[Hamamac]

Does anyone have any ideas as to why my Powerbook is now making a high pitched humming, buzzing sound?

This computer was sent to me to use for work, but it came without a power cord or manuals so I took it to the Apple store yesterday. The tech there plugged it in and it seemed fine while we updated some software and checked it out. He said I could use my power cord that came with my ibook G4.

Last night I fully charged it and this a.m. it's making this wierd noise. I also took out and put back in a SmartMedia card from the slot on the left hand side. (What is that?) But the noise is still there whether it's in or out.

It's a very annoying sound--makes me not want to use it. Right now I have a DVD in and it's playing fine. Other than this distracting noise it seems to work fine.

Any clues? Is this thing on it's last legs?

Powerbook G4, 500 Mhz, 768 MB

thanks,

Hamamac

[osxisfun]

if it sounds like it coming from underneath the mid part of the keyboard then there is nothing you can do about it. its the video card.

[Hamamac]

What's the video card? (Sorry new to this sort of stuff). Do you think it's what's vibrating and can I remove it?

The more I listen to it, you might be on to something--it is a vibrating, buzzing sound beneath the keyboard.

Hmmmm?

Hamamac

[osxisfun]

no. its ef noise from some capciter or somesuch. i owned a 667 and it really bugged me.

never found a cure for the 667. but i do know some pc laptops of that era had the same problem so its an ait problem not apple

[mdc]

system preferences > energy saver.

look for something about "processor performance." is it set to highest? if so, set it to automatic and see if that helps the sound.

[Hamamac]

Well thank you mdc, but alas it hasn't made the loud, buzzing, vibrating, humming, whirring sound go away.

I fiddled around in preferences, but no luck.

What a shame. It's a great freebie, but I can't deal with this racket.



Hamamac

[Hamamac]

Omigod!!! It just stopped. The infernal racket just quit! It wound down and went silent--ooops, no, wrong, it's back. In the space of time that I've typed this the ruddy thing went all quiet, then resumed it's chronic buzzing and hummig.

Aaaaagghgh!

Hamamac

[Hamamac]

Omigod!!! It just stopped. The infernal racket just quit! It wound down and went silent--ooops, no, wrong, it's back. In the space of time that I've typed this the ruddy thing went all quiet, then resumed it's chronic buzzing and humming again.

Wow, what a difference when it quit the racket. Oh, no, you're not going to believe this--it's gone quiet again. What is going on?

Aaaaagghgh!

Hamamac

[nsfbr]

It is your internal power supply. My Tibook has had the same issue since about 3 days after my warranty expired...4 years ago.

I think that means it isn't going to die on you. My solution has been to turn the screen brightness down to two down from max, which makes it get quiet. Actually, for about 2 years just one notch did it. Also, it doesn't do it until the comp is warmed up, about 10 mins. I'm not sure if it is the p/s that warms up, or the backlight. In either case, I'm pretty sure that is the problem.

[gametime10]

My Al Powerbook also emits a lot of static-like noises when my mouse moves in certain parts or even when i type sometimes. Pretty annoying.