IMac 24" Buzz

Hi. I just purchased a new iMac 24" and in the last week or so it has developed a buzz. The buzzing is strange because as far as I can tell, it is not associated with the brightness of the screen. It is also not a steady sound but one that comes and goes on its own. The cycle is one where it starts soft, gradually getting louder, then fading away to a moment of silence. This happens about every 25s.

I've solved the problem. It turns out the iMac is very sensitive to power conditions. The power strip that this iMac was plugged into has an internal noise problem. Plugging the iMac into a different power strip solved the problem.

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IMac speaker buzz... ?

Hi all,
I apologize if this is a common issue; I've done some searching but haven't found anyone with my exact problem.
I've got a fairly old (I believe at least ten years) pair of Bose Roommate II speakers and a brand new (arrived yesterday) aluminum iMac. When I plug the speakers into the iMac, they buzz for exactly 30 seconds and then stop. Any time I play any kind of audio (including the sound effects in the OS like the feedback when you change the volume), they buzz for 30 seconds and then stop, as long as I don't play anything else. They buzz continuously if I'm listening to music or anything like that. It doesn't change volume if I change the output volume on the computer.
The speakers work flawlessly with my 2.16GHz MacBook and with both my iPods, so the speakers definitely aren't at fault here. The plug is seated firmly in the headphone jack. The fact that the time is so exact - 30 seconds on the dot - makes it seem like it's a built in thing - some internal component shutting down, maybe?
Any thoughts? Again, I'm sorry if this is a well-known issue or an obvious fix... my mom's the audiophile and she's out right now. TIA
Message was edited by: aqua*star

I have the same or similar problem. My imac is a week old and makes a humming and or buzzing sound. It's intermittent and happens especially when I go to get mail and there's no mail. It buzzed or hummed constantly today while I was on the internet. So I tried something. I disconnected my old Labtec external speakers and enabled the internal speakers. The noise stopped. I would here the humming with the volume turned all the way down on the Labtecs. Here's the crazy part. I have a voip telephone service that uses the router-so the phone is near the computer. With the Labtecs connected I picked up the phone to make a call. When I hit the on button the pitch of the hum changed on the computer. I did on and off on the phone about 10 times and the hum got higher and lower with each on and off. This is not happening with the Labtecs disconnected. Any thoughts.

24" iMac has buzzing sound every 5 min during sleep after upgrading to is x lion

I have a 24" iMac purchased new in 2009. Haven't had a problem and usually put it to sleep mode at night with no problem. I recently upgraded to OS X Lion and started noticing 2 problems during sleep mode. One is a constant humming noise that wasn't there before, as if the computer is still running. Second problem is that every 5 to 10 min or so, a slight buzzing sound pops up.
The noise poses as a real problem during the night as I have the iMac in my bedroom. I'm forced to completely shut down very evening to avoid the noise. Can anyone help? Thank you in advance.

I have a similar problem on my early 2008 macbook pro. After the audio driver is idle for a minute or so (after an itunes playlist or youtube video ends) the headphone jack output starts buzzing horribly, to the point where i have to turn off my soundsystem or play a muted song to “wake up“ the card and stop the buzzing. This must be due to different power management parameters in Lion, as it started immediately after the upgrade and disappeared after I reformatted and returned to Snow Leopard. Maybe there is a way to force the audio hardware to stay active?

IMac 27 buzz/hum getting worse

I bought an iMac about a year ago it is the 27 inch i3 3.2ghz one with no upgrades and i have never opened it. When i got it it had a slight hum when i dimmed the brightness down but i always had the brightness high about 80% and decided to live with the buzz. But now the buzzing has got even worse and is coming from the top left hand corner of the screen. It seems like it is the led board or the psu as when i put the display to sleep it completely goes away and the fans are really quite. The probelm is that my imac is out of warranty now by a few months and i didn't extend my applecare as i thought i would never need it. I know there have been other posts about this but they all just gave it to apple or put a mat underneath, which i have tried, but i want to know if i could repair it myself as my warranty has finished and where i could get the parts from in the UK. And if i do need to go to apple, how much would it cost. Also i do experience grumbling noises from my hard drive occassionally, which i know is normal but that seems to be gettting worse as well, louder and more frequent.
Thanks, help would be appreciated

