[new_pb17]

I've read some of the topics about the sizzle noise with the new PowerBook G4 17-inch computers. Mine certainly has it, but I've read other posts from owners that say their computers don't make the sizzle noise. From my days as a TiPB owner, I remembered that the serial number includes the build week. I'm curious if the sizzle noise is something that has been fixed in later production batches. Can a few of you post the build week of you PB17 and whether you have or do not have the sizzle noise?

To find your "build week," look at the fourth and fifth digits of your serial number. For example, mine is V7309... The 09 means it was the ninth calendar week (I think). The latest ones I saw in an Apple retail store were 15.

[schuey100]

V7315

No Sizzle here.

[Over Achiever]

V7312 here

Definate sizzle...not too annoying.

[rcarlosnyc]

Can you describe the sizzle and where it comes from?

I guess if I'm asking, I don't have it.

[Over Achiever]

If you're in a quiet room, and the fan isn't running, put your ear near the keyboard. You may hear some sizzling.

It seems to be from the processor and the graphics card...i.e. the motherboard. I'm not sure of the source exactly.

I don't think you would have a powerbook without the sizzle...it just depends if you notice it or not.

[schuey100]

Aha, got it. I see what you mean now!

[tonewheel]

Geez, if you have to be in a quiet room - without the fan running - and put your ear down on the keyboard...c'mon!

PB17 here, no sizzle.

[cschott101]

I think there are varying levels of this "problem." If it were only audible when in a completely silent environment, I wouldn't mind as much. I have the sizzle noise accompanied by "chirping" when certain UI actions take place, e.g., moving a window. It's definitely audible in an office environment.

My serial number is V7309.

If you don't have the noise, what's the first five of serial number?

[tonewheel]

V73142

[LosJackal]

V7312, yes on the sizzle.

The sizzling practically goes away when on "Processor reduced" in the Energy Saver settings.

I can hear it even in a room with the TV on, but it really isn't bad. But I'd probably pay $100 right now to have a machine with no sizzle. :-/

[tonewheel]

Look at it this way: with your gorgeous, powerful, new laptop, you've got the steak AND the sizzle!

[Karim]

V7312 and Yes.

I postulate that everyone has it, it is just a question of who can hear it well or not. I'm sure the tolerances on the 17" Powerbook are a LOT tighter than all our hearing.

[iDORK]

V7312
Sizzle is active here.

Is Apple aware of the sizzling?

[dccski]

more than 3 techs at apple care said all 17 inchers have the sizzle, it is normal and its the power supply or power processor. i forgot the way they phrased it. call them and ask and see what they say.

[morlium]

V7314

yes, there is a sizzle.

[katorga]

Descibe when the sizzle occurs. All the time or during specific actions?

I have a TiBook 800Mhz and notice a distinct squeal or sizzle noise when the built in ethernet or modem are transfering lots of data.

[nobitacu]

V7313

noise here

Ming

[blacksheep]

Both V7313 and V7315 sizzle too.

[aqs789]

V7316
Yes on the sizzle

[iDORK]

just to let you guys know, my 1ghz ti 15" also has the sizzling noise but not as loud as the 17".

[parsec_kadets]

V7313 and yes on the sizzle.

I can best describe it as more of a built up static sound that a speaker gives off from time to time. It tends to get louder over a few minutes until there's a pop and then it goes away. Also, if you sleep the computer, it comes back when you wake it. I find it a little confusing since it is clearly coming from the area around the G and H keys, not one of the speaker grills. Does the 17" have a third speaker that takes care of the mid-range like the 12"? If so, my guess would be it involves that.

[b3t4]

V73145

disturbing sizzle.

espacially if i am copying a lot of files than it goes crazy.
right now while i am typing this thread it is sizzling the whole time. kinda annoying. i would like to get to know where it is coming from.

if you connect your 17" to some nice loudspeakers and put it in sleep mode i can hear another sizzle throught the loudspeakers. not really nice.

my old pismo was a bit more rough i think, not so girlish :-)

beta

[Finrock]

I reset the power manager and my sizzle sounds have pretty much gone away.. Try it... shut down and then hold down ctrl-option-power.

Then, start the PowerBook.

V7312

-Finney

[Forseti]

I tried that... it didn't fix it.
In fact I think it got worse...

