IMac High Pitch Whine

Hey
I have this iMac that I've had since Oct last year. Recently I've noticed that it has a high pitch whine.
I can't figure out were about from the iMac it's coming from as when I get closer I start to hear fans (ear right next to it)
But maybe the top left corner.
I haven't used any fan control programs, and my temps and fans speed are all good by iStat.
I haven't got 10.5.2 but .1
I leave my mic off, brightness near all low, sound low unless listening to music.
Please help as my iMac is in my bedroom and I can hear this whine like a muted TV, but coming from my iMac
Thanks

I have the same problem and am trying to find a solution. I have an intel iMac Alum 20" 2.0ghz, 2gigs Ram, Radeon 2400XT, 250 Gig HD. The noise started after about three days of ownership. I have this for almost two weeks now. I cant find any solutions and have talked to Apple over the phone they suggested taking it to an Apple store and let them take a look at it, but I live an hour away from the nearest store, so this is a pain. But yes, the whining is annoying and loud at times. It whines for like 1-2 seconds going from a low pitch to a high pitch in those 2 seconds. It then stops and comes back maybe 20 seconds later. So thats been happening for about a weeek now.
Then all of a sudden early this morning (4AM), while the computer was in sleep mode, I was awakened by that same high pitched sound, but it wouldnt stop, I had to get up and turn the computer off. I would definatley love to get some answers and have this fixed. I've read many posts now with people having similar experiences. Just want my precious fixed.
Nothing has helped ie; turning the sound down, muting it, turning off my internal mic, messing with sound options.

Similar Messages

21.5" iMac High Pitched Whine

I've had my iMac for a few weeks now and it's an amazing machine.
But my biggest annoyance is a High pitched whine like some say, The sound of a Dog Whistle or the sound of an old CRT TV, during lowered brightness.
It is hardly detectable at Max Screen Brightness but I just can't work with this at full brightness. Soon as I lower brightness to 1/2 which is my preference, the whine does get really annoying especially while doing online Homework for hours.
Sometimes I can forget the noise but every few moments the sound just gets to my ears. SMC & PRAM resets doesn't fix this.
I heard many responses on here but nothing much about the cause of the problem. Whether if this is normal and I have really good hearing or What?

Hi,
I hade the same problem with my purchase of the entry iMac 21.5 model.
After 3 replacements from AppleCare, they didn't want to make any further replacement - but offered to give me a full refund. (which I took - since I can't bear to live with this sound).
During all of this, I took video & sound recordings of all the iMac they sent me ... and bored as I was waiting for them i went to all of my local retailers and wrote a list of Serial No. of which in-store iMac's also had this problem.
From 9 pcs of iMacs (a mix of 21.5" and 27"), 7 pcs had this issue and 2 pcs I couldn't make a call on if it had this issue or it was to noisy ambiance (to hear clearly) - but lets say 2 pcs passed ...
Even so, 2 out of 9 isn't that much better of a result then 9 out of 9. Pretty crapy odds against ...
Also, during a call with AppleCare I found out that the 1st two iMacs where manufactured the same week (very close to each other) - week 26 (beginning of july) (double check with my retail store, and they confirmed that the weeks corresponded).
After all what I've gone through (worst Mac-buy experience ever! ... and I've bought a handfull of stuff from them the past years!) ... don't buy an iMac of Middle 2010! as all odds are against you!
Maybe if Apple recognized the issues they have, and made a recall of all the effected models, ... then maybe; maybe then.
Message was edited by: danalien

IMac high pitch sound (4th iMac in a week). Any improvements?

