Loud Humming Noise?

Hi There,
Am using a new iMAC G5 and have been noticing after being on it after a short while it starts to hum - really loudly - when surfing the net mostly? Sounds like a loud fan. Anyone else have/know of this problem. Am new to iMAC and MAC and I love the machine but have been reading posts and there seems to be quite a few issues? Serious MAC users - what do you think of it?
Thanks....

Optimus-
Be that as it may, you must agree that the "noise" issue has been beaten to death in these forums, and if one does a simple search of these discussions they will find at least a dozen things to try BEFORE they start complaining here.
I personally have no problem helping out someone that has a "noisy" Mac, provided that person is willing to try the suggestions AND not use these boards to reiterate the obvious.
In the Mini Mac forum, one guy (I can too, but not until I read about his woes and started training my ear towards power brick sounds) can hear the pitch change in the frequency of his mini's power brick when the computer is sleeping and pulsing the light. As the light changes brightness, the brick changes frequency. Go figure.
We both find the noise annoying. Neither of us intend to file a lawsuit at this time.
Noise level, and for that matter image quality, are very subjective matters. I would really like to see the folks that are complaining about noise spend 40 bucks at Radio Shack and get a sound pressure meter, do a sound test, and then come forward with the results. My gut tells me that almost all of these "noisy" machines fall well under Apple's published specifications.
Ranting done.
Peace.
-DaddyP

Similar Messages

HELP! Really Loud Humming Noise. HELP!

PLEASE Help. All Day Today, My PB Has Been Making A Really Loud Humming Noise, Start Up Is Very Slow And Apps Keep Crashing. PLEASE Help Me.
Any Ideas On What It Could Be?
ThankYou.

There is a very high probability that it is your hard drive. If you can, back up IMMEDIATELY.
The same thing happened to me. Good luck.

Macbook makes a loud humming noise sometimes

Macbook makes loud buzzing noise and alt button broke off - i still have warranty. What do I do? what does it mean?

It's under warranty? Take it in for testing/servicing.

Loud hum when Imac sleeps

i've been using my imac g5 for a few months with no issues what-so-ever. just recently i've run into one major issue. when the computer puts itself to sleep...i get a loud humming noise that will not stop (i think its the fan running. the power button is disabled and i have to unplug the computer and plug it back in to restart it. any idea what the problem is? i think i may have changed the power saver settings just before this issue surfaced, but i'm not sure what would cause this to happen.

What it's doing is going into sleep mode and this is normal. You should be able to wake it up just moving the mouse or pressing any keys on the keyboard. What I want to find out is whether it's hanging up when it goes to sleep or if it will wake up normally as it should regardless of the humming sound. To check the Energy Saver settings go into System Preferences/Energy Saver.
George

Loud humming and super lag on pbg4(15i)

So this morning I woke to my powerbook humming very loudly. it may or may not have been the fan, but if it was, then it was working double overtime. Nothing I did made it stop, until I shut it down. While it was making this noise, everything ran very slowly, even such simple tasks as viewing my dock. Once I shut it down, Let it sit a few minutes and restarted, the noise stopped, but started again within a few minutes.
it seems that the longer that I let it sit, shut down and plugged in to a/c power, the longer it lasts after I restart without making the godawful humming sound.
Any ideas what this might be related to? I would just bring it right to Apple, but I am a little strapped for cash. Could it be something simple like a dying battery or something shaken loose that I could reconnect?
please help.
~Caity