[b3t4]

As i wrote some threads up i have this sizzle sound too. i am wondering where this is coming from.

i found out that when i open a huge blank IE Window the sizzle sounds get less annoying. When you move the window the sizzle sound gets louder. The sound is coming from the area where you find the "u" and "i" and "j" and "k" key.
As far as i saw it on some other pictures that is the place where the graphiccard is built in.
I am wondering if there is some misconfiguration between the soundcard and the graphiccard. On a pc i would say that they are using the same interrupt which is causing this problem. We can't set that on a mac so i don't know any solution for it.

maybe some other dudes can keep an i on it to verify my suggestion.

thanks beta

[bluejam]

I just got my PB 17 and it has the sizzle as well. What is worse is the very high frequency pitch that goes along with it. Has anyone tried applecare about this problem? I cannot accept this.

[pamelaubeda]

hhmmm...funny.

I didn't put the two together when I got my 17" at first...didn't really notice it. Then i did...and I thought I had my speakers up loud or something...sounded like speaker static..then i realized..OH!! that must be the sizzling everyone is talking about. I must say that it is quite faint...and i did that test of moving a big IE window around and it got louded and there was a kind of....well...screech?orscaping sound? (Very mild of course).

Of course i'd love if it wasn't there...but it doesn't *totally* bug me...as long as it doesn't get any louder.

I don't want to mess with any settings to try and fix it just in case it *does* get louder.

I have a V7316

[Mohammed Al-Sabah]

Originally posted by iDORK:
just to let you guys know, my 1ghz ti 15" also has the sizzling noise but not as loud as the 17".

same here on pb 1ghz

[bkperry]

I've got the sizzle. But some things I've noticed:

1. The sizzle completely stops when programs are loading. I click on any program in the dock, and blessed silence follows as long as the program is loading, as long as the hard drive is not being accessed. Then, a small sizzle. So, it goes a bit like this: Quiet - hard drive crunch and sizzle - Quiet - hard drive crunch and sizzle.

2. I am using the program iPulse, which is a real-time display of system conditions (ram use, network use, processor use, etc.). Every time the program updates the info, the sizzle stops. If I set it at .1 sec, the sizzle becomes an interrupted scratching- chick, chick chick chick. If I set it for longer, say 2 secs, it becomes a sizzle with a break every two seconds.

Now, what both of these things tell me is that there are some system functions that cause whatever is sizzling to stop operating for a moment. If someone more knowledgable than I am can figure out what the function is, maybe there is a system way to turn the sizzle off.

I'd recommend using iPulse as a sizzle tester. It's a cool program anyway.

----bkperry

[Tritium]

build week 13 here... I have a sizzle noise, but it's not really noticeable. I'm extremely neurotic about computer noise and this is the quietest computer i've ever owned. The sizzle gets louder if I peg the CPU at 100% for more than 5 minutes at a time, but aside from that the machine is absurdly quiet.

[ngrundy]

the Sizzle that you refer to happens in every machine to some extent, mac and pc alike.

It's the insane ammounts of RF crap that all the components put out interacting with each other. Generally the sizzle will be worse when your scrolling (video card is updating) or there is a lot of black on the screen. My last 3 PC systems all exibited this to some extent but never really worried me and the sould would offload via the sound chip at times. My ti has it but i need to be in a dead slient room with no fans or just the low speed on in the back on with my head wthin about 10cm of the keyboard to hear it.

It's just a side effect of technology, thought there may be some legitimate cases in which it's something else but in those cases i doubt your machine would work.

[catalystC]

The sizzle is very common on dell laptops, 2 of my 8100 and 8200's series bricktops have the sizzzle.

The dell support is full of complaints.

I

[Spheric Harlot]

I just started noticing it on my 12" Powerbook today.

it stops immediately when I disconnect the power.

To the person who said it goes crazy when copying lots of files: Duh.

That's not the sizzle talked about, that's the normal sound of your hard drive access.

The sizzle sounds rather similar - at first, I thought my hard drive was constantly being accessed - but it is in fact entirely different.

-s*

[wuf810]

Yep sizzle here but really is not noticable unless my ear is the keyboard. Screeching on some web site but I'll live with it.

Serial no is v7317

Michael.