The buzz/hum is comming from the display inverter or dimmer and there is not much that you can do except take it in for service like rkaufmann87 say's.
However, there are a couple of work-a-rounds that might help you if it is quiet when set to the maximium brightness.
1. Set the brightness to max and go to: Apple / System Preferences / Display / Color and select or create a darker display profile.
2. Set the brightness to max and use a third party brightness utility like Shades. > Shades | Software | Charcoal Design
All Hard Drives make some noise, some make more that others and so while a replacement should make less, there is no guaranty that it will last any longer or be any quieter.
For peace of mind you best bet is to:
1. Have a good backup plan > The no-worry backup plan | Macworld
2. Turn up iTunes

New iMac is buzzing with power on or shut off

I purchased my new iMac on 4/26 and turned it on everything was great. Let it go into sleep mode overnight and the next evening it was buzzing quite loudly, interfereing. I tried shutting it down, still buzzing, power source removed no muzzing any more. I know electronics have buzzing sounds but after having the computer shut off for 24 hours the buzzing went away, only to come back after the computer had been on for 30 minutes. Is it possible this is just a defective machine? If i exchange it will it happen again? could the electricity in my home caused the buzzing?

No iMac should produce a buzzing sound.
Yes, it's possible there's a defect.
You have a one year limited warranty.
Check your warranty status here >
Apple - Support - Check Your Service and Support Coverage
Standard return policy:
You have 14 calendar days to return an item from the date you received it.
From here > Apple Help - Returns and Refund
You need to take the iMac in for service. Locations listed here.

Imac 27 Buzzing while sleeping or shutdown...

Hi evreybody and first of all sorry for my English...
Here's my problem : When my Imac 27 ( 2011 version ) is shutdown or sleeping there a buzzing "electrical" sound ( like an high tension cable ) behind the screen.
I've read a lot of posts abour this problem and even found some video with the same sound.
Do you think I have to return my Imac to the Apple center near me?
Do you think it's a power supply issue?
Thanks for your precious help!!!

Hello & welcome to the forums... your english great by the way, better than many that only speak English!
Do you have any USB or Firewire devices attached?
Could you have a Ground loop somewhere?

My iMac speakers buzz now

For some reason it seems the radio on the iPhone causes my iMac speakers to emit an intermittent buzz. It's incredibly annoying. The cable that came with the dock isn't long enough to allow for docking without buzzing. I have to put the iPhone on the other side of my desk out of reach in order to keep this from happening. Is this another AT&T GSM "feature"?
BTW, this happens on my iMac C2D at home, and my iMac CD at work. The iPhone does not have to be docked either, just within a few feet of the computer.

The interesting thing is....i have my cradle parked next to my G4 tower, and next to my 23" Cinema HD Apple Screen. I have two Apple speakers (the round bose speakers) just behind the iPhone. They don't interfere at all.
Must be in the design/shielding.
Otherwise, the iPhone will interfere with other speakers, television speakers, etc etc..

Buzzing and locked up imac

Our imac started buzzing and locked up. The only way to shut it down was to unplug it. After restarting, it seems to be ok. Any thoughts?

Sounds like maybe your disk drive is going bad. Try running AHT on the install DVD for you Mac to check it out.
Allan

