Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

tavilach · Oct 28, 2004, 12:15 AM

This sound comes from my PowerBook (definitely audible from a distance...quieter than a mouse click, but very annoying) when I either have lots of programs open, or just a few Safari tabs and basic programs...basically, as long as my CPU usage and RAM usage are high, it seems to make the noise (I haven't experimented much).

Should I get this checked out, or is it normal?

Note that this is not the same sound that it makes when things load...that's a normal sound, and it goes away quickly. This sticks around for a long time, sometimes going for five minutes, sometimes have little outburts every thirty seconds...

SpaceMonkey · Oct 28, 2004, 01:13 AM

Originally posted by tavilach:
This sound comes from my PowerBook (definitely audible from a distance...quieter than a mouse click, but very annoying) when I either have lots of programs open, or just a few Safari tabs and basic programs...basically, as long as my CPU usage and RAM usage are high, it seems to make the noise (I haven't experimented much).

Should I get this checked out, or is it normal?

Note that this is not the same sound that it makes when things load...that's a normal sound, and it goes away quickly. This sticks around for a long time, sometimes going for five minutes, sometimes have little outburts every thirty seconds...

Is it this? http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=191566

tavilach · Oct 28, 2004, 02:14 AM

If it's the hard drive spinning a lot, it make sense, as my PowerBook has been paging a lot (I need more RAM).

I'm not sure it's the same thing, though.

This isn't a clicky noise...but a scratchy one, like an iSight zooming (not exactly...I had a speaker problem that replicated this sound, but this is different) or a DJ scratching. When I think of the hard drive, I think of the loading noises...the "pluga pluga pluga" you get when new programs open, sometimes, or when there is just a lot of loading activity. I've gotten the "pluga pluga pluga" noise on every computer I ever owned, but perhaps it's not the hard drive, but the CPU...

ibook_steve · Oct 28, 2004, 01:43 PM

This is clearly the hard disk. Nothing to worry about. You don't say how much memory you have, but this would happen because of the paging to disk if you don't have much.

Steve

tavilach · Oct 28, 2004, 11:48 PM

Originally posted by ibook_steve:
This is clearly the hard disk. Nothing to worry about. You don't say how much memory you have, but this would happen because of the paging to disk if you don't have much.

Steve

512 MB...would that explain it?

ibook_steve · Oct 29, 2004, 04:49 PM

Don't know what you are doing or what apps you are running, but probably.

Steve

tavilach · Oct 29, 2004, 10:28 PM

Originally posted by ibook_steve:
Don't know what you are doing or what apps you are running, but probably.

Steve

It made that noise when I had many (ten to twenty) Safari tabs open, AppleScript editor (when I closed this, I think it stopped), Mail, iCal, Finder, Adium, iTunes, Launchbar, Address Book...

Ruahrc · Oct 30, 2004, 05:19 AM

No I don't think it's the hard drive. If what you describe and recorded is what I am hearing from my powerbook, it is not coming from the HD. The noise is not like a HD access and also it appears to originate from below the keyboard.

Also I have 1.25GB RAM and didn't have that many apps open, so I highly doubt I'm paging.

I have noticed that the PB is kinda whiney and squealy. For example press shift then click on the minimize button, the window will minimize slowly to the dock. During the time when it is minimizing, I hear a high pitched whine (very faint but audible) which I can't quite place the origin on. I have noticed this with both my PB and also the dual G5 Powermacs at school.

Also when sleeping put your ear next to the white LED. It too emits a very quiet (but clearly audible from a few inches) whine. I'm just kinda confused where these noises are coming from in a solid state device?

Ruahrc

sichaus · Oct 30, 2004, 11:04 AM

A sound like you are descriping only comes when I move my mouse or type on the keybord when I use Dreamweaver but not in other Applications. It�s a little wierd, when I move my mouse this sound comes and when I stop moving the mouse it stops.

tavilach · Oct 30, 2004, 03:13 PM

Originally posted by Ruahrc:
No I don't think it's the hard drive. If what you describe and recorded is what I am hearing from my powerbook, it is not coming from the HD. The noise is not like a HD access and also it appears to originate from below the keyboard.

Also I have 1.25GB RAM and didn't have that many apps open, so I highly doubt I'm paging.

I have noticed that the PB is kinda whiney and squealy. For example press shift then click on the minimize button, the window will minimize slowly to the dock. During the time when it is minimizing, I hear a high pitched whine (very faint but audible) which I can't quite place the origin on. I have noticed this with both my PB and also the dual G5 Powermacs at school.

Also when sleeping put your ear next to the white LED. It too emits a very quiet (but clearly audible from a few inches) whine. I'm just kinda confused where these noises are coming from in a solid state device?

Ruahrc

Those whines are quiet. The sound that I'm describing is just a little quieter than a mouse click...i.e. loud.

DevNine · Oct 31, 2004, 01:32 PM

I have the same problem on my pb 1.5 with 512mb running 10.3.5. It only happens in certain apps which is wierd. If I move the mouse in Dreamweaver this happens!! HELP , anyone know what this sound is ? Its origin is from under the keyboard or near the screen. When I move the mouse the noise starts and doesn't stop till I stop moving the mouse. This happens both for a usb mouse and the powerbook mouse. I've always had 512mb of ram and this problem only started recently.It happens with the speekers muted also.

Its crazy that only certain apps affect it.

DevNine · Oct 31, 2004, 01:38 PM

If I change the energy saving back to the default of automatic the problem goes away !

az_matt · Nov 1, 2004, 10:38 AM

I have the same issues - 12" rev c, 1.25gb ram. With nothing more than one Safari window with a single tab (macnn forums, natch), I get the same sound periodically.

