Powerbook 15" Potential Issue (Whining Noise)

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I just have a small issue with my Powerbook 15 inch, When I have the AC Adapter plugged in, and I get info on say a DVIX.avi file, when the preview pane is open in the get info field, the powerbook puts out a high pitch whine.



Secondly, when I put the powerbook to sleep with the AC plugged in, I can hear a small buzzing noise, ever so slight. But overnight, it is enough to be annoying.





Just wondering if others out there could check to see if their Powerbooks make noise's near where the AC is plugged in. When getting info on files etc.



Becuase without the AC plugged in, there are no sounds at all.



It seems its either a logic board Problem or an adapter issue.



But before I send it in for checking, I wanted to see if anyone else has had this issue.



One more thing, just above the DVD drive on your PB on the palm rest, if you push on it, does yours make a creeking noise?



I feel I have the noisest Powerbook around,



If I have posted in the wrong place, sorry.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Mine doesn't make any sort of strange noises when plugged into the AC. In fact, I continue to be amazed at how quiet it is.



    As far as the creaking above the drive, I'll have to check when I get home from work (tonight).
  • Reply 2 of 15
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by joel



    Secondly, when I put the powerbook to sleep with the AC plugged in, I can hear a small buzzing noise, ever so slight. But overnight, it is enough to be annoying.





    I have the same experience with a 12" powerbook, 867 MHz, but you cannot hear it if you don't place your ear in about 10 cm or less in front of the left side of the keyboard. Nonetheless, this powerbook approaches quickly 1 year of flawless operation.



    I am not sure if it is normal or not, but as long as it has not some effect in machine's operation, I wouldn't worry about that. Now, the noise levels, can you really hear it overnight? Are you sleeping with her? Seriously now, if you can hear it from a distance in a quiet room, it would not harm to phone Apple Care and ask about that.
  • Reply 3 of 15
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    what model do you have?

    I just started to notice a buzzing lately...

    667 DVI...\



    i have the creek as well...
  • Reply 4 of 15
    joeljoel Posts: 4member
    Thanks so much for the feedback, keep it coming.



    I have the new 15" Al 1ghz, 1gb ram, DVD/CD-R



    I know its bad, but sometimes you feel better when your not the only one with a niggly problem.



    Now, the choice is, Do I go without my baby for a few days to get the apple store to look at it, or, just put up with it.



    But hearing that others have the same thing happening, makes me think not to bother getting it fixed.



    The only thing that is keeping me puzzled is the noise goes away when I pull out the AC from the powerbook, which leads me back to thinking it may develop into something later (Like a faulty logic board) and it will be just out of warranty when I go to fix it.



    As for the creekyness, I just rest my hand in another spot on it, but still...





    I know I am pedantic, but I love my baby, I'm sure I am not the only one out there.
  • Reply 5 of 15
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member
    I forgot to note that if the battery is charging, there is no buzzing noise. So it appears that it is something in the power manager, hopefully not harmful.
  • Reply 6 of 15
    naderbynaderby Posts: 131member
    *Confirmed*



    I have it to. I prefere to call it a slight 'bubbling' noise. It is stopped by removing the Charger.



    I'm not worried about it.
  • Reply 7 of 15
    joeljoel Posts: 4member
    I have found out what the problem was...





    The whining noise is caused when you go into Sys. Prefs - Energy Saver... Then go to Options and tick Processor Performance Maximum.



    If you check the box to Max, and then get info on a .aif/.avi file, it will make the noise, if your turn it back to Auto, it doesn't make any noise.





    Also, I ran a xbench test on both settings, and there is a big difference.





    I got 85points with the Powerbook G4 15inch, 1GHz, 1 GB Ram on Auto





    And 103points in Maximum, so there is a performance difference between them.



    But general use it is fine with either setting, either way, It is good to be able to work on the Powerbook with no noise's coming from it.





    So if anyone else is having this problem, check your energy prefs.





    One final note, If you want to run the powerbook at Maximum in the Energy Saver Prefs, then I would put in good fast ram, as I put in standard ram, that's what I think the noise is from.
  • Reply 8 of 15
    naderbynaderby Posts: 131member
    Well blow me down with a feather, that worked.



    You've got me worried about my 3rd party RAM now!
  • Reply 9 of 15
    foadfoad Posts: 717member
    I noticed the same noise when I enabled Highest for the processor performance.



    Although this is now considered "normal" I would like to be able to run my laptop at full speed without any sounds coming from it.



    Hopefully this is something that can be resolved in a software update.
  • Reply 10 of 15
    naderbynaderby Posts: 131member
    Does anyone know what component(s) make the noise?
  • Reply 11 of 15
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Sorry to dig up a stagnant thread, but my laptop has started doing something like this buzzing. It's not constant, and only seems to make the sounds when it's really processing something. I think the main processor, system bus, or RAM is making the sound.



    Changing the settings in Energy Saver does seem to have an effect, but even with the Processor Performance on Lower or Auto it sometimes does it.



    It's really getting damned annoying. Should I reset the Power Manager? I'm going to try that. Also, I noticed in my Activity Monitor that sometimes my "HP Communications" (apparently talking to my multifunction printer) uses up over 75% of the processor for NO apparent reason. This will often create the noise for the time that it's doing this. What's the deal?
  • Reply 12 of 15
    fellow rocket scientists...



    ram does NOT make a noise



    my 15" ti800 had the whine & creak as well

    whine is due to bumping up cpu in sys prefs

    the creak is a defect in the casing
  • Reply 13 of 15
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Thanks for that backhanded information.



    FYI: A reset of the Power Manager *seemed* to do the trick.
  • Reply 14 of 15
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    Mine does it too, never noticed it only does it when I have it plugged in... it can be any audio file.



    I'll say something when I send this in to Apple Care and tell you what they say.
  • Reply 15 of 15
    Mine is generally quiet, but there are two distinctly different whiny noises that occur from time to time, one is the fan, and the other...may also be a fan(are there 2 fans in here?) either way, they don't bug me, as they generally don't last for very long.
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