IMac 27 inch hum/buzz/vibration

I have just come from the new Apple store in Hornsby, having returned the second iMac 27 inch computer with a hum/buzz/vibration noise complaint.
APPLE THIS IS NOT A MYTH AND NOT ACCEPTABLE!
The story goes like this...
I bought a 3.4 Ghz, quad core 27 inch iMac with a 1TB Seagate HDD and 8GB of RAM, and the 1GB video card a few months ago from the Apple store in Castle Hill, Sydney NSW. Took the machine home, set it up, and was extremely happy with it. Upgraded to Lion, had no issues with performance or ambient noise etc... it was whisper quiet. I would leave the machine running all the time, letting it simply sleep when inactive, and it never made a sound other than the optical drive or maybe occasionally the drive heads when reading or writing data. It was dead silent!
I receieved an email from Apple stating that in some circumstances the Seagate drive could fail, and for me to contact a store to make an appointment to have the drive replaced as part of a product recall. I thought 'I'll do the right thing' and made an appointment with Castle Hill Apple store to see a 'Genius'. Here comes my first gripe! I am an IT professional myslef (a CIO with a technical background) I should add, at this point. When I made the appointment I was unable to ascertain the status of stock for the replacement hard drives or how long the replacement would take. I get to Castle Hill and I am advised that the drives are not in stock and it could take a few days to get this completed. I don't want to be without my new computer for that long!? So I take it home and rethink how I should approach this.
Hornsby Apple store opens! I live in Hornsby so that suits me! On talking to a representative at the Hornsby store just this Friday passed I am advised that they do have the 1TB replacement drives in stock so make an appointment quick smart! So I do. It goes downhill from here...
On Sunday just passed I drop my iMac (Serial # C02FG03YDMW8) with a Seagate 1TB HDD in for hard drive replacement. As my data needed to be transferred from one drive to the other, I was told it would take overnight. No problem I thought. All good. I pick up the iMac the next day, with the Seagate drive replaced with a Western Digital one, and take it home. Set it up and turn it on. Suddenly my iMac is no longer 'whisper quiet'. From the point the system status chord sounds there is a humming or buzzing 'droan' that resonates through the desk and can be heard even over my television, fridge and fish tank! Sitting in front of the iMac for more than 10 minutes results in discomfort from the sound. It didn't make this noise before!? My assumption was that the new drive was either faulty or incorrectly installed. Dissapointed, and informed by reading countless blogs and forums on others returning multiple iMacs with the same complaint, I box back up my iMac (which I had previously been VERY happy with - previous to it being a buzzing machine that was) and the next morning (Tuesday) return it to the Hornsby store.
At this point I must note that the staff (Manager Kate and Technician or 'Genius' James) have been outstanding in terms of customer support. I cannot fault the staff at this point, just the product.
Tuesday morning the folks at the Apple store advise that they can either try to repair my now noisy iMac, or replace it. I figure, well I'll replace it then. So James sets about that day transferring all my data again, moving my 8GB of Ram from the machine with serial number C02FG03YDMW8 to a new machine, with serial number C02FP02MDMW8. The new machine has in it of course, a Western Digital drive (not that I am attributing the hum/buzz/vibration to the WD drive, but it is an odd coincidence don't you think?). I pick that machine up Tuesday afternoon, thanking everyone for all their wonderful help, and knocking on wood that this new machine is as faultless as my first one was prior to the drive replacement. Guess what!? It wasn't!!!
So I return the second machine this morning. You guessed it... I am now irate. The 'Genius' told me he could not recreate the issue... OF COURSE! GENIUS! You have music in the background and it's a noisy store! I wish I had never let anyone touch my iMac in the first place. As I've said I've read countless forums on this issue - it DOES EXIST! If I pick up the machine when running, the buzz vanishes. You can FEEL the vibration through the stand. If you lean the machine forwards onto the front ledge of the stand the sound goes. It is something to do with a moving component that is creating a vibration and in quiet environments the noise actually becomes irritant. I left my iMac running overnight and from my bedroom, I could hear the droan. The desk is a wooden desk, on tiled floor - but I must impress, MY FIRST iMac DID NOT MAKE THIS DROAN!
Anyone wish to comment? Apple maybe!? The iMac is in the shop for further diagnostics.

