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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > 15" AlBook crackling noise

15" AlBook crackling noise
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mikerich
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Jul 27, 2004, 06:18 PM
 
Anyone else out there with a noisy 15" Aluminium Powerbook?

It's a hissing crackling noise - quite faint but persistant which appears to be coming from somewhere under the function keys.

On mine, it is most noisy when the machine is plugged in to the mains and running a Custom power setup - if I go to battery power and change the power settings to Automatic the noise almost vanishes.

If anyone knows anything about this can they say if this is a serious problem with my PB, and what could be causing it?

Thanks,

Mike.
     
azdude
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Jul 27, 2004, 06:22 PM
 
Originally posted by mikerich:
It's a hissing crackling noise - quite faint but persistant which appears to be coming from somewhere under the function keys.

If anyone knows anything about this can they say if this is a serious problem with my PB, and what could be causing it?
I have that too!!! I'd describe it as a "sizzle." I've been pulling my hair out trying to decipher what it is. I don't think it's the hard drive or the fan... Hmm...

When I get home to it today, I'll try your power setting situation to see if I can replicate it.
17" 2.33GHz C2D MacBook Pro / 320GB / 2GB
     
mikerich  (op)
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Jul 27, 2004, 07:00 PM
 
Originally posted by azdude:
I have that too!!! I'd describe it as a "sizzle." I've been pulling my hair out trying to decipher what it is. I don't think it's the hard drive or the fan... Hmm...

When I get home to it today, I'll try your power setting situation to see if I can replicate it.
I notice from your quote you have Applecare - if you can put up with 'Press 1 to talk to an Apple representative, Press 2 to tear your hair out...' could you give them a call and see what they say?

I'm just wondering if this is a potential recall problem...

Best wishes,

Mike.
     
azdude
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Jul 27, 2004, 07:25 PM
 
Originally posted by mikerich:
I notice from your quote you have Applecare - if you can put up with 'Press 1 to talk to an Apple representative, Press 2 to tear your hair out...' could you give them a call and see what they say?

I'm just wondering if this is a potential recall problem...

Best wishes,

Mike.
I may... good idea.
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azdude
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Jul 27, 2004, 07:34 PM
 
Oh and... unless you're Niklas Zimmer, there's another at Apple Discussions who has noticed it, too.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]/0
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azdude
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Jul 27, 2004, 07:38 PM
 
Originally posted by azdude:
Oh and... unless you're Niklas Zimmer, there's another at Apple Discussions who has noticed it, too.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]/0
Here's another. Sounds like a harmless annoyance that is fairly common.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]/20
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TailsToo
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Jul 27, 2004, 08:04 PM
 
I think all of the G4 Powerbooks make that noise. my TI does too, and I've read about it on here before.
     
drainyoo
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Jul 27, 2004, 09:58 PM
 
Folks this is normal. I have the first 17inch Powerbook and it does it all the time. It has somthing to do with the graphics card. It's nothing so dont worry about it.
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Macpilot
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Jul 28, 2004, 12:14 AM
 
Does not bother me. You have to be listening in a totally quiet room to hear it. I kind of like it!
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STAT
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Nov 25, 2004, 12:52 PM
 
It's annoying though. My 500 MHz dual USB iBook didn't make these noises.
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JKT
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Nov 25, 2004, 03:18 PM
 
If it is the noise I think it is, you need to switch from CPU: Highest performance to Automatic for your Energy Saver preferences. When set to Highest the noise is constant. On automatic it will still occur occasionally, but only when the CPU is completely loaded by e.g. a Quicktime preview in the Finder (don't know why that should set it off, but it does).
     
MrForgetable
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Nov 26, 2004, 03:41 AM
 
a weird twist,

i had never heard this sound before so when I heard it i just put it to sleep to let it rest for a while. then i heard it keep going, then I was wondering "oh no, is something frying?" then i found out it was my soda can
iamwhor3hay
     
benwhanlee
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Nov 26, 2004, 05:22 PM
 
Originally posted by JKT:
If it is the noise I think it is, you need to switch from CPU: Highest performance to Automatic for your Energy Saver preferences. When set to Highest the noise is constant. On automatic it will still occur occasionally, but only when the CPU is completely loaded by e.g. a Quicktime preview in the Finder (don't know why that should set it off, but it does).
the noise hasn't come back at all on my powerbook after i set mine back to automatic. i only heard it when on ac power as well. never when on battery power, even when set to 'highest' on processor performance. i just keep it on automatic and haven't noticed much of a performance hit and just have stopped worrying about it i guess...
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wuzup101
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Nov 26, 2004, 07:56 PM
 
I have that sound only when my machine is set oh highest performance. It makes the noise regardless if A/C adapter is in or not (as long as I have the battery mode set to highest as well...).
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Squozen
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Nov 29, 2004, 04:24 AM
 
The same thing happened with my 15" PowerBook before it died (no, it died for reasons unrelated to the noise, don't panic!).
     
