OS X 10.4.9 The Whine Is Back

The whine has reappeared on my MBP after the update. Its a high pitched electrical sound from the area near the power connector.

Are you sure it wasn't back before then? I had the whine on a MBP 15 inch (which Apple finally repaired this last July) so I'm pretty familiar with it. I ordered a MPB 17 recently - and, b/c of an order mix-up, Apple sent two. One came with a very subtle whine. I sent that back and kept the "good" one...however about three weeks ago (mid 10.4.8) I noticed the whine had returned. VERY quiet compared to the prior whine I had - a lot of people had trouble hearing that (according to reports)...even more would have trouble hearing this.
Long story, short...I noticed my whine had returned several weeks ago - though it probably returned some time before I finally noticed it. After updates, people tend to take a good look at their system, "checking in" to it a little closer. Perhaps that was the case with yorus?

Similar Messages

The Whine Is back After Leopard Install

I cant believe what I am hearing ! The mosquito-like whine is back after installing Leopard on my MBP 17.
Anyone else getting this ?

Yeah, i think some of you are right. Leopard does run cooler as compared to Tiger.
But i just can't imagine, why does Apple re-create a problem that they have already solved in Tiger!?
I'm getting tired of the tiny mosquito noise. Does anyone know whether can i bring my Macbook to Apple for a fix (or exchange..) ?

The Whiner is away, how do I get a good one?

After hours on the phone with techincal and sales support, they have agreed to refund me for my machine. I finally admitted that 2500 dollars was just too much to have to deal with the inconvenience of mirror widgets and battery draining programs.
They will be placing my money back in my card as soon as my package arrives in California. I will then walk down to my local Apple store (35 minutes away) and purchase a new Macbook. According to all you people out there who claim only a small minority of macbooks whine, I shouldn' get another whiner should I? My first 2 whined, we'll see about the 3rd.
It sounds like week 12's and 11's are pretty good machines. How would one go about getting a Macbook from these weeks or one that doesn't whine?

I am not sure what all the fuss is about the whine. I can't believe some people (many people) on this forum have excahnged their machines twice, even three times in hopes of some elusive "perfect machine".
I have the CPU whine, but it goes away when I plug the machine in. If I am on battery, I just launch "Quiet MBP" and the machine is dead silent. I also have a sticky "H" key and the occasional kernal panic (this seems to be under control now).
I have not seriously thought of returning my MBP because it is a wonderful machine. I guess I am way less picky than I thought--of course I have had to work through a lot of network/computer problems in the past, so maybe I am just more tolerant. But seriously, you could go through 10 of these machines and not get the one you want. There is no such thing as perfect when you think of the extrordinarily complex tasks this (and all computers in genreral) are undertaking on a second to second basis.
P.S. I also have the tilted eject key--who cares!

The whine is now worse

i just installed the apple keyboard update (against my instincts by the way) and now the photo booth work-around doesn't quiet the whine anymore. is there a way to do an apple update "uninstall"? i wish i could use kip's time machine and go back and uncheck that little box next to the update- or just go back even further in time and not buy this computer for 2g plus and wait until apple has figured out how to make a millimeter thick titanium super computer that makes no noise. any word yet? are we stuck? is apple coming to the rescue cause i can wait a little longer but i'm not about to trade in my computer for another and reinstall all of my software (apple should provide its unhappy customers with apple vouchers due to the heart and head aches)

see this :http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=462396
installing the small utility will revert the keyboard to the 10.4.5 version. I did it, nothing else seems affected eversince

Work-around The Whine: why does this work? And is it BAD?

Hello everybody, sorry to bring up The Whine again, but I was wondering if anyone can figure out why the following trick works to eliminate the noise.
Also, could doing this regularly (all the time, basically) potentially be bad for the system in any way?
This is the work-around I've been using:
1. Open Photobooth, then Force Quit that application (you must Force Quit rather than simply quit)
2. Put the Macbook to sleep, waiting a few seconds until the indicator light starts pulsing.
3. Wake up the computer.
Voila. That always does the trick, eliminating the whine until either the next time I boot up or the next time I open and quit Photobooth in the normal way.
I suppose force quitting may keep the processor slightly busy somehow?
Don't know...