Hello,
I know there is a lot of forum posts on the internet about this, as I've spent about two days reading them (primarily from my iPhone as my screen sound drives me up the wall).
As some people have experienced, this is a result of changing the brightness (0% and 100% are fine, anything in between emits a high pitched whine...some people believe this is a result of the capacitors vibrating at around 15-16Hz, which would make sense).
I have actually gone through four separate iMacs in a week to try to fix this problem (and two being upgrades over the model I had in hopes of a different production run). I have checked the serial number on all of them and they were all build between September and October, at various weeks between, mostly within a 4 week window.
I am beyond my wits with this issue and not sure what to do now. I have spent nearly 20 hours setting up four separate computers only to format them to take back in a chance I am lucky enough to get one that I can dim at night time without getting a ringing sound in my ear.
I was wondering if anyone else who has experienced this issue has come across a solution, or at least a replacement that has worked? I am debating to go for number five, but honestly, I am almost too tired of boxing and driving, boxing and drive (rinse and repeat). (I even tried three separate stores in hopes to get a different production week that didn't have this issue).
Looking forward to your responses, and any guidance. I love this machine and I wish it just stopped having these issues so I could do some work...
Setup(s):
First two:
21.5" iMac 3.06GHz Intel Core i3
4GB RAM
500GB HDD
ATI Radeon 4670
Next two:
21.5" iMac 3.2GHz Intel Core i3
4GB RAM
1TB HDD
ATI Radeon 5670
Thank you,
Adam

I started having this problem yesterday on my late 2009 iMac 27 inch after I changed my HDD.
It was perfectly fine before however after the swap however after a high pitch noise occurred when I increased the display brightness. So Just this morning I pulled my iMac apart again and unplugged the screen again and had a look at the connectors. all were fine except for the Vertical Sync ribbon
The 4 flat wires/ribbons that are exposed on the end are supposed to be glued to the thin piece of plastic that plugs into the socket on the circuit board. This circuit board is on the top left hand corner of the iMac as well which is where people say the sound is coming from.
I am not sure if this will solve all the problems out there but its worth a look.
Follow this link to the ifixit guide to see what I mean (Look at Step 5)
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2309+and+2374+Hard+Drive+Repl acement/1634

High pitched whine from netbook when power is plugged in. Does not charge when computer is on.

I have a specific power / charging issue On HP Mini Netbook 210-1077CA. Windows 7 starter ( I think)
With the computer OFF ...
When I plug in the power it gives a high pitched whine. Red battery light is on, showing it is charging. (computer is off.)
To test the computer I have turned in on after charging for a little while and the % of charge is increasing. Showing that it is charging properly.
HOWEVER,
With the computer ON
The battery light turns white and does not stay on, but flashes periodically. Its not a constant flash but a pause of several seconds between a series of flashes. The manual indicates a Flashing Battery light seems to indicate either going into a sleep mode because there is not enough battery power (however my power is at 14% normally this happens I think at 10%) OR as the manual indicates there is a problem with the battery.
I removed battery, removed power plug and then pushed power button holding for 15 seconds. No change in behaviour.
I also tried to boot the computer with just the power plug in and no battery. But it would not turn on. I don't know if that is normal or not?? Interestingly the White battery light, while trying to turn the computer on without the battery stayed white no flash. (but did not turn on either as I mentioned.)
I read a few posts that say that the whining are Capacitors doing some sort of harmonics. Although I have never heard this sound before.
Im sure that this problem is not fans or heat sinks etc. Since in only happens when the computer is off and charging. In my opinion its definitely electrical. The sound seems to be coming from the center of the netbook or the battery area..
So my conclusion is ...
1. Battery has problem and needs to be replace,
2. Maybe the AC adapter is bad, since it doesnt boot w/out battery (if it is suppose to ??) Also since it seems when I turn it on it goes from Red charging to white flashing as soon as it starts to boot. Could it be the AC adapter is not giving out enough power to charge and to boot at the same time.
Anyway can anyone help me on this issue. Im not sure whether to start by getting a new AC adapter or new battery. I would not like to buy new both and just throw money at it.
Maybe it is not either???
You help would be appreciated.
Regards.

I have resolved the problem.
I replaced the AC adapter. Everying works find now. I tested runing the computer without the battery, and it works. So I might add that a possible test for an adapter that is not functioning properly is to try running it w/out the battery. If it does not run its possible that the ac adapter does not work.
Thanks.

