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Eug Wanker · Mar 3, 2004, 06:52 PM

Apple silences beeps, hissing

An Apple representative told CNET News.com that a "small number" of customers have experienced the problem, which has been fixed in production. The company said any customers experiencing the issue should contact the company's customer support.

Immortal K-Mart Employee · Mar 3, 2004, 07:51 PM

I could swear people with the Dual 2.0's also have this problem.

I am going to wait a couple months, nothing really loud about mine anyway.

Boochie · Mar 3, 2004, 11:26 PM

Just one more reason that I avoid version 1.0 of anything when possible. Glad to see it's fixed though. Bring on the Dual 3 GHz machines!

osxisfun · Mar 3, 2004, 11:40 PM

I think the last g4s where on their 3rd revisions and there were still problems. I did the apple trade in for the power supply/fan myself since the 3rd gen's were so loud.

I think every rev will have some problems

Han's Hands on Leia · Mar 4, 2004, 01:25 AM

Originally posted by osxisfun:
I think the last g4s where on their 3rd revisions and there were still problems. I did the apple trade in for the power supply/fan myself since the 3rd gen's were so loud.

I think every rev will have some problems

I bought my dual 2 in September which I THINK would be a rev A and I don't have any abnormal noises.

Macnerd · Mar 4, 2004, 10:42 AM

My Dual G5 was a September model - It has had this awful issue from day one. The Mac is about 8 inches from my head (next to the monitor) and the racket it makes is doing my head in. Booked it in for a replacement PSU next week so hopefully that will fix it.

-Q- · Mar 4, 2004, 10:59 AM

I got my dual in October and I've not noticed this noice, but mine is on the floor so it may be there and I've just not noticed it.

tallscot · Mar 4, 2004, 02:06 PM

I just got a new dual 2 Ghz G5 from Fry's with the Radeon 9600 last week and it makes a loud electronic noise when I'm doing certain operations on the computer.

For example, when I load up certain movies in the QuickTime Player, it makes the noise and stops when I quit QuickTime Player.

When I'm in a 3D applications called Carrara, it makes the noise whenever I move objects around the screen using OpenGL. It doesn't do it when I use the software renderer.

The sound comes from inside the computer, and it's electronic, like the CPUs are screaming. It's very strange.

The fan noise is very low on the G5 most of the time. Sometimes, it just decides it needs to rev up the fans for a bit, then they slow back down. It's kind of annoying. I have the Energy Saver options set to full speed CPU, not automatic.

Since I bought it at Fry's, I have a 30 day refund/exchange period, and I'm going to use it and replace it with a new one. I'm waiting till the last minute in case Apple updates the G5s with a speed bump. I will never buy directly from Apple for this very reason. Fry's even allows you to exchange the Apple Cinema Displays if you find dead pixels within 30 days of your purchase. Nobody does that, including Apple.

osxisfun · Mar 4, 2004, 03:39 PM

Just so we are all on the same page.

the sound we are talking about...is this the sound that almost completely goes away when you install CHUD and turn off nap mode?

Or is this the sound that is bad when the g5 is hooked up to external audio devices?

Just checking.

I bought my dual g5 on panther day and the only sound (which overal i am VERY happy with soundwise) is the CHUD nap sound. Which i turn off /on after a restart.

tallscot · Mar 4, 2004, 08:15 PM

Originally posted by osxisfun:
Just so we are all on the same page.

the sound we are talking about...is this the sound that almost completely goes away when you install CHUD and turn off nap mode?

Or is this the sound that is bad when the g5 is hooked up to external audio devices?

Just checking.

I bought my dual g5 on panther day and the only sound (which overal i am VERY happy with soundwise) is the CHUD nap sound. Which i turn off /on after a restart.

I haven't tried the CHUD method because I read Apple doesn't recommend it.

The sound I'm hearing happens whether I have an audio line out connected or not. The sound does travel through my sound out, though �_ if I crank up the volume I can hear it through my speakers.

JCS · Mar 8, 2004, 03:35 PM

Okay, if no one else is going to link to this, then I will...

http://www.arstechnica.com/wankerdes.../g5-noise.html

QTI · Mar 28, 2004, 11:51 PM

is there any down side turning off the nap mode?

Thomas_MacFreak · Mar 29, 2004, 03:00 AM

Originally posted by Boochie:
Just one more reason that I avoid version 1.0 of anything when possible. Glad to see it's fixed though. Bring on the Dual 3 GHz machines!

I want my Dual 3GHz G5 too!

I was actually going to buy the Dual 2GHz G5, but I decided to wait, and I'm glad I did.

g3_brandon · Mar 29, 2004, 04:28 AM

Originally posted by QTI:
is there any down side turning off the nap mode?

I have yet to see any downside. I had one of the first Dual 2.0s to make it to my local store. I turned off nap mode as soon as I discovered the CHUD tools could fix it. That was in October. Nothing wrong at all.

I suspect that Apple's reasoning for not recommending it is simply because they don't want the average users installing developer level hardware controls. There are some cool things you can do with the CHUD tools on a dual machine. If you want to see just how much that extra processor was worth, you can use them to turn off the second processor, essentially giving you a single 2.0GHz G5.

eggman · Mar 29, 2004, 11:02 AM

I got a very early production dual G5, and I have to say that the noise is destroying me. By the end of a long day at work, I swear I can hear the voices of demons coming out of my computer, telling me to run down the street naked with sparklers in my hands.

Even using the CHUD tool (which I am ambivalent about doing because I suspect that Apple knows that this will ultimately turn our systems into piles of molten slag, but aren't telling us) there's still some high-frequency oscillating sounds.

As crazy as this is making me, I still haven't gone so batty as to believe that subsequent revs of hardware will be perfect and worth waiting for. Heck, I've had a computer that has remained the fastest thing on Photoshop for 6 months now. That's 3.5 dog years!

Seriously, though, I think a lot of this has to do with just how acoustically transparent the G5s are. They've pretty much got screen doors on the front and back.

Which is why I'm reluctant to put the damn thing on the floor under my desk (which would probably reduce the annoying sound level considerably) until I figure out how to hook up a vacuum cleaning bag to it. With all those fans, I figure it would generate internal dust bunnies at the rate of a cotton candy machine.

rhogue islander · Mar 29, 2004, 12:22 PM

I've had my Dual G5 on the floor since I bought it in September.

If anything, it consumes fewer dust bunnies per month than my PC's.

I think this is because the fans spin at a fairly low rpm.

The various sounds (which I believe eminate from the psu) are quite low in volume and barely noticeable save one: the high pitched buzzing I hear whenever I make fairly large file transfers from PC to Mac. That one is annoying.

DeathToWindows · Mar 29, 2004, 08:27 PM

Originally posted by eggman:

Which is why I'm reluctant to put the damn thing on the floor under my desk (which would probably reduce the annoying sound level considerably) until I figure out how to hook up a vacuum cleaning bag to it. With all those fans, I figure it would generate internal dust bunnies at the rate of a cotton candy machine.

that's worse than my floor... but i get dust llamas

Todd Madson · Apr 1, 2004, 10:21 AM

Can someone post an MP3 of this sound?