John P.,
You say that all the notebooks that you know of make
some kind of noise. How many notebooks is that? Not
trying to be a jerk or anything but it better be like
dozens and dozens to make this claim. I have heard
the exact opposite of this claim from users that have
owned a few notebooks as well.
Hi Jerome,
No problem... I'll clarify..
5 notebooks personally, so when I say "all notebooks that I know of", it's a true claim because that is exactly what I'm saying.
If this noise is caused by capacitor that is at some
miniature threshold then why does the noise go away
when said remedies are employed? Does the capacitor
get bigger? Doesn't make sense but I appreiate that
you want to reassure original poster.
Actually I may have misspoken--it may be called a "voltage regulator" and it sits directly West of the CPU and controller chip. They do make noise and from what I have been told and remember, they can dampen it w/ a capacitor but that's about it. It's just the nature of the beast for that type of component, I'm told.
What "I" think it may be is the power fluctuations, or lack thereof, in the Intel chip causing it--when you put a load on it, there's a power fluctuation because your CPU usage is going up/down a little bit, but when you're not doing anything it's very little it causes it to make a little noise. No big deal, but just as long as it's not blaring in your ear when you're trying to use your computer. My ZV6000 does the same thing, but it doesn't matter when you've got a load or not--seems to do it more when I have Cool 'n' Quiet enabled.
This is not right. I am sorry.
If this noise is normal then I'll take no MacBook.
You know it is being fixed apparently on the MacBook
Pros by motherboard replacement.
I never said anything about pro. I don't own one, nor have I used one. I can't say how profound in comparison to the Macbook (non pro) it is.
I'm sure if Apple thought it was a big enough problem, they would act either more quickly about it, but it's not stopping me from checking my e-mail or going on the Web.

Very simple: Does anyone with the 2.16GHz have the whine?

I'm starting to notice something. Of all of the users who are (rightfully) complaining about the whine problem, it seems that none of them are those with the 2.16GHz upgrade. I recently ordered my MacBook Pro (and therefore do not have it), but a quick glance over the forums affirms my suspicion.
I could be completely wrong; I didn't have the time to completely delve into the many "whine" threads, so this topic will solve this matter fairly quickly!
I have a 2.0 iMac Core Duo. Soon to add a nice, shiny MacBook Pro. Mac OS X (10.4.5)

I'm starting to notice something. Of all of the users
who are (rightfully) complaining about the whine
problem, it seems that none of them are those with
the 2.16GHz upgrade. I recently ordered my MacBook
Pro (and therefore do not have it), but a quick
glance over the forums affirms my suspicion.
I could be completely wrong; I didn't have the time
to completely delve into the many "whine" threads, so
this topic will solve this matter fairly
quickly!
I have a 2.0
iMac Core Duo. Soon to add a nice, shiny MacBook Pro.
Mac OS X (10.4.5)
I Just recieved my 2.16GHz MBP today, and it does not have to LCD inverter buzz. I do however have a slight CPU whine but it is not terrible. Furthermore, I don't care much for notebook trackpads and am using a bluetooth mouse. The Mac Book is silent when the mouse is connected. I've read on these forums, that Apple knows of the CPU whine issue and a software update will be released. So far this is a very cool machine. I am calibrating the battery so I haven't tried out everything yet. By the way, I am using The MouseBT by Chwang Yi (formally MacMice) and I like it so far. I like that it's very similar to the Mighty Mouse which I use on my G4. Good Luck with your MacBook!
Power Mac G4 APG Graphics Mac OS X (10.4.5)
Power Mac G4 APG Graphics Mac OS X (10.4.5)
Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Has Anyone Repaired "The Whine"?

Has anyone sent in their computer to get the electronic whine fixed? If so, have they gotten it back, and did it work?
I have the whine problem and was seeing if it is worthwhile. My MBP is my only computer, and I need it for school, so it would be hard to send it in for weeks and not have any computer to use.
Also, would it be possible for an Apple repair center to fix the computer within a few days, via them having the parts, and me dropping my computer off and picking it up later? I live on Los Angeles, but can anyone do that anywhere?

To be clear, there are multiple whines:
CPU at idle (the one you mention above)
Backlight inverter board
Constantly spinning Fan
CAI is a low drone, can be remedied by running CPU intensive tasks or by using iSight. The mirror widget may mute the sound until sleep.
BIB sounds like nails on a chalkboard and is undoubtedly recognizable - though it comes and goes as the ambient light changes.
CSF sounds like it should - no surprises here. Seems to be associated with the hardware error 4SNS/1/40000000: 'TmOP' (found by running the Apple Hardware test).
Some people have made audio recordings of their MBPs. Google for them or contact me for mine.
Scott

Physical reason of the whine (CPU, LCD) - explanations and suggestions

Hi everybody,
a friend of mine just received his MacBook Pro (2 Ghz, 2 GB RAM, 5400 RPM 100GB HD) yesterday.
I encouraged him to buy one of these machines in spite lots of people are complaining about the whine. We hoped he would be lucky to get one without the whine but we were disappointed.
The book has the whine (high pitched tone, very nasty). It is even louder when running from battery.
He will try out the book for a week and see if the whine is bugging him and
driving him crazy when working in a silent environment.
I would go nuts if I have to hear it all the time.
I studied lots of threads here in the discussion board but none had answered my questions.
1) How do I know which whine - CPU or LCD whine - my friend's laptop has?
2) What is an LCD inverter - 0 in 1 out - 1 in 0 out?
3) What could be the physical reason for the CPU and LCD whine?
4) Therefore what could be done to eliminate the whine technically in a correct way (not such 50% solutions like the mirror widgets or photo booth)?
5) Will there be a real fix in the foreseeable future?
Thanks for your help.