H67MA-E35 (B3) emitting high-pitched whine/chirp

I am getting a high-pitched whine or chip coming from the bottom left area of the CPU/Heatsink. It isn't the fan, as I have stopped the fan and it still makes the noise. I was also able to correlate the vcore voltage with the noise. The noise is only present while the vcore is below 1.000v. After throttling over 1.000v it goes away. I am using a i5-2500k. I am not overclocked anything and made very few changes to the Bios (just boot order and things like that).
Is this a problem with the socket, northbridge, or some other part on the board? Or is this a problem with the power supply not supplying the right kind of voltage? Or is the computer throttling too low? Like how a car doesn't run properly if idling too low?
Thanks in advance,
m@
System Specs
VGA:onboard MB:MSI H67MA-E35 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel H67 Micro ATX OS:Win 7 64bitCPU:Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHzSound:onboardMemory:CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333PSU:OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V v2.2 HD:Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPMCooling:retail with CPU

Quote from: dilburt on 21-March-11, 08:05:56
No, this is a very common issue with chokes since a choke is very similar to a buzzer or speaker coil so if it's a bit loose, it can vibrate and emit high-pitched sounds. It will not damage anything by itself so if you can get it to stop using settings that are otherwise safe then there is no need to worry about it.
- D
I believe this is more common with iron chokes. The ferrite chokes used on this motherboard are far less likely to buzz. I did look at the board photos and it looks like the CPU PSU is standard FET transistors. Hmmmm.

A high-pitch whine from a KM2M?

OK, this is REALLY upsetting me and I figure someone out there might be able to help.
I bought a KM2M combo motherboard from a local computer shop about 3 months ago. I was using an AMD XP 1900+ w/ 192 megs of pc-133 memory.
Well, I upgraded a few things and here's my current list in my rig:
KM2M Combo mobo
AMD Athlon XP 1900+
Cables Unlimited Super Quiet "whisper" cooler w/ copper core (it dropped my cpu down from 104F to 84F!!!)
8x AGP PNY Nvidia GeForce 5200 Ultra w 128 megs ddr memory
512 megs(2x 256) Paired ULTRA DDR pc2700 dual-channel memory
92.6 Gigabyte Hitachi Deskstar ATA-133 hard drive with hard drive cooler attached
8x Lite-On DVD-+R/W drive
2 80mm high-flow Speeze brand case fans
300 watt ULTRA Power Supply w 2 blue LED 80mm cooling fans
Scorpion see-through yellow IDE & Floppy cables
Well, after a few changes, my mobo starts to make this REALLY high-pitched whine! Well I thought it might be the PSU or heatsink, so I go through EVERYTHING and NOTHING is making this sound! I even tried changing memory & power settings in the BIOS, but no luck.
Well I set up this exact setup on a chaintech mobo and I get NO shrill sound whatsoever! (proof it isn't something outside of the mobo)
Any ideas on how I can fix this? I would take it back to the computer store & get it replaced but my dog chewed up the box it came in a few weeks back so I can't take it in to get it switched out...

That is a fine set of stuff you have. The PSU also has a fine name, but what ampères does it give on 3.3, 5 and 12 volt? Try to localize the sound, for example by holding your hand to a device - not a fan! - and see if it is a bit loose, cause it sounds like something is loose, the Northbridge heatsink or a capcitatior, as you say.
Elsewhy, follow the thrilling development in the thread suggested by Osnavi.

Certain iTunes "matched" albums produce high pitched whine after downloading the "matched" version?

I have been begun using iTunes Match and I have encoutered a problem. After importing two of my "Stargate SG1" soundtrack CDs (http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/stargate-sg-1-soundtrack-from/id28057422 and also http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/best-stargate-sg-1-soundtrack/id285158287), a very noticeable high pitched whine is heard during playback. This is not a problem with my macbook pro as the downloaded file on my iPhone makes the same noise. What is up with these tracks? Is there something I can do to fix it? These copies that produce the high pitched whine were the files directly downloaded after the match (so I could enjoy the higher bit rate). What's going on?

