10.4.10 Snap, Crackle, Pop - a workaround

I haven't installed 10.4.10 yet simply because of all this fuss about speaker noise.

So therefore do you think I could simply make a back up copy of the AppleHDA.kext file from my System/Library/Extensions folder, apply the 10.4.10 update and if the speaker popping happens replace the new AppleHDA.kext with the one I had backed up?

AppleTalker: Yep, just back up the 10.4.9 version of AppleHDA.kext and restore if needed.

All the warnings about messing with kernel components still apply though.

Then essentially what you are saying it's up to the
end user to ensure software update compatibility
issues instead of Apple?

Yes, ultimately it is up to the user to make sure whatever her or she installs on the computer is compatible with its OS -- how could it be otherwise? There are hundreds of thousands of code bundles you can install on a Mac, ranging from carefully vetted applications from major vendors to experimental hacks offered with no guarantees of suitability whatsoever.

More to the point, Apple is constantly improving & refining the OS. To prevent chaos, it publishes developer guidelines specifying how to access OS functions, recommended practices, & so on. For instance, new, more powerful API's replace old ones, which are deprecated, & eventually dropped from the OS. Developers get plenty of warning about changes, at least if they participate in Apple's developer support program, but they don't always keep their code in conformance with current guidelines. Sometimes, they just don't have the resources to do so, but sometimes they are diligently working on a conformal release but don't quite get it out the door before an incompatible OS update is released.

That was apparently the case with the VMWare product -- the update (of what is still beta software!) was released about 48 hours after the OS update. Other vendors might not be so diligent (or lucky). A few just don't seem to care -- they don't review their code until an update breaks it & users start reporting problems.

It is like any other product: the quality & continued support vary from vendor to vendor. Expecting Apple to be responsible for them all is as unrealistic as expecting GM to be responsible for all third party products meant for its cars or trucks.

It Works fine on my mac mini

Thanks

Thank you, JAhonen, for posting the fix. It took me a few tries to get it right (my unix skills are rudimentary at best), but once I got ownership and permisssions sorted out, I had sound again and NO annoying pops!

For the people without a sense of adventure when it comes to the unix underpinnings of OS X, I hope Apple recognizes how annoying this is and releases a fix soon.

In the mean time, I'll keep running a hybrid .9/.10 system.

Have other people been experiencing this problem again since the recent system update? I've only noticed it during the past few days, and the popping sound is driving me crazy!

Actually, since 10.4.10 I've been experiencing this off and on. Sometimes it goes away by merely switching to another output and back to default, though.

Oddly enough, my Speaker Snap instantly stops if I open Photo Booth and leave it activated. I'm sure there is some cogent explanation for this, but as long as it works and does not prove to be a CPU hog, I am willing to allow it until 10.4.11 resolves the issue -- hopefully.

That's because Photo Booth is using your audio. the pop doesn't occur when your audio is being used. The pop occurs when your audio goes idle and there's a change in power going out to your line-out. it's caused by over-agressive power management that was implemented in 10.4.10.

replace /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext from 10.3.9 to fix.

typo... i meant replace /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext from 10.4.9

how do I replace /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext from 10.4.9 update?

anyway you could tell me how? can i de patch the computer?

how do I replace
/System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext from 10.4.9
update?

Typically, you extract it from the 10.4.9 combo updater & do one of several things to "bless" it with 10.4.10.

However, before you consider doing this be aware that:

a) Apple & most other authorities say mixing & matching extensions from different OS versions can lead to instabilities & should be reserved for major problems not resolvable in any other way.

b) There is some question if the 10.4.9 & 10.4.10 versions of the AppleHDA.kext extension actually are any different (as originally installed) or if something as yet unknown is changing a component of what should be the extension unaltered by the update.

c) There are now reports surfacing that this doesn't "de-pop" all users' Macs so affected & yet another extension must also be replaced to do so.

The bottom line for most is not to do this if some other work-around will suffice for you.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the safest solution if the pop is really bothering someone would be to do an Archive and Reinstall of OS X.4 and then apply the X.4.9 combo updater.

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1049comboupdateintel.html

Or ...

From MacMinute ...


MacBook Pro Software Update 1.0 released
June 29, 2007 - 07:22 EDT Apple has released MacBook Pro Software Update 1.0 via its Software Update pane and on the Web. The company says "this update provides important bug fixes and is recommended for all 2.2/2.4GHz MacBook Pro models. This update requires Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later.

Worked for me!

If you have a backup of AppleHDA.kext from 10.4.9, you can just copy that over.

If not, then you will need to use a program like Pacifist to extract it from the 10.4.9 combo update.

There is nothing special you need to do to "bless" it. Just copy it over, repair permissions and restart.

Using the 10.4.9 version of AppleHDA.kext if your system has already been updated with 10.4.10 has no negative side effects.

Yes, files inside the AppleHDA.kext package were modified by 10.4.10 even though the modify date for AppleHDA.kext will be the same as 10.4.9.

This will fix the popping issue for Intel Macs.

Other workarounds like running programs in the background to prevent the audio from going idle is really not acceptable. You'll just be wasting cpu resources.

Replacing AppleHDA.kext from 10.4.9 fixes it, period. End of discussion.