I am on my second MacBook Pro 15". It does exhibit CPU whine, a hiss mainly on the left but also the right speaker when mute is switched on, mainly when running on battery. The Utility SystemLoad (http://www.bresink.de/osx/SystemLoad.html) will play the scale on the MacBook Pro by loading the processors :-) Also the the maximum temperature when loading fully goes up to 85 deg C.
Will probably return it as DoA while I can - hoping they have fixed it by now in new units.
Marc
On 2006-05-11 09:18:59 +1000, Marc Heusser marc.heusser@redacted.invalid said:
I am on my second MacBook Pro 15". It does exhibit CPU whine, a hiss mainly on the left but also the right speaker when mute is switched on, mainly when running on battery. The Utility SystemLoad (http://www.bresink.de/osx/SystemLoad.html) will play the scale on the MacBook Pro by loading the processors :-) Also the the maximum temperature when loading fully goes up to 85 deg C.
Will probably return it as DoA while I can - hoping they have fixed it by now in new units.
Marc Marc,
Have a look at this...
http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/01/macbook-pros-overheating-due-to-thermal-grease/
may
solve your heat problems.
So for the other half of the problem (whining noises) there is something to be said:
Check this out: http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/macbook-pro-noise-complaints/
I have this problem with a W8614 and it seems to be directly affected by both the POWER usage and the CPU usage. I find that putting a significant load on the dual core will kill the noise completely. You can try doing what I did; just click and hold the mouse button down on some open web browser or the volume/wifi/bluetooth menu icons at the top of the screen, for as long as I held down the key the noise was completely gone. A program exists that allows you to perpetually emulate this CPU load called QuietMBP. You'll find information on that in the link above. Of course, I don't need to warn you about the extra power consuption that running this program will cause. Just be sure that if you need those three hours uncut, that you don't run Quiet MBP.
The other thing I noticed right away was that plugging in the AC adaptor caused the noise to disappear as well. As long as the AC adaptor is plugged in, I have almost no problem with the noise. If you pay attention to the details in the link above you'll notice a comment by a gentleman who claims that he went ahead and got another AC adaptor for travel (apparently the thought of lugging one in and out of the house was too terrible to bear). He says that one adaptor 'brick' causes the whine, while the other does not; plug in one and there is a noise, plug in the other and it dissappears. This makes me wonder if it's not the battery.
Anyway, we're still waiting for Apple to address this issue. Were told by a number of sources that it is being addressed, although my guess is that it's hardware-related and that Apple will do their best to fix it quietly so that early mactel MBP owners won't demand replacement on a massive scale and newer owners will be ignorantly content. Let's hope that isn't the case. I've got my fingers crossed for some soundcard updates or something.
Guess I spoke too soon, Marc. This problem had been taken care of:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=2359556
Just remember that you will lose 30 minuets from the overall battery life of your computer by doing this. Restoring that life is as easy as copying a file, but the sound will return if you do. The file you will be moving removes the excellent power economy of the MBP, which accounts for the loss of battery life. Hope this works for you.
-Pete-
In article 2006051112125016807-lost@redacted.invalid, John Proctor lost@redacted.invalid wrote:
On 2006-05-11 09:18:59 +1000, Marc Heusser marc.heusser@redacted.invalid said:
I am on my second MacBook Pro 15". It does exhibit CPU whine, a hiss mainly on the left but also the right speaker when mute is switched on, mainly when running on battery. The Utility SystemLoad (http://www.bresink.de/osx/SystemLoad.html) will play the scale on the MacBook Pro by loading the processors :-) Also the the maximum temperature when loading fully goes up to 85 deg C.
Will probably return it as DoA while I can - hoping they have fixed it by now in new units.
Marc Marc,
Have a look at this...
http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/01/macbook-pros-overheating-due-to-thermal-gre ase/
may solve your heat problems.
Dear John
yes - but even though I am an MSEE I am not going to fix it myself.
and Pete:
So for the other half of the problem (whining noises) there is something to be said:
Check this out: http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/macbook-pro-noise-complaints/ ... Anyway, we're still waiting for Apple to address this issue. Were told by a number of sources that it is being addressed, although my guess is that it's hardware-related
That is my guess too - not separating analog and digital circuitry properly. The sound very clearly emanantes from the loudspeakers even when I mute them.