Caity
Whilst a RAM issue will cause problems running your PowerBook, I don't believe it will cause the loud humming noises you have been hearing. Therefore I don't think your problems are primarily with RAM - but it doesn't necessarily mean you have fully functioning RAM. Still worth a quick check, but I think your problems are elsewhere.
Can you elaborate on where the noises seem to be coming from? Are they at the front, to the left of the trackpad? Or are they in the corner/s towards the back (ie. nearer to the screen), where the fans are situated?
If the noises come from the front then I think you are experiencing the symptoms of impending hard drive failure (which is potentially one of the cheaper hardware problems to fix). The 'classic' symptoms of a failing hard drive are unusual noises, slow/sluggish performance, problems accessing files/applications, startup problems, lots of spinning 'beachball' activity and the problems may come and go (ie. it may work normally before experiencing problems and then work normally again etc).
If the problem is, indeed, impending drive failure then I would advise you to backup whatever data you can (unless you already have a backup) - whilst you still can. Otherwise the only other option is to replace the drive.
2.0GHz MacBook, 15" 1.25GHz/12" 1GHz PBs, 2xPPC Mac minis, 12" iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.8) Cube, 2xTAMs, iPod 4G & nano 2G, 1G & 2G iPs, AEBS, AX

While working on PC side, my screen went dark and my Macbook Pro has been emitting a loud buzzing/humming noise. How do I reboot? Am I totally dead?

Help, I was working on my pc partition, using quick books and my machine suddenly freaked out. Screen is dark, backlit keyboard is lit and it is emitting a LOUD humming/buzzing. I can't reboot, turn it off, nothing. I unplugged the power chord in hopes that the batter will run out but what the heck happened and is my machine completely gone? Is this under warranty? I bought this thing in august of 2010 so it's not yet a year old.
HELP! HELP! HELP!

Hold down the power button and it will shut down. Have you not read the User Guide? (Chapter 4).

HP laserJet 5200dtn making buzzing/humming noise after printing

Hi,
We have about three of these units in our office and one of them has recently began to make a loud buzzing/humming noise during and after printing a document. THe noise last about 5-10 seconds after the print job completes. I can also make the printer buzz by removing the duplexer and puting it back in. The printer seems to load and then the buzz noise happens, again for about 5 seconds. I am aware of normal noise from these printers and this buzz is not normal.
This noise gets louder as the day goes on. Could this be a fan motor going bad? We need to do somthing to get it quieter.
Any help or suggestions?
Thanks

any suggestions?

Humming noise in new MBP

Well, the latest firmware fixed the trackpad issues that I was having. Way cool!
Now yesterday, a new problem developed which I wondered if anyone else had experienced. Yesterday, when returning to my desk, I realised that my MBP was making a humming noise. It is not super loud and if I had bad hearing, I probably wouldn't notice it. So instead of being super quiet and the occasional clicking of the hard drive, I have a continuous low level humming noise. My guess is that it is fan noise.
Has any experienced this? It is a little obnoxious and I can live with it if need be, so what would help is whether any of you would advise that I pursue sorting this out or just living with it!

Mine has had the exact same issue for 3 weeks now. Moving my left hand around on the palm rest causes the right palm rest (above the hard drive) to buzz intermittently, depending on the pressure and position of my left hand.
I've completely uninstalled and re-installed the HD (including mounting screws) but no luck. Since the buzz appears whenever my left hand applies pressure to the palm rest, I tried re-seating the battery, but no luck either.
The buzz disappears if I press down on the right palm rest. I think it's something with the rigid construction of the unibody and how uneven pressure on the palm rests changes the vibration/sound dampening qualities of the hard drive bay.
Other than this my MBP is perfect. The "Genius Bar" might be of help, but I'm skeptical since the buzz is very faint and intermittent. All the noise in the Apple Store will probably make the impossible to hear what I'm describing to them...
Did anyone have any luck or self-fix solutions for this?