I called Apple today to get my 24.99 back! This has been the worst exprience I have ever had. At first I was excited that almost all my songs were matched. I figured I would be able to upgrade the 128 to 256. YEAH OK!!!
What it did was give me all radio versions of my hip hop music not to mention stuff like korn. I couldn't handle it anymore. I decided that I would feel a whole lot better ripping them all over again at 256 myself

High pitch whine

My iPod is all of a sudden started to make a high pitched whine. When i plug it in and after i turn it off.

Try this: (this will not damage your music, dont worry.)
starting with your ipod on:
1) flick the hold switch at the top back and fourth three or four times, stopping when it is off, so that you can still press buttons.
2) hold the center and menu button simultaneously, until the ipod shuts off, and the apple logo appears and your ipod turns on.
Good luck!

High pitch whine and FireWire bus power

Delighted with my MBP!
Just noticed the high pitch whine today when I set it up in a quieter room and plugged it into an IOGear bus-powered FireWire hub shared with my other Mac.
It was around 8000 hz and loud enough that I could not stand to stay in the room with it.
When I unplugged it from the hub and connected the cable directly to the FW port, the whine was greatly attenuated (I could hear it only by putting my ear next to the vents at the top of the keyboard).
Could the problem be related to powering the FireWire bus? (It reminds me of the sound of a switching power supply or DC-DC converter) Has anyone else had any success in finding ways to attenuate this high pitch tone?
MacBookPro Mac OS X (10.4.5) 7200 rpm

Hi, Thanks for the suggestion. I'm really trying to cut down on the number of devices that I leave plugged into the mains, so would ideally like a solution that relies purely on power supplied by the internal bus.
I've had a bit of progress with my current set-up. I've switched to using a 2 headed USB lead that came with my Hard Drive. This does mean I effectively lose a USB socket, but it appears that the Hard Drive + the Webcam can now live happily together.
It just means that I have to swap the 4th USB port for whatever ad-hoc device I need to use at the time rather than leaving things connected to it.
Out of geeky curiosity, I'd still be interested to know whether the USB and Firewire buses share their power or each have a dedicated amount.
Cheers,
Ian

High pitch whine in 23-g116

Band new computer and there is a constant high pitch whine coming from within the all-in-one computer. Have ajusted settings to power saver and no change. Any suggestions on how to correct. Very annoying.

Hi Gary,
It might very well be that a piece of an electronics circuit is causing the whine. Your ears may be more sensitive than others but this issue has occured with other PCs. Your PC is under warranty so I would contact HP Support. I know some PCs have been replaced due to high pitch whines.
HP's support number is 800-474-6836 or 800-HPINVENT or online here.
HP DV9700, t9300, Nvidia 8600, 4GB, Crucial C300 128GB SSD
HP Photosmart Premium C309G, HP Photosmart 6520
HP Touchpad, HP Chromebook 11
Custom i7-4770k,Z-87, 8GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650,GTX 760
Custom i7-4790k,Z-97, 16GB, Vertex 3 SSD, Plextor M.2 SSD, Samsung EVO SSD, Corsair HX650, GTX 660TI
Windows 7/8 UEFI/Legacy mode, MBR/GPT

My 2000 G4 PowerMac tower will not power up. I do hear a high pitch whine

I try to start it up and nothing happens. I do hear a high pitch whine, like something is running. What would the problem be? Hopefully my HD is ok.

Hello,
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at the top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)