I also have 2 Tb Hitachi iMac 2011 with SSD. The source of constant noise is Hitachi drive. When iMac runs just on SSD it's dead silent. Disappointed with this issue for so expensive model. Changing the tabble or using rubber pad like some people advice don't help at all. I saw some iMacs which are almost dead silent, so it's weird Apple sells so different models, especially when you pay much more to get that 2 Tb drive. I am already out of my 2 weeks return/exchange period, and actually I had a very little hope on the shop - they surely will tell it's normal since the drive is OK. I called Apple authorized service and they tell iMacs can be as loud as 30 Db. But it's weird, I saw a bottom line 512 Gb model in the shop and couldn't hear any buzz even with my ear touching the screen. Surely the constant HDD buzz just attracts the attention and makes overall impression from using iMac not that positive. I saw older iMacs, even plastic ones, they are all dead silent. So what can we do in this situation? Surely Apple won't serve it as a warranty issue. Also customers are very limited in choosing replacement hard drives as Apple now uses proprietary models, and many of them tend to be noisy....
Actually when you have an SSD drive you can unmount your second hard drive and it becomes silent. You can even specify the drives to go to sleep after 1 minute of inactivity with pmset Terminal command. But it will start to spin again again after going from sleep. Also if you have some third-party tools like Parallels installed, the second drive will not sleep at all cause Parallels causes some conflict.
Overall this computer is dead silent when the secondary HDD is not spinning, even in games.
I really don't know what to do

New imac and a buzzing noise - is it normal because it's irritating?

Hello peeps,
I got my new imac delivered today. Most things are fab, but I'm a bit disappointed with a buzzing noise that only happens when I reduce the brightness of the screen using the slider in the display icon under system preferences. If I keep it at optimum brightness the buzzing doesn't happen. Is there any way of darkening the screen another way?
I'm finding it big and too bright initially as I'm not used to a 24" screen. Is this something that happens or should I send it back?
Anyone care to try theirs and see for me? I would really appreciate this as it's really bothering me and I don't want to complain if I don't have to.
imac Mac OS X (10.4.7)
imac Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Welcome to Discussions
Try using: Shades from Charcoal Design be sure to download the "Intel" version. Shades gives you brightness control all the way down to a black screen, great for working in a dimmly lit room.
http://www.charcoaldesign.co.uk/shades
It's only my opinion, but I find that text images stay sharper at the lower levels using Shades!
Dennis
17" iMac Intel Core Duo 1.5GB Ram Mac OS X (10.4.9) Maxtor 300GB FireWire Creative Inspire 2.1 2G Nano

24" iMac buzzing in Sleep

I've been using Macs for roughly 10 years now but just recently bought my own. I purchased a 24" iMac and had no problems. I always put the computer to "sleep" when I know I won't be using it for a while. Now every, 5 minutes (give or take) I hear a loud buzzing sound that lasts for about 1-2 seconds. I never noticed this until after I installed Snow Leopard. Does anyone know what this is? It's driving me nuts and I've tried to wait and listen for it but I've realized it only happens during the computer's sleep mode. Any thoughts/ideas? Its not doing anything else abnormal but the sound doesn't seem right to me.

Hi
If you have Disk Warrior, then use it to check the state of the HD directory. Directory errors can trigger oddities in the system. If you don't have it, open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder and "verify disk", seeing if any errors appear. DU is nowhere as advanced as DW; hence, errors may be present beyond the capacity of DU to detect or repair them.
If errors do appear via DU, start-up your computer from your Installer DVD. When fully booted, go to the Utilities menu, select Disk Utility and "repair disk". Rerun until you get a clean pass. Then restart the computer and try the sleep mode again.
Genius Bar visit either will lead to an Archive and Install of the OS, or perhaps a hardware repair (I think A & I).
Regardless, post back when you learn something more definitive.

24" iMac Started to Buzz!

I've had my new 24" iMac for about 2-3 weeks now, and it just started buzzing when taken down from full brightness.
Are there any other solutions to this problem other than sending it in for repair?
I don't yet have a big enough external HD to make a backup, so maybe i will just wait until i get one and have time to send it in. Should be covered, right?