Annoying Humming Noise

I have a 2008 Mac Pro that has been making an annoying humming noise for a long time now. It didn't make this noise when I bought it and was whisper quiet for most of the first year. I have had all the fans and the power supply replaced under Apple Care, but it is still making the noise. It is a low, oooooWAAAAAAA, oooooWAAAAAA, ooooWAAAA sound that goes on at a steady rhythm all day. The noise did change somewhat in quality after the PSU was replaced, but no change with the fans. I have tried SMC fan control to change fan speed but that hasn't help other than to drown the noise out with fan noise. In a quiet room it is really annoying, but I am afraid if I took it in at this point they wouldn't hear the sound, as the tech guy couldn't hear it when he came out (it is more noticeable sitting at the level of the computer than standing above it). It can also be intermittent with it being barely audible at times to it being fairly obvious.
It gets louder based on the number of hard drives I put in the unit: less drives equal less noise, and the noise can get louder when I'm burning a DVD, though this is not the noise from the graphics card fan firing up, but a different noise that can be heard in background. It seems to be coming from the power supply or power supply fan.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks to everyone who responded. For anyone else who might have this problem, I found what may be a solution. I read somewhere else that this noise is caused by the drive sleds vibrating against the metal on top of the drive bays. I am sorry I can't find the page, but what this guy advised is to remove the sleds from the drives and bend them slightly downward over the side of your desk so that when you insert them back in, there should be about a millimeter of black space between the back of the sled and the metal above where they slide in. Just a tiny bend seems to suffice.I did this to all 4 drive sleds and the noise has been reduced by over 90 percent. As Kappy advised here if your sleds don't have rubber grommets around the screws that would very likely make this problem worse as well.
Hope this helps.

W2207h monitor has loud hum or whine

My monitor suddenly developed this loud hum or whine. I am afraid to leave it on so haven't let it boot up completely. What could cause the noise? Is it repairable? Could I repair it myself, or does it require a professional? What would it probably cost? Should I simply buy a new monitor?

Hello Danpw,
Your monitor makes a loud hum or whine, is that correct? I will try to help you.
I have seen a possible fix of increasing the brightness you can try that.
If the monitor is still under warranty you need to contact the HP support desk to set up a service for a replacement monitor. If you are not sure about your warranty insert your monitor information in to this document to confirm.
Please respond back at your earliest convenience.
Thanks
Clicking the White Kudos star on the left is a way to say Thanks!
Clicking the 'Accept as Solution' button is a way to let others know which steps helped solve the problem!

Grinding/humming noise

hello. when i leave my ibook (G4 800mhz, 10.3.9, 640MB RAM) on for more than, say, 3 hours, the hard drive starts to make a constant loud, somewhat lower-pitched humming noise. whats wierd about it is its consistency, it does not fade in and out, or happen, then stop, then start again. If i turn it off and on, it makes the same noise when it finishes the restart. however, if i wait a few hours before trying again, it does not make the sound. what is it, and, if its a problem, how can i make it stop?

Just as a precaution, back everything up NOW.
Have you tried running disk utilities? What is your S.M.A.R.T. status?
Best,
-josh

X61: Constant low humming noise After using for an hr. or so.

After using the notebook for an hr. or so, low irritating/humming noise starts that continues without interruption. The noise appears to be not from the HD side, rather from the opposite side.
Noise continues whether used with battery or power outlet or both.
Any suggestion and diagnosis would be of great help. Thanks.

The following is the comment I posted on 9/15. I have not received any replies so decided to search through other questions and came upon yours. Have you resolved your humming noise yet? I would love to know what this annoying sound is and how to get rid of it, if possible.
I purchased a Toshiba Satellite L505D-LS5002 laptop recently and am not happy at all with the annoying fan sound I hear for about 15 seconds every 50-60 seconds. It is too loud to ignore. I am not a computer "guru" and am just assuming it is the fan. What else could be making this annoying sound. It is a sort of humming/whistling sound that "revs" up for about 15 to 20 seconds and then stops abruptly, only to start up again in about a minute or so.

Mac Pro loud humming

Having owned/used an iMac White, iMac Silver, Macbook & MacBookPro. I have never heard a computer as loud as my MacPro.
I am running the default stock standard 320GB Apple/Samsung drive. And 2 other drives - which I suspected could cause the noise, so I removed them and rebooted. But the loud humming is still there.
Its uncomfortable, and in a small room I can't hear myself think. My mum listened and said it sounds similar to a fridge.
I have searched the web and the bottom links recommend shoving towel in the MacPro, or bending the drive bays. I just really don't feel comfortable doing that.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=463342
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=413163&highlight=resonance