BTW: I put up recordings of the CPU whine at http://www.heusser.com/pub/macbookpronoise/noiseonbattery.mp3 http://www.heusser.com/pub/macbookpronoise/noisebatteryscale.mp3
(sorry, only 100 kb/s uplink)
Marc
On 2006-05-12 05:16:52 +1000, Marc Heusser marc.heusser@redacted.invalid said:
In article 2006051112125016807-lost@redacted.invalid, John Proctor lost@redacted.invalid wrote:
On 2006-05-11 09:18:59 +1000, Marc Heusser marc.heusser@redacted.invalid said:
I am on my second MacBook Pro 15". It does exhibit CPU whine, a hiss mainly on the left but also the right speaker when mute is switched on, mainly when running on battery. The Utility SystemLoad (http://www.bresink.de/osx/SystemLoad.html) will play the scale on the MacBook Pro by loading the processors :-) Also the the maximum temperature when loading fully goes up to 85 deg C.
Will probably return it as DoA while I can - hoping they have fixed it by now in new units.
Marc Marc,
Have a look at this...
http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/01/macbook-pros-overheating-due-to-thermal-gre ase/
may solve your heat problems.
Dear John
yes - but even though I am an MSEE I am not going to fix it myself.
and Pete:
So for the other half of the problem (whining noises) there is something to be said:
Check this out: http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/macbook-pro-noise-complaints/ ... Anyway, we're still waiting for Apple to address this issue. Were told by a number of sources that it is being addressed, although my guess is that it's hardware-related
That is my guess too - not separating analog and digital circuitry properly. The sound very clearly emanantes from the loudspeakers even when I mute them.
BTW: I put up recordings of the CPU whine at http://www.heusser.com/pub/macbookpronoise/noiseonbattery.mp3 http://www.heusser.com/pub/macbookpronoise/noisebatteryscale.mp3
(sorry, only 100 kb/s uplink)
Marc
Marc,
Disdn't say you should fix it yourself. However until Apple fixes the problem it is likely to occur in any other MacBook you get to replace it. Hence I will not be replacing my G4PB 800FW any time soon;-)
Apple's response was a threatening legal letter to the original web site (somethingawfull.com I think) to remove the information from their service manual which is copyrighted. Even though anyone with a modicum of common sense would see is covered under the fair use provisions of copyright law.
Yet another example of "Love the computer too bad about the company"!
In article 2006051208285116807-lost@redacted.invalid, John Proctor lost@redacted.invalid wrote:
Disdn't say you should fix it yourself. However until Apple fixes the problem it is likely to occur in any other MacBook you get to replace it. Hence I will not be replacing my G4PB 800FW any time soon;-)
Even though there has been considerable discussion online about problems people have encountered with the MacBook Pro, I haven't seen any other mention of keyboard problems as described in this problem. I would expect that if the keyboard is defective in this case, a new keyboard would do the trick, and that other MacBook Pros would be unlikely to show the same symptom.
However, since Marc mentioned that the keyboard works normally for his wife, it might be worthwhile to visit someplace that sells MacBook Pros and see if he has the problem on the demo units. Maybe for some reason the keyboards just don't respond well to his style of typing, in which case he'd continue to have the same problem.
Marc, I've contacted Applecare about the whining. There are several different types so the person I talked to sent me through a few steps to narrow the source. Doesn't seem right does it? There's more than one kind of whine, so they have to figure out which one I'm complaining about.
Box my ears and call me a pickel. He had me to close all open apps and drag a finder window around the screen to see if the noise were from the LCD. I've heard of 'em LCD noises. I can only be greatful that I don't have it.
By my reckon there won't be a fix for this. The rep said it was the dual core and that means that no amount of software hacking or patching will kill it. Sure, you can load the processor or cut the IO file from the System folder but you're only shortening your battery life or even the life the Pro itself possibly, probably. In my opinion that's bartering a bad problem for a worse one; and at second thought it's not so bad, this little whining. After all, we hear whining all day from employees and news reporters and foreigner leeches and folks with headaches all day. Let's you and I instead be good natured and thankful for the whining we're able to hear because I don't think I need to remind you that there is a third fix besides the two I've pointed to in the last 24 hours for this. You could box your ears so that you couldn't hear anything, become a deaf person and no noise will ever bother you again. This solution doesn't lower the battery life of your lappy at all.
I can live with this. I've never had a mac before, so I'm especially pleased overall. There! see? I don't even hear it anymore. I guess I happy thoughted it away. See ya'll.
In article marc.heusser-C172BF.01185911052006@redacted.invalid, Marc Heusser marc.heusser@redacted.invalid wrote:
I am on my second MacBook Pro 15". It does exhibit CPU whine, a hiss mainly on the left but also the right speaker when mute is switched on, mainly when running on battery. The Utility SystemLoad (http://www.bresink.de/osx/SystemLoad.html) will play the scale on the MacBook Pro by loading the processors :-) Also the the maximum temperature when loading fully goes up to 85 deg C.
Will probably return it as DoA while I can - hoping they have fixed it by now in new units.
That sucks! I have read that Apple has had a lot of problems like the ones you described with its first batch of MacBook Pros. My MBP was purchased in March and its fine, so I guess I am lucky!