If you have the high-pitched whine that changes with LCD brightness, that is a recognized problem and can be fixed by changing the inverter board.
The whine related to CPU activity currently seems to be officially stated as normal by Apple (this might vary depending on who you talk to).
Am I right when I say that until Apple states that
the whine is actually a real problem we won't have a
official solution for that?
Another question when a MacBook Pro has the whine is
this a hardware defect or can it be seen as working
within normal parameters?
There are different reactions of Apple techs dealing
with the problem.
Is it worth calling them because of the whine even if
there is no actual solution or fix for that problem?
Thank you once again.

WARNING: Don't install the Keyboard Update if you hate the whine!

Don't install the keyboard update! It will fix some bugs on IOUSBFamily which allowed the mirror widget/photobooth hack.
In other words, if you install the keyboard update, you won't be able to shut your macbook up when it whines using the mirror/photobooth hack.
So unless you can't hear the whine or it doesnt concern you, don't install it.

To "undo" the patch, you need Pacifist and your Tiger DVD #1
With Pacifist open the following Package :
Your Tiger DVD/System/Library/Installation/Packages/Essentials.pkg
Then select in the file list :
System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext
Click "Install". It will ask you if you want to replace the files, select "Replace" (you can check the box if you want).
Then exit Pacifist, repair the authorizations of your hard drive. This will revert back to the 10.4.5 driver and should allow you to use Mirror/Photobooth and even MagicNoiseKiller.
Restart.
As always remerber that this trick modify your system folder. If something goes wrong you can screw your installation. So SAVE YOUR DATA BEFORE TO DO THIS. DO NOT TRY IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU DO.
Hope this help.

The whine issue and its dissappearance

so maybe someone can answer this for me. ive read all the forums and am familiar with all the issues. i have a week 13 build 1.83 mbp. it has the whine that goes away with photobooth or the noisekiller. when i boot to xp via bootcamp there is no whine whatsoever. *** is up with this.

Yes.
There was a bug in the Windows XP implementation that lead to this. Microsoft has acknowledged and patched this and users who have done so report that MacBooks now whine under XP with this patch. On the other hand, battery life is now marginally better than it was under XP (previously users were reporting that they experienced about 15 minutes less battery life under Windows than under OS X). I'm not sure what the current state of play is.
So, for those who think that Microsoft has more experience with power management on Intel processors, the real world experience says otherwise. Battery life seems to be longer under OS X.

The Whine of Intel Core Duo (mobile) (& its users) in Laptops of all brands

Can I start by saying - OH NO, NOT ANOTHER WHINE THREAD.
But I had a search and this issue doesn't seem to be covered that much yet, and I feel it's important for us blighted by the whine to work out what to do about it. Apple has told me (and a lot of you) many different answers, "We recognise this issue and we're trying to fix it", "They've all got it! Stop complaining", "It's within spec, they're MEANT to do that", "Faster processor architectures generate more noise, there's nothing we can do", "You're mad.. there's no noise."
I think we can take these points as givens:
• There are three noises commonly reported; moo (HDD-fixable) / buzz (Inverter-fixable) / whine (CPU-mysterious). We're dealing with whine here.
• Not all MBPs are created equal, some whine, some don't.
• AppleTech will feed you a line to get you to go away. Don't give up.
• A whine is NOT within spec at these prices. (check consumer rights)
• The whine is made by hardware vibration of some sort, this can be affected by software, but the software does not generate it (ie. it doesn't come out of the speakers).
• When running XP, for 99% of people the whine disappears.
• The whine seems to be related to battery power as well. Most people experience a louder whine when using (or charging) the battery.
So in a roundabout way I come to this - Does anyone know of other laptops using Intel Core Duos and causing a whine noise? In my opinion this is unlikely as the whine disappears in XP, but it would be good to know if it is happening anywhere else. If you know of any other 'whiners', please post a link to where you found out about it and the name of the model doing it.
If other models do it, it would seem to indicate defective processors (which lends credence to Apple's "it's a problem with newer, faster processors" line), and it ain't really Apple's fault - but they'll still need fixed. If Apples only do it, then we should all shout at Apple for lying to us until we get ours fixed/replaced.
My laptop is being picked up in two days to be 'repaired' so we'll see what happens then. According to AppleTech I'll get a report on any repairs done to it, so I'll post again with what repairs were carried out and what effect they had when it comes back.
MacBook Pro 1.83GHz Mac OS X (10.4.5) 1.5GB RAM, 80GB

