[dewhastme]

I have noticed that when I put the computer to sleep at night before I go to bed the sizzling, screetching noise in the 17in PB actually builds up into a louder noise, sort of like the feedback when you place a electric guitar next to a amplifier that is running with a lot of gain...

I have been experimenting with it a little, and I find that when I restart the PB the screetching noise stops, but then builds up slowly again into a louder noise. When I completely unplug the airport, the screetching noise stops and does not come back. I traced the problem to my external speakers and the fact that I think my airport is causing some sort of disturbance to the speakers(probably more specifically the amplifier) in the powerbook and my external speakers(logitech) that I run. Is this a possible answer?

I have noticed that the screetching noise is apparent whenever you make a secure connection to the internet through safari or when you sign on to iChat. This happens whether you are using an airport or are connected directly to the LAN through the cable. A restart will solve this for a while but then the screetching noise comes back. I don't understand why a secure connection would cause the problem but not a non-secure connection. Anyway, just a few observations and hopefully solutions.

[AssassyN]

You've actually done an excellent job of troubleshooting yourself for sounding like you're not a huge audio freak!

The speakers and amplifier can *definitely* cause these noises, more commonly and technically known as ground loops or otherwise, feedback from wave interferences between the two. We experience this type of thing all the time setting up our 5000 watt sound system for our band at various places, and it can occur in the same manner at home on computers as well. So most likely, you need to reposition your speakers and/or AirPort Base Station so that the signals aren't in a directly horizontal or parallel alignment of each other. Crossing waves is a big cause of excess noise, escp. screeching.

And as for your concerns of noise when connecting via Safari or iChat, that's been a common issue for awhile now. Ever since Safari Beta 1, people have been noticing the same thing on Macs from G4 Cubes to PowerMacs to PowerBooks, so it's clearly a Safari issue of some sort, and the same goes for iChat. Not exactly sure what Apple's putting in their software, but it's obviously causing these noise issues.

Camino, my browser of choice, doesn't make these noises...but hopefully Apple will fix these things in future revisions of their programs.

[dewhastme]

Thanks, you know what's interesting-- the fact that my iBook had no screetching noise, I wonder if its something to do with the architecture of the G4 motherboard that causes the problems with safari? I have actually never connected my Power Mac to the internet other than to register it because I only use it for FCP, Digital Performer, and Reason.

[AssassyN]

Originally posted by dewhastme:
Thanks, you know what's interesting-- the fact that my iBook had no screetching noise, I wonder if its something to do with the architecture of the G4 motherboard that causes the problems with safari? I have actually never connected my Power Mac to the internet other than to register it because I only use it for FCP, Digital Performer, and Reason.

Hmm, not sure if it's the casing of the AlBooks, the newly implemented 802.11g technology, the G4 chip itself, or any of the tons of things that could cause it. Hopefully since it is a common problem Apple will address it in future betas, and certainly in the final release of Safari.

[DVD Plaza]

Originally posted by AssassyN:
so it's clearly a Safari issue of some sort, and the same goes for iChat. Not exactly sure what Apple's putting in their software, but it's obviously causing these noise issues. Camino, my browser of choice, doesn't make these noises...

This is not entirely correct - screeching noises from PowerBooks were reported from Chimera well before Safari was even known to exist. Problem mostly occured whilst typing into textboxes - my 17" doesn't do it though, but this beast currently has one of the latest nightly builds of Camino installed whereas my 800DVI PowerBook still has an old Chimera build... so not sure as yet whether the new hardware and/or new software overcame the problem.