Unfortuneatly, noise is subjective so you'll never get a definitive answer as to whether the Mac Pro is noisy. People coming from noisy pcs will tell you the Mac Pro is whisper quiet. People using them in work environments won't notice any noise because of the general ambient noise. (It's amazing how much humming noise flourescent bulbs alone can make.) My Mac Pro is used in a quiet room so the noise is quite noticeable to me. Your description of "fridge" is spot on. Mine sounds like a mini fridge when the condensor kicks in. My only guess is that it's coil resonance from the power supply, because i've pretty much ruled out any visible "moving part". I've booted up with no hard drive connected, briefly stopped each fan individually (including the video card fan) and the humming persisted. Having given up at this point, i simply play music on iTunes in the background while the system is on. I'm fairly certain if i took it in for service, i would be told it is operating normally and be charged for having them look at it so thus far have not taken that route.

T3000 Speakers Making Humming Noise

I purchased a set of T3000 speakers the first part of December 2005. I was very pleased with them until recently. They now emit a humming noise that is proportional to the speaker volume (...if the speaker volume is turned up, the humming noise becomes louder; if the speaker volume is turned down, the humming noise becomes less). The noise makes it so nothing can be heard over the humming. The humming still exists with my computer powered off. I've also tried moving wires & cables to see if that would eliminate any interference, but that has no effect. Has anyone else had this problem?
I sent an email to Creative (now over a couple days ago) describing the problem/failure of these speakers, and inquired what I need to do to get warranty service. I received an automatic reply which stated their average response time is 1-2 working days. Has anyone else had warranty service done, and what was your experience?
Thanks for your help!

Welcome to the Forum, Ankur !
If you have just purchased the system from a retail dealer, it's under warranty - you can call or chat HP for support.
Hope this helps!
Kudos come to those who earn them!
EDITS 06-Nov-2011
No extra information has been received about this member's system.
I did find this and decided to share it in case it will help.
This is for NON beats-audio Notebooks.
Introduction (from the webpage):
Support details Some notebooks come with a subwoofer speaker for enhanced base tones. If your notebook has a subwoofer but it does not work or it makes a loud, crackling noise, do the following steps to resolve the problem.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02634956&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en
End of Edits 06-Nov-2011
Kind Regards,
Dragon-Fur

Brand New 27" iMac: humming noise!

Just restored everything from my Time Machine backup and wanted to start working
with my new iMac 27" i3 3.2GHz but there is this annoying humming noise!
It's not from the HD - I hear the HD only during reading/writing and this is quite normal.
The humming noise sounds like it's from the power transformer
and I can also feel a vibration when I lay my hand on the iMac.
Anyone else has this issue?
I hope this is not NORMAL with the new iMac!!
I've had 3 other Macs before (see below) and NEVER heard ANY noise.
As far as I'm informed, the previous 27" iMac generation didn't have
this humming noise either.
Please answer ASAP - I have much work to do. Thanks!

There are two power supplies in the iMac starting with the Late 2009 models. One is the main power supply, the other steps up the voltage for the LED backlighting. The main PSU is a bit left of center on the top of the system, the other one runs along the left edge from pretty close to the top to about the middle of the system. One of those is likely defective.
While I'd put the odds as pretty low, the worst case scenario would be one of those catching fire and completely destroying the computer.
I'm no electrical engineer, so if there are any out there who want to disagree with what I'm about to say, I'd definitely defer to them. But I'd say the humming is probably a sign that the PSU is not having it's power flow regulated properly and somewhere there's a buildup/backup of energy. It could also be a lack of proper shielding that's creating a kind of sympathetic resonance. Lots of possibilities, but so long as the frequency/pitch of the sound is remaining constant... PROBABLY nothing to worry about in the next 2-3 days.
Again, I'll defer to any electrical engineers in the audience, but having worked as a hardware tech for around 2 years, I've run across people who have had loud PSUs for years with no obvious ill effects. I wouldn't recommend it myself, but there's at least anecdotal evidence to suggest it's more of an annoyance than anything.

Loud Humming Noise?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for