Strange thing I noticed about the "Whine"

I get no CPU whine in OS X, however... switching over to Vista, and putting my ear close to the left side of the keyboard I can hear a high pitched buzz, that sort of sounds like morris code. I'm guessing that's the whine people with C2Ds are complaining about? It's kind of funny how it only happens in vista though, guess it's the way it uses the CPU.

 

Update! It just became audible as a high pitch noise for a few seconds then went away. Should I be concerned? I'm reluctant to send it in for repairs again since I can't afford to get a replacement with a different hard drive.

EDIT: Just tried unplugging it, and I can only faintly hear it with my ear right against it now. So confused @_@

 

That's weird...is it still only happening in Vista?

 

Yes, only in Vista, and is only apparent if you have it plugged in with no volume and you're sorta close to the keyboard. Ever put your ear up against the adapter? Sounds sort of like that. I've heard about XP not having the whine either, but when people switched to Vista they heard it. I'm not too concerned about it, and since when I'm on vista I'm usually playing a game and the fans and speakers easily drown it out. However I'm worried it will get worse or get damaged.

 

I've heard it in XP too. For me it seems to happen when I have headphones plugged in or am otherwise using the line out, the built in speakers should be disabled, but they tend to emit some quiet whining or hissing. I think it's a problem with the sound driver not disabling the speakers properly. I've generally been unimpressed with the sound quality of the built-in speakers when in Windows, since it's seems worse than in OS X, so I just don't think Apple puts much effort into the Boot Camp sound drivers.

 

Meh I may get used to it. You can only really hear it if you have your head right near it. And if you're in TOTAL silence, which is rare. Even the hum of my lights and TV are easily able to drown it out at normal sitting distance. If it gets worse I'll check into an Apple Store, even though they'll probably tell me it's within their "secret specs" since it does not whine in OS X, or at least the whine is so low it's insignificant and is drowned out by the fan motors. It seems that 90% of all core 2 duos do this... and with something as thin as a MBP I guess it's more likley to be audible. Then again most electronics emit some kind of sound when on. I put my ear near my DS with no sound on, and heard a buzzing sound that kinda sounds like CPU whine too. Could be my ears are more sensitive to that freequency, I don't know.

 

Noticed I have a slight buzz coming from my screen when the lights are on... ^^ thought they fixed that in MBPs. Man I have THE worst luck.

 

ive noticed this too. Only vista. seems the power properties manage the cpu that much differently.


always a problem, back to xp

 

Oh I see. So, I shouldn't really be worried then if the cause is Vista and not a defective macbook, or at any rate they would definatley not repair it under warranty if this is the cause.

 

its quite common on tons of laptops these days, lots of dells mainly i hear about.

ALL RUNNING VISTA. its in XP too, but not as loud. its a chipset/C2D issue.

your macbook is fine thank god.

 

Haha good to hear. I already had to send this baby in to fix an uneven base, and having to use my old desktop was torture. I did notice it's still present in OS X too, just you need to have you're ear right up against it and really try to listen for it, and it's a more steady tone instead of a morris-code-like pattern Vista gives me. I was worried because I heard apple was able to "fix" this problem but I guess they were only able to make it less noticeable and not make it go 100% away.

 

right. its really a design flaw in the C2D/Current Chipsets. Not a WHOLE lot they can do, but there has been some helpful findings:

google "RMCLOCK and Whine" for windows, thatll get you more info than you need..

 

Thanks a lot!

 

no whine on my macbook running sp2 xp

 

I have this whine to thank for owning a mbp now. I bought an asus this summer, and the whine was pretty loud. i tried both vista and xp and both had the whine. This sound drove me crazy, so i sent it in to get repaired. after they had my laptop for a month they finally admited they couldnt fix it, and they refunded my money. I then made the switch, and have no whines. I hated that whine back then but now im ver thankful it happened.

 

if you have any usb device try plugging it in. this helps alot of peope with the whine. Its cause is the idle state of the cpu. When your running a game or photoshop etc. the whine stops cause the cpu kicks out of its idle state. if this really bugs you theres alot of info on this subject in the official asus s96s owners thread

 

Thanks myshkin, but I use a USB mouse and it really makes no difference to me. Although from the YouTube videos I've seen, this whine is VERY quiet. It isn't at the point of annoying me yet, because most of the time I can't even hear it. If it get's any worse, or if it's a bother in class or a library i'll definatley have it sent in for repairs... but until then I think it's fine.

 

Don't bother to send it in for repairs. it cant be fixed. Some computers have it worse then others. Mine was constant, others say it comes and goes like morris code. with the tv on i couldnt hear it, but i sit in silence alot, and in those times it drove me mad

 

Well, it couldn't hurt to drop by the Apple Store and ask about it. They should be able to tell me if it's normal or not, and if it can be repaired or if even Apple can't fix it completely. Either way I'm just going to assume SOME level of whine is unavoidable for now, but I might as well ask an Apple Genius while my warranty is still active.

 

Decided to call the support line before my 90 days was up. They told me that the screen buzz and CPU whine was a hardware issue, and didn't say anything about it being normal. They gave me a case number and told me I should have it repaired at an Apple certified technician Great customer service, I have to say. 0 time on hold, and he walked me through a bunch of stuff to make sure it was a hardware problem, and not software.

 

Good to hear Apple customer service has been keeping up! I have yet to use their customer service, and its great to hear that its still fantastic.