High pitch whine noise from speakers and other issues

I just got a 2010 Mac Mini and transferred all of my data and apps and accessories from my old Mac Mini which was running 10.6.4 (2007 I think). One of the accessories is a Griffin Firewave. I had to get a new firewire cable to attach the Firewave since the new Mac Mini has a firewire 800 port. On the old Mac it worked great, I was able to run 5.1 speakers with no problem. With the new Mac things aren't so nice. I get a high pitch whine through the speakers. The whine will go up and down in volume with the volume control on my sound system (Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Ultra) as well as with the Mac volume control. I can increase the gain in the Firewave app which will increase the volume of what I want to hear without increasing the volume of the whine, however it will cause the audio I want to hear to distort. The other issue I have is that when I put the Mac to sleep it seems to cut all power to the firewire port, causing the Firewave to turn off and lose its settings. I believe this to be a bad design on the Firewave's part but the old Mac did not shut off the power to the firewire port when going to sleep so this was not an issue. So my questions are, does anyone else have problems with external sound cards having a high pitch whine noise and is there a way to prevent the firewire port from turning off when the Mac sleeps?
BTW, I have tried reinstalling the Firewave driver (several times) and I've unplugged and re-plugged the firewire cable at both ends. I have both the Mac and the sound system plugged into a line conditioner so I doubt it's dirty power. I do realize that the Firewave only claims support up to 10.5 but it was working without issue on the old Mac Mini on 10.6

I have the same problem. I have an early 2009 Mac mini and get the whiny noise from my powered speakers. The volume of the whine noise tends to change smoothly up or down, and often does a stuttering effect along with it. It stays there for up to a minute or so and then eventually goes away. It always seems to happen at random times.
I've heard this same sound effect coming from a podcast that I was listening to on my iPod Touch. It seems that the interviewer was recording from a Mac mini as well, though not sure. The sound in the recording was exactly like what I hear coming from my Mac mini. I often thought that this was a problem with my speaker system, but was surprised to find that others are experiencing the same kind of issues.

Does anyone know why my MacBook has an intermittent high-pitched whine?

Today my MacBook started making a high-pitched whine. It's like a high musical note and comes and goes. I closed as many programs as I could. Still working in Chrome (and that's what I have been on when it makes noise). It almost reminds me of a fanbelt issue.... but that's impossible, right?

Yeah, if you go to Programs > Utilities > Audio MIDI Setup
Then select where you want the sound to come from, then click on the settings cog at the bottom, and select Use this device for Sound Output, and you can select the internal speakers for System Alerts & Sound Effects if you wish.

High pitch whine when recording audio & voiceover in iMovie

I have read other posts on similar issues but found no resolution
Issue:
When recording video in iMovie there is sometimes a high-pitched whine which renders the video useless.
The problem was intermittent ... annoying but I wokred around it by re-recording the video enough times to finally get a "clean" copy.
Now I am recording voice-overs for some clips and the awful whine is present in ALL the voice-overs.
I have tried the "trick" of using brighter light. No joy.
I have tried adjusting the microphone settings. No joy.
THis is an older macbook ... so I can't trade-in for a new one on warrantee.
Is Mac's internal microphone defective? I have read enough other people have similar issues to think this.
I am doing educational videos. My initial joy at being able to record a video on my macbook is changing to despair as I have wasted hours of time on tech problems like this.
Anyone have a real fix?
Is the built-in camera and mic just shoddy junk which doesn't work well?
Thank you

Did you do the usual stuff, such as reset PRAM?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
There are some sound settings in PRAM, although I think it's only for sound output.
Also, as a test, I would create a new admin user account in System Preferences Accounts pane
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8235.html
Log out and log in to the new account (do not use Fast User Switching). In the new account, try recording something using QuickTime, and note if this problem recurs. If it does not, you have eliminated a few possible causes, such as a problem with the overall system installation or a hardware issue, and isolated the problem to something in your normal user account.

Officejet 4630 printer makes high pitched whine even when not printing

I just bought an Officejet 4630 printer for home use and noticed it makes an annoying high pitched whine whenever it's not sleeping, even when not printing. Is not very loud, and would not be noticeable in an office environment due to ambient noise, but is obvious in a quiet home environment. Is this normal for this model or is the unit defective? Neither of my two previous inkjet printers made this noise.

Hello,
If your OfficeJet 4630 is within the standard warranty period, please contact HP technical support to speak to one of our agents who can troubleshoot and diagnose this issue.
We look forward to your response,
Best regards,
Jeff Christopher
Executive Customer Relations
Hewlett-Packard Company
Palo Alto, California
I work for HP

IMac High Pitch Whine

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for