My 2009 iMac is making a very loud,rapid pulsating electronic noise. It stops temporarily after adjusting the screen brightness or using certain apps. But it always returns

My 2009 iMac is making a very loud noise. It sounds like a rapid, pulsating electronic noise. It stops when the screen brightness is adjusted or when using certain apps. But it always returns and is getting louder. The unit was shut down for 4 months and the house temperature was set to 5C. It was powered up 2 weeks ago and ran fine for a while. Then in the last 5 or 6 days the problem started. 5 days ago I did watch a bike race for 3 or 4 hours from a quasi legal stream. I am not tech savvy. Just very confused as I've had a trouble free run so far. Ditto with my iphone5.

I would recommend taking it in immediately to your local Apple Store or AASP to be loooked at by an Apple Genius. I suspect you made a goof somewhere but diagnosing noises without seeing it is really difficult.

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Why do I get a loud hum when adjusting the screen brightness?

I am getting an annoying Hum and the loudness depends on the how bright I have the screen, as I turn it down the hum becomes quieter. This is super distracting as I like to run my sound through external speakers, but the hum is just enhanced. I brough my unit it for service, they sent it out and said nothing was wrong with it.... Any ideas? None of my other computers make this hum!

Sounds like the inverter, which powers the screen is going bad. I'd bring it back.

My HP Officejet J4580 printer makes a very loud rat-a-tat noise, then prints fine.

My HP Officejet J4580 printer makes a very loud rat-a-tat noise, then prints fine.

chuckbolotin,
This article should cover the issue you are having. Give the steps a shot and let me know the results:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01931887&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en
Best of Luck!
You can say thanks by clicking the Kudos Star in my post. If my post resolves your problem, please mark it as Accepted Solution so others can benefit too.

Have a bit of a problem. I'm trying to adjust the resolution on a 2013 27" iMac. Brand new, bought on April 6 2013 from Apple. My friend is 84 years old so, I'm trying to help him adjust the screen so he can see the screen. Any direction would be great.

OK. Have a 84 year old that has a hard time seeing the screen. I've been able to adjust Safari's resolution to accomadate him however, I would like to adjust the screen resolution. When I open preference's / displays, it doesn't have an option to adjust. Is there a way? Maybe thourgh terminal? The computer is the new 27" iMac purchased on April 6, 2013 from Apple. Yes, it is the newest iMac without the disk (DVD) drive. It's running Mountian Lion.
Anyone have some direction on how to solve this enigma???
bish

The purchase date isn't the important info here. The actual model of the iMac is and this info is in the model identifier. For example, I have a late-2012 iMac, model identifier is iMac 13,2. I will add that there is no 2013 model available. The most recent at this time is the late-2012 model which I have.
On my display if I select Apple->System Preferences->Displays then press the button "Display" I am presented with a screen which shows Resolution and Scaled as button options. "Best for built-in display" is the default, however, clicking on "Scaled" brings up the various resolutions that can be used with the display:
From this I can select a display with larger items, but keep in mind that while a larger image can be selected (using a smaller width x height value) it will not be as crisp and sharp as the default.

HT204291 Does anyone know why when streaming a movie from my iMac the screen on my tele goes grey but I still get audio. It only happens when using the DVD application on the mac. iPhoto streams fine.

Does anyone know why when streaming a movie from my iMac the screen on my tele goes grey but I still get audio. It only happens when using the DVD application on the mac. iPhoto streams fine.

You are prevented from Airplay mirroring certain things like DVD content as the material is usually protected so you get a checkerboard type display. I think there is a theoretical risk that the Airplay stream could be intercepted and the protected video copied, albeitin lower quality.
Apple may be being cautious or are required to do so with the DVD player app by movie studios/licensing authorities. It makes no sense to the average consumer who is just trying to send their purchased DVD to the TV via the computer and AppleTV.
Playback in something like VLC should work - not tried it myself but others have commented it doesn't have the restriction.

IMac turns-off when you adjust the screen

Brand new iMac simply turns-off without warning when you adjust the screen or connect to the usb port.
How do you prevent this from happening??

ptrd --
Welcome to Apple Discussions!
We're other Mac users here, asking questions and sharing solutions.
It sounds like you may not have the power cord pushed in tightly enough
to the back of the screen port. Push it in really really tightly, OK?

IMAC fan is making a very loud noise

Hello,
Does somebody has similar problem?
I switch on the iMac and the fan is making too much noise that I can not hear the sound on the computer and the there is a lot of air coming out.
It is on all the time and I already open a SR with the apple care to repair it, I left the computer for a few days in the apple center but they do not fix it, apple do not care about it.
I have this problem since I bought the iMac.
Sometimes it is no making noise it is quite.
I read that some iMacs have this problem and Apple did not do anything to sort this problem, at least mine was not fixed.
I bought the Apple care but it is useless because Apple does not want to fix this problem, they said that they were not able to reproduce the problem.
Any help let me know, please.
Thank you.
Maria

It can be caused because of different reasons: a process which is eating your CPU, a defective fan, a problem with the SMC, etc. First, reset the SMC > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
If it doesn't work, run Apple Hardware Test > http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509 This program will allow you to diagnose problems with the hardware of your computer, although this may fail and it may not show anything. When you run Apple Hardware Test, make sure you tick the box to run an extended test. Finally, if you see an error at the end, copy it here and copy it in a piece of paper and take your computer to an Apple Store or reseller, because it indicates that there's a hardware problem with your iMac and it must be fixed

Help my MacBook Air is making a very loud beeping noise!