Looked into it with Activity Monitor, and there is s definite red spike (disk activity/data out) associated with this sound. What would be causing periodic data reads like that?

Did some checking, things like the WPA group key renewal and couldn't get it to stop. Also tried fiddling with energy saver settings, also no luck.

Surely someone has to have an idea as to what's going on?

Matthew

JKT · 12:31 PM

I have the exact same sound (I believe) but only when I am running off the mains. If I am running off my battery it isn't there any more. I suspect it has something to do with the AC from the mains. It is quiet, but loud enough to be noticeable and to be irritating at times. FWIW, it has absolutely nothing to do with disk access.

Do you have the same experience - is it only present when running off the mains?

Edit: Certain keyboard actions will stop the sound, such as command up/down arrowing through tabs in OmniWeb, or moving up and down a list of files in the Finder using the arrow keys, or continuously mousing over the Dock to magnify it.

JKT · Nov 1, 2004, 12:28 PM

Also, if I have a Quicktime movie highlighted in the Finder in column view (but not playing) it becomes twice as bad.

DevNine · Nov 1, 2004, 07:32 PM

This problem happen to my pb 1.5 from the mains and also when battery powered.Resetting the energy saver to the default settings has stopped it for me at least.

JKT · 09:26 AM

You're right - I believe I've tracked down the cause... the reason why I only heard it when connected to the power supply was because I was using a custom setting of Highest processor performance. If I toggle that to Automatic or Reduced, the sound goes away. Toggle it back to Highest, it comes back.

Do any others have the same result?

Edit: toggling any of the other options has no effect - it is just the Highest processor performance option that leads to the sound occurring.

rag on a muffin · Nov 2, 2004, 12:30 PM

i think it has something to do with the GPU. when ever GPU heavy operations happen, the noise i believe that you are hearing happens. try scrolling your mouse across the dock with magnification enabled, and tell me if thats the sound you are hearing is.

JKT · Nov 2, 2004, 12:36 PM

Originally posted by rag on a muffin:
i think it has something to do with the GPU. when ever GPU heavy operations happen, the noise i believe that you are hearing happens. try scrolling your mouse across the dock with magnification enabled, and tell me if thats the sound you are hearing is.

That has the exact opposite effect for me - it actually stops the sound from happening.

azdude · Nov 2, 2004, 01:59 PM

Originally posted by JKT:
You're right - I believe I've tracked down the cause... the reason why I only heard it when connected to the power supply was because I was using a custom setting of Highest processor performance. If I toggle that to Automatic or Reduced, the sound goes away. Toggle it back to Highest, it comes back.

Do any others have the same result?

Edit: toggling any of the other options has no effect - it is just the Highest processor performance option that leads to the sound occurring.

Yup... This has been the cause of my "sizzle" for quite some time, and it's been the consensus of the cause on Apple Discussion for months.

There's no known solution.

If you set it to Highest, the sound WILL occur.
If you set it to Reduced, the sound WILL NOT occur.
If you set it to Automatic, the sound will occur when the "Automaticness" sets the processor speed to Highest, and will not occur when it is automatically reduced under light load.

It has nothing to do with the Power (i.e. plugged in or not), beyond the fact that you can have different Energy Saver settings for plugged in and battery power. If you set BOTH of these separate settings to "Highest," for example, the plug has no effect... the noise will always happen.

It annoyed me at first, but I've gotten used to it. :/

benwhanlee · 08:27 AM

i have my processor speed set to highest for both battery power and when plugged in. the sound only happens on my machine when plugged in. this morning, it was making the sound and as it was, i pulled the power cord out. the sound stopped immediately. so for my powerbook, it definitely has something to do with being plugged in.

my machine is now set to automatic for both power supply options and i haven't noticed the sound since...but haven't done anything really processor intensive since doing so.

tavilach · 06:51 PM

http://forums.macosxhints.com/printthread.php?t=28366

This explains a lot, but I still can't decide...is this normal, or should I get my machine "fixed"?

Edit:

http://www.macworld.com/forums/ubbth...b=5&o=&fpart=1

Damnit...is it normal or not?

PseudoTech · Dec 8, 2004, 12:33 PM

My two day old 1.5 GHz AlBook made this noise - a clicking/whirring noise from under the left speaker - the location of the left fan assembly. I took it into the Apple Store to have a 'Genius' look at it.

The tech heard the sound, first thing he said was, "Yeah, that's out of spec." And he offered to replace the computer.

My replacement is not making any similar noises that I'm aware of. The 'Genius' also said that this was the first time he'd seen a problem of this type on an AlBook... his guess was that a bearing or bushing in the fan was bad...

Monkeymike · Dec 8, 2004, 03:02 PM

My Powerbook has just started making this noise and it does it ALL the time regardless of if its plugged in or not. I played with the energy saver and tried all kinds of settings but NOTHING makes a difference.....

ojnihs · Dec 21, 2004, 09:11 PM

Going to revitalize this topic here..

I started to notice that my Powerbook has been doing the same thing recently and I think I noticed it about.. oh.. 3 days ago. It's coming out from the right side of my powerbook near the screen where the I/O Button is.

Haven't been able to put a finger on what the problem is either and I've also been playing around with the Energy Saver options and doesn't help a thing. It also happens all the time, so I'm trying to figure out what it could be and what happened in the past couple weeks or days to start it.

Anyone got any ideas as of late?

himself · Dec 22, 2004, 09:59 PM

If the noise you are hearing is a "buzzing" or "sizzling" noise, it is coming from your inverter board. The inverter board is the component that controls the backlighting on your display. It can also make noises when you move your mouse, move a window, or a bunch of other screen related actions. The noise is normal, and is nothing to worry about. Search the forums for "inverter board" and you should find some other discussions about it.