The noises are ABSOLUTLY NOT fan noises, they are both high pitch.
By the way I consulted the sales agent. They said that the product is a brand new one which was produced THIS year.
I bought it from Seeed Studio cuz I’m currently in China Mainland.
I might consider to change a new one again as the sounds really make me experience EMOTIONAL DAMAGE……That’s why I’m continuously sending messages in this post - - I just can’t bear it when I’m working on some abstruse technical problems.
Please reach out to Seeed Studio for further support.
Seeed would be selling the commercial module on a custom carrier board. It is the carrier board part which would have any coils making a noise. You would have to ask them for support, but my thought is that while a coil whine (from power delivery of a switching power supply) is irritating, it isn’t necessarily harmful. If it is a coil, and if the coil is exposed, then you might put on an insulated glove and hold the coil with a finger tip to see if the whine changes. If it does, then you found the specific coil. Sometimes such coils are “glued” down with some mechanism just to prevent sound (often with hot glue gun), but you would need to be careful to not overdo this since it is also a thermal insulator. In the end though it would be Seeed who has to answer.
No, I was using the original dev kit!
I have to return this today, and I’ll consider not using Nvidia’s edge computing solutions for quite a long time. I’d rather use Intel’s Core Ultra SoCs.
Could you share a picture of your setup so as to clearly identify the module and the carrier board? Please provide serial numbers as well
Thank you for your prompt action.
Here’s the picture of the base board.
I used a Lexar SSD (512GB) as the docker ssd, and a SanDisk SD Card (256GB) as the system card, and I ensured that they are both firmly installed onto the kit. However these two are both moved off and the kit is ready to ship back to the agent.
Remember, for me the stability is the primary. I’m building a product, not for personal learning or entertaining.
As two kits I handled both have defects (they both got coil whine) and they were both manufactured this year in 2025, it really made me considering about Nvidia’s recent quality control.
DevKit’s main purpose is as a development platform and not as a finished end product itself. If you want to use it as an end product some adaptations might be needed based on your use case and use environment. This are design challenges which could be overcome with some engineering effort at your end.
You’re right, I’ll use the module when it comes to the end product hw design.
But, the defect came from the module on the kit.
emmm..then what can I say?
Acoustic resonance could come from different sources. Are you using MAX_SUPER mode? Which power supply is used? Difficult to debug audio resonance as such with so many unknown factors. If you have multiple DevKits, you could try module swap to see if audio noise follows the module or the carrier board. Replacement might be better option, if that is your preferred choice.
Well,
I WAS indeed using MAXN mode, and there’s fewer power warnings than the previous kit. That’s a good thing.
My ears told me that the awful sound came from the coil in the inductors on the module board (however this is not a pretty strict and accurate way of analysing).
I’ll return this product later when the day begins here, as I’m unable to accurately discover the cause. Returning is always a safe way to go.
What is the ambient temperature, Orin Nano SOC junction temperature you could read it to get an idea of loading on the CPU/GPU. FAN could be spinning at higher RPM to keep the Tj lower. Heatsink solution might need optimization for your end product to keep the fan RPM lower to meet your acoustic requirements. Have you tried using Power Optimization with NVIDIA Jetson | NVIDIA Technical Blog
The temperature was about 40℃ under quiet mode of the heatsink. I didn’t even raise the RPM of the fan.
I was always looking at the power GUI to find reasons but everything seemed good except for the terrible whine, which began to appear just after the power was on.
The fan was always quiet, very good. The only sound that could be heard was from the module board.