My macbook is making a verry loud noise like something's jammed
It sounds louder than my fire alarm and I think my next door is getting annoyed even my own cat is scared I've also had to leave my house it wouldn't turn on
Or charge it is really noisy and its late at night please help

Reset SMC. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Choose the method for:
"Resetting SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own".
If this does not help, contact Apple.
A new Mac is in warranty for 1 year from the date of purchase.
A new Mac comes with 90 days of free tech support from AppleCare.
AppleCare: 1-800-275-2273
Best.

I did a partition on my 2009 Imac. I split 500 gigs in half. One half was to run windows. I want to undo that partition but I do not want to lose anything on my macintosh side. The windows side I don't care about. Is this something that can be done?

I wanted Windows on my 2009 Imac. I am running 10.6.8. I partitioned the drive so that 250 gigs was for windows and 250 was for Macintosh. I would like to undo this partition without losing anything from my macintosh side. Everything that is on the windows half can go away. Is this possible?

Well, you're bagged, sort of.
As Neil suggests, back up your current drive BEFORE you do anything.
I'm assuming that all your stuff on the Mac side is in folders, and easy for you to see and know what's what. This is important, as AFTER you back up your current, partitioned hard drive, you're going to open up Disk Utility and erase it...completely and totally...and then use your supplied discs to re-install the OS.
There's no way re-partition a drive without first erasing the entire thing.

I have a late 2009 iMac, with a Nvidia 9400 Graphics card. I was wondering what my options are for upgrading. I use Windows 7 via Bootcamp, so I need a card that is compatible.

I have a late 2009 iMac, with the default Nvidia 9400 Graphics card.
I was wondering what my options are for upgrading. I use Windows 7 via Bootcamp, so I need a card that is compatible/has available drivers.
This is for gaming. On the lowest settings of "Call of Duty 4", I get about 100 FPS... Was hoping to be able to play on higher resolution w/o the fps lag.
I'm not good with the hardware part of computers at all, but know how to get around the OS.

In most cases the graphics cards in iMacs are Not upgradeable. They are usually soldered to the logic board. RAM is considered, along with harddrives, the only component that is upgradeable in an iMac, unlike in PC's. So basically you would need to sell your unit and purchase an iMac with a more powerful graphics card.
Hope this helps

I have an iMac running snow leopard. I have trouble with my internal speakers, I cannot adjust the volume without having an earphone plugged into the jack.

The volume only works when I have earphones plugged into the jack, otherwise when I try to adjust the volume it has a circle with a cross. Ive tried restarting it with and without the headphones plugged in. However it does make that mac sound when turning on the machine before the apple logo comes on and takes me to the desktop screen. Is there anything I can do to fix this??

I'm having a very similar problem.
I've got a 2010 iMac that I've got hooked up to my Pioneer Elite via HDMI cable using the Moshi adapter.
It's been working great for months, but today the audio began dropping out -- a fraction of a second, every six seconds or so.
I installed the latest Snow Leopard update today. Does anyone think there might be a connection?
thx!

The sound from my facetime is very low. I have gone to system preferences and adjusted the sound, it makes no difference and I cant hear when it rings

the ringing sound from my facetime is very low and i cant hear it at all unless i am already using the notebook and facetime opens. I have tried to adjust the sound of my notebook, on the whole the sound is not high

Try resetting the SMC:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

My iMac shows the desktop as having used 275gb. But theres only three items, and they total 50gb!?

Can anyone explain this. It is very odd in deed. I only have 40gb (ish) spare because it's all spent on the desktop.
I use OSX 10.7.
Thanks.

This forum isn't read by anyone at apple, just your average friendly community folk, so how about doing a short hand version of what you want help with, because no one's going to read through all that.

My mac is making a very loud sound, it sounds like a broken fan! What does it mean?

What does this sound mean? Do I need a new part or what?

late 08 MBP are infamously noisy.
we need more information to help you.
my other guess is it's dirty.
but it could be more serious like your hard drive, not a fan.

Very Loud Fan -- How to make it stop?

I have a new MacBook Pro that I purchased in November, replaced in December. Recently, the fan has been running really loudly all the time.
In one of the other posts, someone spoke about smsFanControl, that I downloaded. The fan monitor tells me that the fan is running at about 6000rpm.
I've rebooted my computer, I performed an SMC reset, I ran the hardware test from the OSX install disk (came back with Error: 4 SNS/1/40000000: TGOH), ran the disk utility. I also installed the firmware update prior to these problems starting. Occasionally the fan slows down. More often than not though, it's been running excessively high. The temp gauge seems to be working fine too (when the fan's high/6000rpm: 35 deg C, when the fan's running normally/2000rpm: approx. 50 deg C). I'm also not running any processor intensive software (I used to render 3D environments on my old laptop, but not on this one).
I would send it in to Apple, unfortunately I'm studying in France this year, and Apple France doesn't allow you to send your computer in. You have to bring it to repair center (closest one is an hour drive away, and I don't have a car).
Does anybody have any solutions? I checked the other postings and there don't seem to be any solutions that I can benefit from.
Thank you!
Macbook Pro 2.33 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

> If this is an intermittent problem, does that mean that the sensor's loose?
It could be, when it gets no reading from the Sensor it goes into "run 100% just in case" mode, the other possibility is a software process hogging the CPU (but that wouldn't show as a hardware fault)

My 2009 iMac is making a very loud,rapid pulsating electronic noise. It stops temporarily after adjusting the screen brightness or using certain apps. But it always returns

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