[Nicoleto]

V7311

Sizzle noise but not as bad as some say.

[pamelah]

I called applecare about my airport extreme base station and at the same time i asked about the sizzling and the screeching....they put me through a few tests included reinstalling osx ontop of the old one to fix files etc..but none of that worked. she said that if that last install didn't work then they were allowing me to return the powerbook for repair. Do you guys think i should send it? How long do these things usually take to get back? will it come back in worse shape? should I just live with it?? WHAT SHOULD I DO?!

[djjava]

Originally posted by pamelah:
I called applecare about my airport extreme base station and at the same time i asked about the sizzling and the screeching....they put me through a few tests included reinstalling osx ontop of the old one to fix files etc..but none of that worked. she said that if that last install didn't work then they were allowing me to return the powerbook for repair. Do you guys think i should send it? How long do these things usually take to get back? will it come back in worse shape? should I just live with it?? WHAT SHOULD I DO?!

if your lcd screen has no dead pixels, and your lid closes even, it's a keeper.

[zaimbat]

V 7315 - the only noise I get is the FAN when I run games/screensavers which require the video card to do some efforts (e.g. Unreal Demo or Fluid screen saver). After 3 minutes it quits.

[erichen]

V73102

loud disturbing sizzle.


~Eric
http://homepage.mac.com/erichen

[tritonus]

V7313 ... and yes

[tritonus]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
it stops immediately when I disconnect the power.

You're right!

[iWrite]

Let's see.

$3500 on a notebook that "sizzles."

Yet everyone continues to say that Apple is "the best."

I think it's disgusting and if I owned that notebook for almost $4000 I'd be pretty pissed off. That's a down payment on a great car and in some places, halfway to the down payment on a home.

Yet Apple tells you guys this is "normal and acceptable."

Okay, then!

Did I tell you I have some GREAT beachfront property for sale down here in Florida? Yeah, sure do. It's...

You get the point.

Good luck to all of you.

[AssassyN]

Well in all honesty, when I had my 17" PB it had this "sizzle" as well. But I truly had to put my EAR ON THE KEYBOARD to hear it, thus I didn't complain, because during normal use you couldn't even recognize it on mine.

[Ti X]

The only time I hear anything remotely close to being called a "sizzle", would be when I access my internet banking website. When the secure login window opens up, I hear a faint sizzle like noise, and that is the only time I EVER hear anything. This is by far the quietest computer, laptop or desktop, that I have ever used.

V7312

[Moose]

V7314, and I'm eating at Sizzler tonight.

Also, there's an audible pop that occurs before any sound event (iChat status changes are the most blatant) even if the computer's muted.

Anybody else have this?

[queritor]

V7327 - One of the latest batches and it's a sizzler.

[iWrite]

You know, this sounds like class action lawsuit material.

Seriously.

I remember when the Titanium paint started flaking on their new Powerbooks and Apple refused to do anything about it stating that "it was cosmetic and due to consumer use."

Then about 50 people banded together and filed a lawsuit.

Voila! They had their cases replaced and the rest of the country did too -- I had the case replaced no less than 6 times on several generations.

This is along the same lines.

How will you feel when the next revision comes out and the "new" version does NOT sizzle?

???

[Moose]

Originally posted by iWrite:
How will you feel when the next revision comes out and the "new" version does NOT sizzle?

I'll feel happy that Apple fixed the problem.

This is what I like to call the "early adopter blues." The noise is a non-issue for me. It doesn't affect the core functionality of the machine, and I didn't notice until I read this thread.

I bought this machine for how it works, not for whether or not it sounds like Flapjack Phil's Griddle.

[iWrite]

Moose said
I bought this machine for how it works, not for whether or not it sounds like Flapjack Phil's Griddle.

Ooooh-KAY, then!

Unfortunately, sound and music professionals probably don't feel the same as you do.

[Naz]

depends how bad is this sizzle thing?

they could see it as a bunch of spoiled people who found a thread on a forum and now are sticking their ears to the machine and return to confirm, "yeah I hear it too." Echoes, "Mee tooo!"

OR

Does it sound like you are frying bacon everytime you power up your machine...?!
Is it like a bugzapper? Lawnmower?



I tell you gremlins hate apple computers