EdipisReks
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Nov 29, 2004, 05:15 AM
 
mine does that. i find the sizzle to be much less annoying than the high pitched whine the fujitsu hard drive makes.
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mdc
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Nov 29, 2004, 10:44 AM
 
my 1.25 15" powerbook does it too. does not bother me, i don't even hear it anymore.
     
Xerxes
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Jul 4, 2005, 05:17 PM
 
Hi all, i have the same in the AL PB 15inch and took into my Apple Store. The rep said the DC port is faulty and needs to be repaired. I suggest anyone having a similar problem take into Apple.
I only had the problem when plugged into the power adaptor not on battery usage.

X


Originally Posted by mikerich
Anyone else out there with a noisy 15" Aluminium Powerbook?

It's a hissing crackling noise - quite faint but persistant which appears to be coming from somewhere under the function keys.

On mine, it is most noisy when the machine is plugged in to the mains and running a Custom power setup - if I go to battery power and change the power settings to Automatic the noise almost vanishes.

If anyone knows anything about this can they say if this is a serious problem with my PB, and what could be causing it?

Thanks,

Mike.
     
gametime10
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Jul 4, 2005, 11:56 PM
 
Changing it to Automatic fixed the crackling noise for me as well. Thanks! (15" 1.5Ghz)
     
pete
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Jul 5, 2005, 01:06 PM
 
I;ve never had any noise at all and have been living in silent work bliss for a year and a half. The other day I re-installed Tiger and after that I have this awful buzzing from the upper right corner of the keyboard (I think the CPU is underneath) that starts as soon as I do anything that requires the CPU and stops when I live the computer alone. Also stops when I unplug and when I put the CPU to reduced mode. Automatic or high make no difference at all. It's pretty annoying, especially given that it has been completely silent up until now.

Is this something that can be fixed with a software upgrade eventually, or is it permanent? Does anybody actually know what it is that is causing this?

cheers,
     
pete
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Jul 5, 2005, 04:04 PM
 
Well, the theory that it is only when the CPU is maxed out doesn't seem to be right. When only 20% of my cpu was used, it still made these sounds. There's something else involved here, though what I don't know...hopefully somebody with this kind of expertise will come around...
     
d.fine
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Jul 5, 2005, 04:41 PM
 
I don't hear it on mine. Have never heard it either...

(RevA 1.25 Al PB)

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Link
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Jul 5, 2005, 11:12 PM
 
Never heard it on my 15"/1.5ghz current rev, the machine is pretty damn quiet but the graphics chip makes EEEEEEEE noise that you can hear when it's really quiet.. no surprise
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pete
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Jul 6, 2005, 03:00 PM
 
I just booted from an external hard drive and the sound has gone away. I know the sound did not come from the hard drive since it was from the upper right corner. So any ideas? I'm reinstalling tiger again on a completely erased internal drive - we'll see if the sound returns when I boot of that...
     
pete
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Jul 6, 2005, 08:26 PM
 
Originally Posted by pete
I just booted from an external hard drive and the sound has gone away. I know the sound did not come from the hard drive since it was from the upper right corner. So any ideas? I'm reinstalling tiger again on a completely erased internal drive - we'll see if the sound returns when I boot of that...
Great, I seem to have two sounds now: one is the hard drive which has kind of a high
pitch though low volume sound and the other is the buzz of the cpu. ****.

should probably change that drive before it goes bad...
     
Link
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Jul 6, 2005, 08:31 PM
 
Actually, the hard drive isn't in the front, so it probably is back there.. there's no room for it up by the front lol.
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pete
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Jul 6, 2005, 08:50 PM
 
actually the hard drive is right ncer the trackpad....and the cpu is in the
back right
     
pete
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Jul 11, 2005, 08:22 AM
 
I just thought I'd post a quick update. So, after all the sounds started, my LCD suddenly went crazy with vertical colored lines. The computer crashed and then would not boot up. I tried over and over again and finally got it to boot, but it the LCD did the same thing once I had the desktop up for a few secconds. The sound became worse, especially from the hard drive. I managed to reset the pram, but it wouldn't boot again.


I took it in for repair and, of course, NOTHING happened there and it booted fine and passed all their diagnostic tests. Crazy. I've been using the computer intensively for two days and everything is working perfectly and NO noise at all from the hard drive or CPU! I have no idea what happened. The only think I know is that I recently purchased a macally icekey and installed what I think was a rather old driver. During the process of rebooting and messing around, the system somehow must have uninstalled or removed the macally driver since when I tried to uninstall it with the macally software it said there was no driver installed...I've never seen this happen from a driver though so maybe it is something else after all.

Just an update. Happy to be back in complete silence. Hope it lasts.
     
   
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