Hey LanEvoVIII... (Have you ever heard one of the defective MBPs in real life? If you feel the need to reply to this post, answer that question, although it would be infinitely preferable if you just removed yourself.)
Technology is not perfect, I know that. But for the amount of money you pay for Apple technology it should be better than this. And perhaps I wouldn't have bought a computer if I'd known that it makes noises like this.. unfortunately not mentioned anywhere by Apple, only on these forums where you-who-knows-best says we shouldn't talk about it.
Also you numpty, the point of all of this is we're trying to use the return policies and hardware warranties and gettin the runaround by Apple. This is another reason why people are unhappy - not so much the problem, more the fact about it's resolution (or lack of).
So how's about this? shut yer face. I'm aware of the irony of whining about a whine. You're so smart and funny referencing the same lil joke I made at the beginning of the post. What a smart smart human you are. Go on, give yourself a wee pat on the back for being so good and understanding the nature of technology so well. Go on, do it. There, doesn't that feel nice? Now go take your smug sense of self-satisfaction to some other thread and let us try and sort this out so that it doesn't drag on any longer.
Natsus, well said, sorry but I couldn't keep such a nice calm head about it as you. I know things are better if we all stay civil to each other. After so much trouble with this issue I ain't got much patience left, especially for people like "LanEvoVIII".
MacBook Pro 1.83GHz Mac OS X (10.4.5) 1.5GB RAM, 80GB

Better workaround for the whine problem

I have discovered a workaround for the commonly reported electronic whine in the MacBook Pro.
As most will know, if you open PhotoBooth and run it in the background it will get rid of the whine. I also noticed that the same worked in ANY application that uses the iSight.
So, looking around the Apple website for widgets I stumbled across this . . . .
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/webcams/mirror.html
It solves the problem!!!!! Runs in the background, in the Dashboard, takes up no resources also!!
Regards,
Tom

Didn't read that whole thread on the issue did you?
It also kills your battery life.
The issue I don't believe is related to the CPU directly but is related to the overall power drain on the system..it seems anything that causes the system to use more power 'solves' the problem.

What is it talking apple so long to create an update for the whine issue?

I think it is pretty ridiculous that the only update apple has released that effects the whine issue, only makes it worse. Even worse is that users over here have managed to detect and resolve the issue before apple has managed to do so. So come on apple, what's taking so long? It's amazing how badly this situation is being handled.

They know about the whine issue, i just talked to a product specialist who told me that they knew about it.
He also told me that Apple was not planning on adressing it since the cpu whine was within specifications.
As i said, it was a product specialist not an engineer so there is still a little hope regarding this issue being fixed sometime in the future.
I am not the only one to be disappointed about this and other problems that MBPs have.
But for now i m going to try and enjoy what i have , at the end of the year i will buy a sony loaded with vista since Apple is not able to give me satisfaction.
I m a loyal Apple customer since many years, but i have had enough, no more repairs or exchanges for me; I wil just be switching back!
The only thing that could make me change my mind is if Apple recalled my defective computer in order to give me a machine free of problem.
So far it's impossible since they don't have such a machine in stock.

Should I try to return my new MacBook Pro because of the whine?

I accidentally posted this in the MacBook area. Sorry to crosspost!
I bought a 2.16ghz MacBook Pro on Friday. I brought it home and discovered that it couldn't hold an airport signal and had kernel panics about every five minutes. The Apple Store replaced it with a new one. After taking the new one home, I discovered that it had a greyish blob in the middle of the screen and received another replacement on Saturday. After playing with this MacBook Pro for a couple of days, the whine has reared its ugly head. At this point, I'm not sure what to do. If I again take it back for a new machine, will they do it? Will I be told that it's within spec? I'm worried that if I return it, I'll get another machine with issues. Other than this problem, this MacBook Pro appears to be stellar. I'd appreciate any advice! Thanks!

Are you talking about the "processor whine" or the "screen brightness" whine
The screen brightness whine is easily fixed, and is accepted as a known, repairable issue.
The other is not, and unfortunately you will either have to deal with it, or get a new one

I now have the whine in Windows.

I installed the latest intel chipset drivers from another post that fixes the sleep issue etc but I now have the whine in XP on battery.

Interesting. Is there a fix in windows to kill the noise?

OS X 10.4.9 The Whine Is Back

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