On my machine the brightness buzz is unconnected to the tilting one. The noise caused by using the brightness controls is more of a hum and is completely avoidable with the use of Gamma Control.
The other noise that I get intermittently is more like the low drone of an insect's wings and is entirely mechanical in origin. When it starts I can eliminate it by tipping the display very far forward or back. With the screen in a more sensible position, I've found that the very slightest pressure, forward or back, on any side or corner of the display cuts the noise completely. It's as though the fan occasionally becomes misaligned in some way and the tiny degree of twisting is enough to correct it.

2012 iMac loud headphone jack buzz

I have recently bought the 2012 21.5 inch 2.7 GHz iMac and everything has been working perfectly up until today.
Whenever i plug something into the audio in socket (Speakers or headphones) as soon as music or any type of sound is produced from the computer, the headphones or speakers make a very load buzzing noise. On speakers it sounds like more of a deep kind of sound, due to the better bass on the speakers, but on earphones it sound like a high pitched buzzing sound.
I have tried numberous different pairs of headphones but the same thing happens for all of them. I have changed the plug socket which the mac is plugged into as was suggested from another website, this did nothing. I have even changed rooms, so im pretty sure its nothing to do with static electricity or anything to do with the plug sockets.
I have blown lightly into the audio in hole to try and clean it out if anything is in there, this didnt work either.
There is nothing wrong with the external speakers, just when i plug headphones or speakers in. The volume of the buzzing isnt affected if i adjust the volume of the mac, and it still buzzes even if its on mute.
Up until today this hasnt been an issue, and the buzzing just began today for some reason.
One last thing, the buzzing only seems to come out of the left earpiece of the headphones which are plugged in.
Any ideas on what the problem could be and how to sort it would be much appreciated.
Its getting really annoying.
Thanks.

After I spoke to Apple care, I had to send mine in for repair to the local apple store. I was under warranty so It was repaired (actually got a replacement TBH) free of charge.
Its, from what I can gather, a loose/faulty connection in the headphone jack. Best ring them up and explain your situation, they are very helpful in fairness to them.

Crashing Imac intel duo 2.0. with deep buzzer sound

I've been working on a imac intel duo 2.0 gig (4 gigs ram, 250 hd) and It's been driving me crazy as it crashes between 2 and 5 times a day. I'm doing constant photo shooting and processing from capture pro to photoshop, but the files are all pretty small- like 8-12 megs each, and I have to say that I've used these programs for years and found them to be extremely stable. There is still like more than half of the hard drive available for files, and I try to keep it that way by pulling old files off it to an external drive.
Often the machine will crash while in a finder type function often early in the day, before I've even opened any photo files or apps. Usually it just freezes. Rarely it will have a screen black out, and when that happens, I hear the deep buzzing sound that must signify something- I don't know what.
I've tried running the apple disc utility, and repairing the permissiions from there, but it hasn't really helped. I've disconnected and reconnected the camera, the external hard drive, my Wacom tablet, nothing really helps. Now that I think of it, I haven't replaced the mouse- could that possibly be the cause?
Oh well, any wisdom on this topic would be appreciated, especially what is that loud buzzer trying to tell me.
Thanks-TD

You are right it's not an available space issue so now I'm beginning to agree with Allan. If you don't know how to run AHT, please click the Hardware Test link. Run it in Extended Mode too, not using Extended Model does not test very thoroughly. If it reports back with no errors run AHT 2-3x in Extended Mode to be sure. This test is time consuming so start it and come back in about 40 - 60 minutes. If it reports errors then you can either Google them or post them here and someone will try to interpret them. However whatever the error is you should write it down and bring the machine in for service at your local Apple Store or AASP.

IMac 27" strange electric buzz when it is in stop

I have a problem with my iMac 27", whent it is in stop makes a strange electric buzz.
I have reset NVRAM and SMC but it's still there.
PS sorry for my English, I'm italian

At least get the free diagnostic test which the AS & AASP's offer. This is the only way you will get confirmation of what exactly is wrong w/your iMac. You can always come back here to tell us what the problem really is & possibly get some DIY (do it yourself) instructions and/or links.
Since you reside in Italy does the following pertain to you? CLICKY CLICK---> EU-wide Consumer Laws

IMac 24" Buzz

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